The Wild Life

Expert’s Verdict

3.0 Great

Sam Bentham

IGT has some genuine, bonafide classics in its slot collection (Cleopatra and Da Vinci Diamonds to name just two) but the developer was entirely incapable of recreating any of that magic in The Wild Life slot.

The slot game has some good features, namely the free spins bonus, its high win potential and the sticky expanding wilds. Yet it's difficult to ignore graphic quality of the game. Short of a cheap animation of a lion roar that occurs when the wilds expand, the symbols in The Wild Life wouldn't look out of place in 1990s Vegas slots, and for a 2017 release, that just won't fly.

New players might be interested in this slot game, but to be honest even when it comes to very simple slots, there are better options available.

For The Wild Life slot, we give this game a rating of 6/10. To learn more about our assessment and grading of casinos and games, check out our How We Rate page. We work closely with the independent regulatory bodies below to ensure every player on our site has a secure and reliable experience.

Key information

RTP

96.16%

Volatility

High

Max win

1000000

Bets (min/max)

$0.1 - $200

Bonus features

Special Expanding Symbol, Additional Scatters, Sticky Wilds, Wilds with Multipliers

Paylines

10

Software

IGT

Layouts

Unknown

How to Play The Wild Life Slot

Despite being released by IGT in 2017, The Wild Life feels like it dropped decades before then. That is no accident; IGT is known for creating retro-style slots, and the developer has tried to rekindle that magic with The Wild Life.

The reels include a few safari animals, with the lioness being the most lucrative base symbol (250x stake for five), and the lion playing the expanding wild. The scatter symbol is a map of Africa.

Lower-value symbols are represented by the J, Q, K, and A symbols, as Africa apparently doesn't have enough available imagery to keep everything on theme. The card symbols have been decorated to match the design, at least.

Playable from $0.10 to $2,000 per spin on compatible desktop, mobile, and tablet devices, The Wild Life offers a wide bet range.

Unlike most slots, there is no autospin option. In fact, settings are limited in general on this game. Players essentially choose the bet amount and spin the reels. The soundtrack (a low-budget Lion King style theme), which only occurs when the reels are spinning, can be turned off along with the other audio.

How to Win on The Wild Life Slot

In the base game, the biggest wins on The Wild Life slot come from landing five of the lioness symbols across one of the 10 paylines for a win of 250x stake. This can be assisted by the lion wild symbol, which appears on the middle three reels, and expands to fill the whole reel if it's part of a payline.

The lion wild symbol is especially useful in the free games feature, as after landing, the expanded symbols will lock in place for the rest of the feature.

The win potential is decent on The Wild Life, especially considering the relatively high payout percentage of the game. The Wild Slot compares relatively favorably with other retro-themed slots but comes up short when compared to the winning potential of modern online slot games.

RTP & Volatility in The Wild Life Slot

Return-to-player (RTP) percentage is the assumed amount a player will win across $100-worth of hypothetical spins on a particular slot. This average is taken over a series of thousands of hypothetical spins and should certainly not be taken as a guarantee of payout percentage. A 94% RTP slot, for example, would pay out $94 per $100 on average, but may never pay out $94 to a player who bets $100 due to the random nature of slot play.

With an RTP of a little over 96%, The Wild Life has an above-average payout percentage, and can compete well against other slots in this regard.

While the RTP of a slot is used to show how much a slot will pay, the volatility (also known as the variance) is used to give a sense of how that money is likely to be paid out.

The volatility is basically the risk versus reward habits of a slot game. High volatility slots pay out bigger amounts (usually) with long waits possible between wins. Lower variance slots will pay out frequently, but in smaller numbers.

The Wild Life has a high volatility, keeping things interesting for those looking to strap in for a long time of playing. This means the free spins feature may not trigger particularly regularly, but it's very lucrative when it does.

How Does The Wild Life Slot's Winnings Compare to Other Slot Games?

The max jackpot amount, being 250x stake, is acceptable for The Wild Life. Retro-themed slots often have lower payouts, so this is competitive. Compared to other slots released in 2017, however, such as Butterfly Staxx (NetEnt) and A While on the Nile (NextGen), The Wild Life falls well short, unless players are betting at the higher end of the bet range.

The Wild Life Mobile Slots

With frankly disappointing graphics and animations on desktop devices, The Wild Life is well-suited to smaller screens with mobile play.

At least, that would have been the case if this slot had been released way back before the mobile casino revolution. But The Wild Life dropped in 2017, well after visually excellent slot games were available to play on mobile and tablet devices.

While gameplay is fine here, this slot from IGT feels no more modern on phones as it does on desktop.

The bonus feature is the same on mobile, and the win potential is still high. But as with the desktop version, that's all The Wild Life slot has going for it.

The Wild Life Slot Bonuses

Players who like a wide array of bonus features in a slot game may be disappointed with this game. The Wild Life doesn't offer much variety, which can be frustrating, particularly since as a high-variance slot players can be waiting long periods to land a win.

There is one big feature, and it's the free spins game. Three Africa scatter symbols will give 10 spins, while four provide 15 spins, and five will trigger 20.

In this feature, expanding wild symbols will stick to the reels for the duration. If these land early, the free spins round can rapidly increase wins, with the potential to have the middle three reels entirely filled with wild symbols for the feature.

This is a good feature, but it's rare, and it's the only bonus feature in The Wild Life slot.

Free The Wild Life Slot Machine Games

The Wild Life's high variance means players can be waiting a while before the feature or any big wins trigger. To understand fully what this means for gameplay, the best way is to experience it, risk-free.

Free slot games give players the chance to do just that or enjoy some gameplay without having to spend any money. Players looking to try The Wild Life slot can do so at our Free Games Arcade.

These demo versions of games enable players to practice strategy and bet ranges, or just have some fun.

Other Wild Life Slot Games to Play Online

The Wild Life slot has, unsurprisingly, got a wildlife theme. In fact, it's a safari theme, with the wild animals of Africa taking centerstage. Unfortunately, this puts this slot in some exceedingly big company. Safari slots have been extremely popular for a long time, even with progressive jackpot slots like Microgaming's constantly popular progressive jackpot slot Mega Moolah.

This means The Wild Life would have to really impress to stand out against the more established slots based on the same theme. Unfortunately, The Wild Life slot falls short.

For those after a wildlife-themed slot, there are multiple choices available outside of this IGT offering.