Hot Zones and Returning Wilds
In both base game and free spins rounds, hot zones are central to the gameplay. Here is how they work.
When a wild symbol lands anywhere it will create a hot zone around itself. Hot zones remain in play until an Oracle symbol lands to activate them in the Returning Wilds feature. The Oracle symbol is represented by the lady with the crystal ball and she only appears on reel 5. When she appears, all symbols that are in hot zones become wilds.
The Oracle activating hot zones in testingAnd that’s not all. If another wild lands in a hot zone as it is waiting to be activated, then this adds a multiplier value to the hot zone, which will be applied to the wild that appears there when the Oracle drops onto reel 5.
What does this all mean?! Effectively, you are building towards a moment when all hot zones will be filled with wilds and wild multipliers. Potentially, the longer you wait for the Oracle to appear, the more hot zones may form on the reels and the greater your payout will be.
Free Spins With Persistent Hot Zones
There are two free spins rounds in the game. To trigger the first you will need to land 3 or more scatter symbols, represented by the eye on the triangle. Scatters only land on reels 2, 3 and 4.
The free spins round – 7 spins with persistent hot zonesTo start, you get 7 spins. During the round, hot zones are persistent. That means, if they are activated by the Oracle, after the wild transformations and payouts, they don’t disappear, but instead remain in place for the next Oracle to land when the process repeats.
This is powerful because it means you can keep adding more hot zones and building bigger multipliers as more wilds land in them. The round ends when you run out of spins, but it can be extended as each time the Oracle lands another spin is awarded.
Super Free Spins With Sticky Wilds
The second free spins round is called Super Free Spins. This is triggered by landing 3 or more scatters when the Oracle also lands on reel 5.
In this enhanced feature, there are no hot zones. Instead, all wilds are sticky when they land and carry a multiplier. For each subsequent spin, when the Oracle lands then the value of those multipliers increases by 1x.