Katya Machuganova, Gaming Product & Partnership Manager at Silverback Gaming, says the mechanic is hugely popular right now as players seek more thrilling experiences and greater value from each spin.
The number of Hold and Win slots hitting the market is on the rise. What is driving this trend?
Players want to experience slots that build anticipation and put them on the edge of their seats spin after spin. Hold and Win slots do this by locking one reel in place and then respinning the other reels to create additional opportunities to trigger bonuses or land more win combos.
Players also seek slots that add value to their gameplay and Hold and Win provides this in spades with the additional bonus trigger and win opportunities that come when the feature is in play.
Of course, players don’t want to spend too long having to learn a new or overly complex mechanic and given the simplicity of Hold and Win, it hits the mark in this regard, too.
Studios play close attention to player preferences, and this is why we have seen an influx of Hold and Win slots hitting the market in recent months.
What makes Hold and Win slots so popular with players?
The Hold and Win mechanic has been around for a very long time, so most players are familiar with what it is and how it works. For those new to the mechanic, its simplicity means they can understand how it works and, more importantly, how it helps them win in just a couple of spins.
The mechanic delivers thrilling gameplay, offering frequent opportunities to trigger bonuses and additional win combos while building tremendous anticipation in the process. This in turn drives player engagement and helps to keep them invested in the game.
Hold and Win has its roots in classic slots but seems to transfer well to video slots. Why is this?
The flexibility of the mechanic means that it works incredibly well for both classic and video slots.
For the former, it adds to the experience without taking too much away from the stripped-back gameplay that makes classic slots so popular with a certain type of player.
With video slots, it can be used with pretty much any theme and combined with other mechanics and bonus features to provide a gripping player experience for those who like more complexity from the slots they play.
In short, Hold and Win gives studios plenty of scope whether developing classic or video slots.
Does the mechanic work best with specific themes?
Not really. The flexibility of the mechanic means it can be wrapped around pretty much any theme, from classic fruit machines to race car-themed games like our recent release, Race4Gold.
For me, mechanics are about bringing the theme to life through the gameplay and Hold and Win is effective at doing this regardless of the theme of the game.
The trick for the studio is to ensure the emotions the mechanic generates within the player – excitement, anticipation, elation – tie in with the narrative of the game and this requires the feature to drop at the right time and at the right hit rate.
This makes it a math challenge and one that our team has worked hard to crack in Race4Gold.
How have you used the mechanic in Race4Gold? Have you combined it with other bonus features?
So in Race4Gold we have used Hold and Win in the form of the Pitstop Lock bonus. After each base game win, the player can choose which reels to Lock (or Hold) and which to Respin – they do this for an adjusted bet amount with the price for locking each reel displayed at the bottom of the gameboard.
The reels then Respin for the chance to trigger more of the game’s bonus features or land additional wins. This is combined with other bonuses including Free Games, Superspins (which include Multipliers) and Wild Pitstop, which sees Wilds drop and then Lock into position for the duration of the Free Games.
In fact, this is a really great example of how the Hold and Win feature can be deployed in different ways throughout the same game.
Have you been able to bring something new to the Hold and Win?
With Race4Gold we have given players control over when to Lock and Respin the reels which is something new and exciting for them to explore. Players are seeking greater control over the gameplay, which is hard to provide with RNG slots.
But the Hold and Win mechanic has allowed us to do this with players able to choose which reels to Hold and which to Respins for an increased bet amount.
This allows them to assess the result of each spin and then decide if they think there’s an opportunity to trigger a bonus to increase the win by Locking and Respinning.
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