Animals are a massively popular theme in the world of online slots, making star appearances in a number of our biggest games whether they be beloved pets, as is the case in The Dog House, rare creatures such as the panda in Big Bamboo, or even delicious delicacies in Lobster Hotpot.
If there's one thing animal lovers love though, it's putting animals in human roles and we're going to take a look at a selection of slots from Wildz that do just that, ranging from kitty pirates to shark entrepreneurs and a more wacky character in between. So, without further ado...
Dog Heist: Shift 'N' Win
Trouble is brewing down at the pet shop as this gang of mutinous mutts looks to pull off a heist and they might just steal your heart while they're at it, as Dog Heist: Shift 'N' Win is a slot that packs a tonne of charm as well as unique gameplay that might just scratch an itch you didn't know you had.
The gang's getaway van lands as a special Value Symbol, worth up to 20x the bet. To scoop these prizes, you'll need a Collect Symbol to land at the same time. Landing multiple Collect Symbols will collect the prizes multiple times. There's also the Double Collect Symbol to watch out for, which - as the name suggests - doubles the value of all Value Symbols it collects.
The game's kingpin attractive though is its innovative Shift 'N' Win mechanic, which shows up in the bonus round. To see this in action, you'll need to land 3 scatter symbols in the base game. This feature sees the gang try to make off with their loot in their Value Symbol vans, which can now be worth as much as 1,000x the bet. These symbols drop onto the grid and move one space to the left with each spin, being collected into your swag bag when they escape off the grid.
Dino P.D.
And what should you do if a bunch of crafty dogs turn over your shop? Well, don't call these guys, as they'd be about 65 million years too soon.
Dino P.D. continues a theme of dinos doing human stuff that Push Gaming set out in the delightful Dinopolis, with a bunch of terrible lizards running a prehistoric police department.
The game features Dino Coins, which appear in both the base game and bonus round, carrying with them values of up to 1,000x the bet. You'll need to land five or more at once to collect their prizes. Wild Symbols help the action along and here they even award a stomping 250x payout for five.
Landing three scatter symbols awards the game's Bonus Round. A wheel will then appear, randomly selecting Bronze, Silver, or Gold free spins. All three modes award 8-10 free spins, their differences are as follows:
Bronze: Zero or one low-paying symbol is transformed into Dino Coins.
Silver: Two or three low-paying symbols are transformed into Dino Coins.
Gold: Four low-paying symbols are transformed into Dino Coins.
During the bonus round, there are also Coin Collector Symbols in play. Land four of these and the next low-paying symbols to appear on the reels will be transformed into Dino Coins.
Cats of the Caribbean
Flash forward to the 17th Century and a crew of cats who've chosen perhaps a less-than-optimal occupation for animals that typically don't like getting wet.
Cats of the Caribbean see a bunch of house cats get out and about and into some good old-fashioned piracy, offering up a veritable treasure trove of prizes to be won, including "Cat Pots" of up to 10,000x the bet. For a chance at winning one of these "Cat Pots", you'll need to land three Cat Pot Symbols for a spin on the wheel, where Mini, Midi, Major, or Mega Cat Pots can be won.
These felines are truly wild for Wild Symbols, with a Wild Cannon that can fire on any spin, launching anywhere from 2-15 Wilds onto the grid and creating Wild Multipliers when two or more of the cannonballs land in the same place.
The game's Bonus Round is triggered by landing three or more scatter symbols, with one of three variants determined by the type of scatter symbol that appears on the fifth reel.
- Captain Red Free Spins – 15 spins with 90 wilds.
- Captain Catnip Free Spins – 12 spins with 40 wilds.
- Captain Claw Free Spins – 10 spins with 25 wilds.
Throughout the round, the Wild Cannon fires away with the number of Wilds indicated and to make the action even more thrilling, an extra row is added to the grid, as well as ten extra pay lines for more ways to get your plunder.
Shark Wash
Staying at sea now but heading under the surface, it's time to hit the Shark Wash, an establishment that's run by a very fly-looking Great White and features cascading symbol action, meaning that winning symbols disappear and allow new symbols to drop into their places to create new wins. This process continues until no more wins are found, at which point the game moves on to the next spin.
Wild Symbols are once again the order of the day here with another fresh gimmick attached to their use in play. Each Wild Symbol that lands on the grid comes with its own countdown timer of 1-5, the symbol will remain in play for that many spins, with the timer ticking down on each spin until it hits zero and is collected into the Wild Meter.
The Wild Meter grants win multipliers of up to 5x but resets when each cascade ends, in the base game at least. In the Bonus Round, it doesn't reset, meaning you get to enjoy the perks of your hard-won multiplier for the duration of the round. To get in on the Bonus Round fun, you'll need to land 3, 4, or 5 Scatter Symbols for 7, 10, or 15 Free Spins respectively.