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IGT has had a highly successful run thus far with Wheel of Fortune Slots, and for their 30th anniversary they’re pulling out all the stops. We shared some of the exciting things to expect in our coverage of G2E last year, and now the games are arriving on casino floors!
One of their marquee releases to celebrate the anniversary is Wheel of Fortune Cash on ReelsTM, bringing together two strong formats: The Cash on Reels elements IGT introduced in the Tiger and Dragon™ series, with the exciting Wheel of Fortune Wheel. The release has two versions, Reel Boost and Super Spin, which largely play the same except for special wedges on the Wheel of Fortune wheel.
Base Game
Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels starts with a familiar 5×3 reel set and a set of bet choices between $1 and $50 a spin on the traditional 1 cent denomination.
The reels are full of symbols: The lowest paying royal symbols, the premium prize symbols (invoking the amazing prizes you can win on the TV show), and two types of bonus symbols, linking to the Rise Bonus and Respin Bonus.
But the stars of the show, at least on the base game, are the gongs, which link to the Cash on Reels Feature, a frequently occurring element on its own, but is also front and center in the various features and bonuses.
Cash on Reels Feature
One of the brilliant aspects of the Cash on Reels element is you don’t need a large collection of gongs to be rewarded – just two gongs side by side is enough to get win credits. Of course, more gongs consecutively aligned in a row will pay more, and the numbers that are displayed read across to confirm how many credits you’ve won. Gongs can house one or two digits.
The first time it happens is an aha moment – it’s such an easy-to-understand structure, and it happens frequently enough that you can get excited about the arrival of the gongs.
Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels also features the all-important Up Arrows. If one or more appear on a gong, it will move over to first gong position, increasing the number and with it your credit prize. They can quickly boost the prize to some Big Money moments! Keep an eye out for the diamond arrow, which can boost the prize more than the standard arrows.
The Wheel of Fortune symbol can also appear on a gong, which offers the opportunity to trigger the big wheel!
The Wheel
Trigger the iconic Wheel of Fortune Wheel, which can happen in the base game (randomly with any Wheel of Fortune symbol) or within another bonus (guaranteed with a Wheel of Fortune symbol), and it opens the door to additional rewards.
Along with credit prizes, multipliers, boosts (which add an Up Arrow to one of your rows of gongs), static jackpots and progressives, there is a unique wedge for each of the two versions of the game available:
- Reel Boost version: The Cash wedge will add additional gongs on top of the ones that landed already, increasing the chances of longer connected rows of gongs, and with it bigger credit prizes!
- Super Spin version: The Super Spin wedge triggers a respin that will add gongs to the reels for a better chance of bigger credit prizes.
Respin Bonus
The Respin Bonus is a fun twist on the traditional Lock & Respin Bonus format. It’s triggered automatically when you get three Respin Bonus symbols on the reels, but any one symbol can also randomly trigger it.
You get three spins to land more gongs. Do so, and the spin counter resets. Go three spins without another gong, and that portion of the bonus is over.
However, then each gong spins through numbers until it stops to reveal a 1 or 2 digit number, or those helpful Up Arrows. The Up Arrows work identically to the Cash on Reels Feature, increasing the number on the leftmost gong to increase that number and the credit prize. Wheel of Fortune symbols are also available to award a guaranteed spin of the wheel.
You can win multiple prizes, as gongs can line up horizontally on multiple rows. The strongest opportunity is to get all five gongs across, since that’s at least a 5-digit number that translates to a lot of dollars and cents. Manage that and some up arrows and you’re looking at Big Money indeed!
Rise Bonus
The Rise bonus features just a single spin, but the board increases to a 5×8 size. Similar to the Respin bonus, three Rise Bonus symbols trigger it automatically, but even one on the reels can randomly award it.
The hope is to land as many gongs, particularly in consecutive places horizontally, and then the Cash on Reels Feature plays out similarly to the base game feature, complete with Up Arrows and Wheel of Fortune symbols.
Rise and Respin Bonus
Land five bonus symbols, one on each reel, and the Rise and Respin Bonus is triggered automatically. However, landing one each of the Rise and Respin bonus symbols on the reels offers a chance to trigger this one at random.
In this bonus, as you would expect by its name, it merges aspects of the Rise and Respin bonuses. The Respin bonus elements include the three spins to collect gongs element (with the counter resetting each time you successfully land a gong on the unlocked reels). The Rise element is a 5×8 reel set.
The unique elements are that the higher reel rows are locked, being unlocked based on the number of gongs you land on unlocked rows. Land enough gongs and not only can you unlock all eight rows, but you can even unlock the Grand progressive jackpot!
Watch Brian Christopher Play Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels
The Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels slot had its world premiere at Yaamava’ Casino and Resort. Brian visited the property shortly after launch and filmed this action-packed video offering a deep dive into what you can expect:
Learn More About Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels
Wheel of Fortune Cash on Reels is just one of the bigger parts of Wheel of Fortune Slots’ 30th anniversary. To learn more, check out the website dedicated to the anniversary:
