The Wildos

Think of a Wild West slot and it’s likely that a few big names will spring to mind, such as Tombstone RIP and Dead or Alive 2.

This is a heavily over-subscribed market, so it takes something new and fresh to stand out from the rest of the crowd. But if anyone can do it, Thunderkick can, so we approached this game with high hopes.

Design

Rather than compete with the really big names in terms of dark and desperate Western themes, Thunderkick has gone in the opposite direction entirely. That’s not much of a surprise for the studio that came up with the crazy but fun Esqueleto Explosivo series, featuring animated exploding skeletons.

The setting for The Wildos is the usual dusty one-horse town, with the jailhouse on one side of the street and the bank on the other. But this is a fun, cartoon-style game, so the bandits are gathered at the jail window, sniggering with every win that you land.

There are some fun animations when the gang break out of jail and the free spins start too – as usual, the studio’s presentation is on point.

Gameplay

Saloon doors represent the  Wild symbol and come with an attached multiplier worth up to 5x. Where more than one multiplier features in a win, they multiply against each other to generate some big payouts. Wilds only appear on the central three reels, so they can’t create any wins on their own.

The cake topped with dynamite ‘candles’ is the game’s Scatter symbol, appearing on reels 1, 3 and 5. Land three at once to free the bandits from their jail cell and let them loose in the bank for the feature round.

Throughout the bonus round all Wild symbols are sticky, revealing a random multiplier with every spin. You start the round with 8 free spins, but filling an entire reel with Wilds awards three additional spins along with the extra winning opportunities.

Win potential

Sacks of money emblazoned with playing card suits return up to 3x your stake for a five-of-a-kind win. Top payouts for other symbols are as follows:

• Cowboy boots – 5x
• Sheriff’s hat – 6x
• Bottles – 7x
• Green bandit – 30x
• Blue bandit – 40x
• Red bandit – 50x

It’s during the free spins bonus that the big wins could land, particularly if you fill the central reels with Sticky Wilds that reveal 5x multipliers. The maximum payout of 6,250x the bet isn’t huge, by any means, but the RTP is above average, so the winning potential is there. It’s a highly volatile game though, so it’s not for the faint-hearted, despite its cartoon-style theme.

Some regions allow players to buy the bonus for 100x the wager, but that’s not something permitted in the UK. Although there’s a possibility of landing big wins, there’s no guarantee of covering the cost of buying the feature.

Our Verdict

There’s not a huge amount going on when you play The Wildos, with all the game’s main features centred around the Wild symbol. The prizes aren’t the biggest either, so this isn’t a game that aims to take on the big boys in terms of market share.

But that’s not the point – The Wildos is an entertaining way to while away some time, with the potential for a few decent wins along the way.

If you already enjoy playing Thunderkick slots, we can safely say that you’ll have a lot of fun playing The Wildos. If this is a studio that’s new to you, we recommend you give this game a try to see that dark and gloomy isn’t the only way to go when it comes to Wild West-themed games.