Wanted Dead or a Wild: how to read a slot that hardly ever pays

A deliberately stark slot

Five reels, five rows, fifteen fixed paylines and a colour palette of dust and gunmetal. There is very little going on in the base game, and that is by design: Hacksaw keeps most of the game's value locked in the bonus rounds, so ordinary spins exist mainly to carry you towards them. The studio publishes a return to player of 96.38% on the standard setting and a maximum win of 12,500 times the stake.

The symbol to watch is the VS wild. When it lands, it expands to fill its reel and reveals a multiplier, and in the right place it can turn an otherwise dull line into something serious. Most of the time it lands on a reel that connects to nothing.

The three ways in

Landing scatters opens one of three bonus rounds, each with a different shape. The details below are general; the paytable in the game states the exact rules for the version you are playing.

Where the money hides

A slot's return is an average over millions of spins. In a game like this one, a large share of that average sits in rare events: the premium bonus, the big multiplier on the right reel. Take those out and the remaining spins return far less than 96.38%. That is why a session of 300 spins can feel as if the game is simply taking money, and why the same game can produce a result a gentler slot could never reach.

A useful way to think about it: on Starburst you rent entertainment by the hour at a fairly steady price. On Wanted Dead or a Wild you are buying tickets for a rare event, and most tickets lose.

Bonus buys: a big price for a short wait

Where a casino allows it, the game offers bonus buys priced at several hundred times the stake for the premium rounds. At 20 cent that is a large sum for a single round, and many bought rounds come back well short of their price. Some casinos disable the feature entirely. If you are curious, buy it in the demo a dozen times first and write down what each round paid; the spread is an education.

Playing it without regret

1. Small stakes, long runway. Keep at least 300 spins in the budget. With €60, that means 20 cent a spin.
2. Set the loss limit before the first spin, and stop when you reach it rather than chasing the bonus that 'must be due'. It is not due; each spin is independent.
3. Bank part of any big win at once. Games this volatile give back what they pay if you keep feeding them.
4. Check the RTP in the information screen; reduced settings exist for Hacksaw titles too.

Where it sits in the family

Hacksaw Gaming built a whole catalogue in this style; the studio's approach is set out on Hacksaw Gaming. For a comparable level of risk from another studio, look at the Nolimit City profile. If you want a slot with more going on between bonuses, Gates of Olympus at least pays small tumbling wins along the way, and Book of Dead offers a simpler single-feature game. The broader guide is online slots in Ireland, and if lightning does strike, big wins covers what comes next.

Where to look for high-volatility slots

We cover five casinos, on referral terms. None of them is a promise that a particular title is live; each is a place to look for this kind of game.