Wild Water: catching waves with stacked surfer wilds

Surf's up

NetEnt's Wild Water opens on a beach with breaking waves behind the reels. The symbols are surfboards, sunglasses and other beach-bum gear, with card ranks below them. The music is easy-going guitar, and the whole thing looks like a 1970s surf poster brought to life. It is a game you can leave running in a window and still enjoy.

The surfers

The wilds are the surfers, and they matter because they can come in stacks. A tall column of surfer wilds on a middle reel connects a lot of lines at once, which is where the base game's best spins come from. When two stacked reels appear together, the payout jumps noticeably.

The free spins are the main feature. Scatter symbols trigger them, and during the round the surfers play an even bigger role, with extra wilds added to the reels to help lines connect. More scatters in the round give more spins. The exact counts are on the paytable.

Playing Wild Water free

The Wild Water demo starts you with 1,000 virtual credits in your browser, no download and no account. A few things to try:

• Play 200 spins at a stake equivalent to £0.20 and count how many times a full surfer stack lands.
• Note the gap between free spins rounds; it tells you how patient the game expects you to be.
• In the bonus, watch how many surfers are added and where they appear.

Most of the excitement in Wild Water comes in bursts, so judge it after a decent number of spins rather than the first few minutes.

Who should give it a go

Players who like stacked wilds and a relaxed theme will find Wild Water easy to settle into. It suits mobile play too, as the bright colours read well on a small screen. The same game is available for real money at the casinos below.