Riding on the advancement of technology, the online gambling world continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate. Gone are those days slot players make do with boring slot machines. Game developers in the online casino sphere are constantly finding ways to continue to attract players through innovative and exciting game features that reward players with plenty of winning opportunities. One of those innovative features introduced to casino games is the Hold and Win feature in virtual slot machines.
The Hold and Win game is a fascinating feature that improves on classic slots. While playing it, you can accumulate specific numbers of bonus symbols, which stick on reels through a lock and spin functionality. It first captured players’ attention in Money Train and has become increasingly popular amongst slot players due to the more multipliers and respins within the game. In a nutshell, it provides more opportunities for you to win.
What are Hold and Win Slots?
Understanding how the Hold and Win feature work is pretty straightforward. You must land a specific number of bonuses or special symbols to activate. Then the feature is unlocked, and a certain number of respins, usually three, are awarded to you. These activated symbols will stay locked on the reel. If you land another during the bonus round, the respins are reset.
That continues unless you fill the reels or use all the respins without triggering new ones. All the special symbols collected are added up to determine your rewards. The more special characters you accumulate, the higher the rewards. Depending on how the developer incentivised the game, prizes include bonus symbols, cash or jackpots.
Another great thing about this feature is you do not need to guess their rewards. The value of each bonus symbol is displayed on the reels, so you know exactly how much you win. Hold and Win slot games also offer varying rewards. Some of the best Hold and Win slots offer jackpot prizes, while others will only add up and pay the accumulated values of the symbols that landed on the reels.
Best Hold and Win Slot Games?
Now that you have some knowledge of the Hold and Win slot game, one thing you can count on is that Hold and Win slots offer exciting gameplay and boast high payouts. Let’s look at some examples of the best online pokies in Australia with this feature that catches slot lovers’ attention.
Money Train by Relax Gaming
Relax Gaming needs no introduction as one of the top Hold and Win slots providers. The company’s product, Money Train, released in 2020, is widely considered the first with Hold and Win mechanics. Themed after the Wild West, the slot boasts multiple exciting features that endear it to slot players. It is called the Money Cart Bonus Round. You need to land three bonus symbols on reels one, three and five to unlock, and you’ll be transported to a new train car.
Once the Hold and Win mechanic is triggered, you are granted 3 three spins bonus, which resets every time you land a new bonus symbol. Your goal is to rack up as many multipliers as possible. The Money train slot lets you decide whether to play as a Collector or a Payer. As a Collector, bonus symbols collect multipliers to increase value, and as the Payer, the revealed multipliers add values to existing multiplier symbols. Unlocked bonus features also enable a gamer to activate the Bonus-buy feature and increase chances of winning.
Hit the Gold by Booongo
Hit the Gold, developed by Booongo, packs exciting features and symbols for online slots lovers. One of these features is the Hit and Win. When playing this game, aim for six or more Gold Nuggets to unlock the bonus feature on Hit the Gold. During the round, all bonus symbols are sticky. An initial 3 respins are credited to you for triggering the Hit and Win feature. The respins are reset to three when you hit a new bonus symbol before using it up. In addition, you can bag the mystery symbols, which can be Mini, Minor and Major jackpots. These jackpots award you 20x, 50x and 150x of your stake. And if you are lucky enough to bag 15 bonus icons, you get a Grand Jackpot of 2,000x, which is as grand as Macau casinos’ investment.
Wolf Saga by Booongo
Triggering the Hold and Win mechanic in this Boongo slot requires landing 6 bonus symbols. If successfully activated, 3 respins are awarded. Every time a new bonus symbol appears before the respins run out, the respins are reset to 3. Meanwhile, all the values of the bonus symbols are added and awarded to you. Mini and Major jackpots worth 100x and 300x your stake can be won in this bonus round. If you continue to land a bonus symbol and fill all the available reels, you unlock a Grand jackpot worth 1000 times the initial bet. Besides the Hit and Win feature, Wolf Saga is a 5×3 slot with an attractive fantasy theme and exciting gameplay.
Apollo Pays by Big Time Gaming
Credited as the first Hold and Spin with total multiplier values, Apollo pays slot is worth playing for players chasing massive payouts. The 6-reel slot from Big Time Gaming offers a unique 117,649 ways to win and a max payout of 116,030x.
Apollo Pays is a high-paying slot due to its 3 bonus features, which include Win exchange, free spins and respins feature. With the Win exchange, you can exchange your win for free spins. The free spins mode contains perks like gratis round and unlimited multiplier, as every win in this feature increases the multiplier by 1.
The Respin feature works with the mechanism of Hold and win. You get a respin for every win. During this round, the winning combination becomes sticky and more winning symbols result in more respins. That goes as long as you keep landing useful symbols until all the reels are filled. Unlike other Hold and Win slots, a single reel can accommodate up to 7 symbols.
Buffalo: Hold and Win by Booming Games
Developed by Booming Games, Buffalo is a video slot game on a playing field of 5×3 reels and 25 paylines. Buffalo slot has some attractive features like quick hit bonuses, major free spins, wilds, and the Hold and Win.
The feature, which can also be referred to as the respin feature, is the centre of the Buffalo slot. It operates the same features. You need to land at least 6 six coin symbols to activate the bonus round and get 3 respins. Like most games with this feature, it reset back to 3 if you hit another coin symbol before you used up the respins. You will win 1000x in the Grand jackpot if you fill up all 15 reels.
Other bonuses to look out for when playing the Buffalo slot are the Mini bonus and Major bonus symbol, which pay 25x and 100x, respectively.
Conclusion
Now that you know how the Hold and Win mechanic works, you should try them out at reputable online casinos. Finding Hold and Win games that tickle your fancy will only take a few minutes of research, as they are trendy. Besides providing players with potentially lucrative gameplay, the feature adds to the excitement of playing online slots. Also, compare the online slots listed above at a reputable online casino to save you some time.
