What Are Sticky and Walking Wilds in Slots?

Sticky and walking wilds are kind of like people’s personalities. Sticky wilds settle down and stay in place where they land on a reel, like home, sweet home. Walking wilds are infused with wanderlust, adventurously shifting reel positions until they completely fall off the grid. 

But how do they affect gameplay, and where can you play slots with these features? Consider this your map for explaining slot wild mechanics and charting the paths your spins can take.  

What are Sticky Wilds?

Sticky wilds function like regular wild symbols, but with one key difference. When they land, they stomp their feet and stay in place on the reel position where they appeared. ‘I’m not goin’ anywhere!’

Since they’re locked into one spot, you get more chances to form winning combinations as new symbols drop in around them.

How Do You Trigger Them?

For starters, you need to choose a slot with sticky wilds. Once inside, you trigger them simply by landing them in the base game or a bonus round. They often stay put for the duration of a bonus round, as you see in Johnny Rush, or simply for a certain number of spins. Sometimes they’re accompanied by respins or other special features. If you’re lucky, you might even find a multiplier tied to your sticky wilds. 

What are Walking Wilds? 

Walking wilds, the wanderer of the two, appear initially as a regular stacked or expanding wild, but just when you think you know what it’s up to, it moves!

With every new spin, a walking wild shifts one reel to the left or right. While it does continue its little journey, it doesn’t quite make it to Timbuktu. It’ll stop when it reaches the end of the grid and goes ‘weee!’ off the edge. 

How do You Trigger Them?

That depends entirely on the game. Some games have walking wilds in the base game. Others keep them within the bonus or free spins rounds. Usually, a walking wild will land as a regular wild and expand to fill the reel before it takes off on its walking journey. That said, you can also find it appearing as a single walker, trudging solo through the reels, as you do in the Awesome 7s slot. 

Sticky vs Walking Wilds: Key Differences

Well, for starters, by definition, sticky wilds don’t move. But walking wilds are quite the adventurers, moving from reel to reel. Second, sticky wilds almost always appear as a single symbol, whereas you’ll usually encounter walking wilds as stacked or expanded. Still, there are no rules for whether a sticky or walking wild appears as a single symbol or a stack/expanded. For instance, Mythic Wolf Extreme has an expanding sticky wild, and it’s certainly not the only lone wolf slot that has it.

Finally, a sticky wild builds value by holding one position over multiple spins, but a walking wild builds value by drifting across the reels and influencing different paylines as it travels.

How do Sticky and Walking Wilds Affect Gameplay?

Sticky and walking wilds are essential slot game features, and they both extend your potential over multiple spins, but in very different ways. 

Sticky wilds anchor themselves in place, so every spin that follows has a stronger chance of lining up wins around that fixed point. Walking wilds create movement. They travel across the reels one spin at a time, touching new paylines as they go. If you want to see them in action, try one of our best walking wild slots, Candy Carnival. It has an expanding walking wild so delectable, you’ll want to take a bite (try it – you’ll see!). 

Neither wild affects RTP (return to player) or slot volatility; however, it may be true that more sticky wild slots and walking wild slots have higher volatility overall. 

Why do Players Love Sticky and Walking Wilds?

Players love sticky and walking wilds because both mechanics stretch your winning chances across more than one spin. Sticky wilds give you that locked-in feeling, where a single good position can keep paying off as long as it stays on the grid. If you land a few of them together, they’re a handy structure you can build wins around.

FAQ

Walking, not walking, sticking, respinning…what in the world is going on with sticky vs. expanding wilds? If you still have some questions, stick around and walk with us as we clear them up. 

How often do sticky or walking wilds appear?

There isn’t a black-and-white answer to this, as it depends on the game. Volatility, hit rate, and how the bonus round is structured all influence how often you see them. In a high-volatility slot, a sticky or walking wild might show up less often but have a bigger impact when it does. In a lower-volatility game, these wilds tend to appear more frequently but with smaller overall swings.

Do these mechanics change the RTP?

No. Sticky and walking wilds don’t change the game’s overall RTP. What they do change is how that RTP is distributed. Instead of small, steady wins, these features often cluster payouts into streaks, especially during free spins or respins. The game might feel different even though the long-term return stays the same.

Do sticky and walking wilds increase volatility?

Yes. Both features tend to raise volatility because they can produce streaky outcomes. When a sticky wild locks in or a walking wild starts its journey, the game often funnels more of its payout potential into those moments rather than spreading wins evenly. That means you’ll see fewer wins, but that pop off like boom boom boom all at once, or in other words, high volatility.

Are you a cozy homebody, stuck to your comfy chair like a sticky wild, or are you the ‘get out there and move’ type of person, like a walking wild? Whichever you are, there’s a game for you to explore at SlotsLV Casino. Walk on over to our hundreds of slots, give them a grand spin, and stick the landing with a massive win.