Wild Gambler (NTC33): the Lock & Spin button and its two stake boxes

Wild Gambler is a safari slot whose whole point is one extra button. Besides a normal SPIN there is LOCK & SPIN, which lets you keep wilds where they landed for the next spin, at a price the game works out for you.

The Lock & Spin rules on screen

The game opens with a blue panel inside the bamboo frame. It says, in order:

• Lock & Spin: spin with wilds locked in place for an increased chance to win
• Bet varies with wilds in view
• Play your way: click on symbols to add or remove wilds

Press OK and the reels appear.

Symbols

The reels are pale parchment strips in a bamboo frame with a yellow savanna behind them. The animals are a pink flamingo, a zebra, a spotted leopard and a grey rhino. The low symbols are 10, J, Q, K and A, each printed in a different animal pattern (leopard spots, tiger stripes, snake scales). None of the screenshots catches a wild on the reels.

Line numbers run down both sides, 1 to 20.

Reading the two STAKE boxes

This is the part that confuses new players. The bottom bar has WIN and TOTAL WIN on the left, then two separate STAKE boxes:

• The first STAKE is the cost of a normal SPIN (RM0.20 here: 20 lines at a line stake of RM0.01).
• The second STAKE is the cost of LOCK & SPIN with the wilds you have chosen.

On the intro screen the second box shows RM0.70, three and a half times the normal spin. With no wilds in view the two boxes match at RM0.20. The more wilds you hold, and depending on where they are, the higher that second number goes.

Under the stakes sit the LINE STAKE arrows, a PAYTABLE sign on a buffalo skull, AUTO PLAYS on a log, and a small AutoLock ON switch in the corner.

Pacing a session

Lock & Spin is where the RM goes. A normal spin here costs twenty sen; one locked spin can cost several times that. Decide before you start how much above the base stake you are willing to pay for a lock, and look at the second STAKE box every time before you press LOCK & SPIN. If AutoLock is on, wilds may be held for you, so turn it off if you want to choose each time.

See the NTC33 overview for more slots in this lobby, or get an NTC33 game ID to try the lock feature.