Hold-and-spin as a slot game mechanic takes its place alongside the wheel and free spins.
The evolution of the slot machine has brought new game mechanics in waves. They appear in one mega-hit slot machine, they are adapted by other manufacturers, and eventually, they become a feature used liberally in slot design, each designer giving it his or her own spin.
The wheel certainly fits this story line. The bonus wheel was one of the earliest examples of a feature that works for everyone. Its first big splash, of course, was with IGT’s Wheel of Fortune, but that used the same patent as Bally’s Wheel of Gold released a year before, and there were various iterations of it long before those mid-1990s releases. But once patent issues were no longer a concern, every manufacturer launched its own versions of wheel-spinning games.
The free-spin round is another feature that eventually became part of virtually every new video slot from every supplier.
Both of these time-tested game mechanics are still used widely, but more often than not these days, it is in concert with a feature that has become the latest go-to among game designers: the hold-and-spin feature. Hold-and-spin is the new wheel, the new free-spin round, and it increasingly dominates the slot design landscape.
The mechanic consists of a simple concept, one to which various designers have given their own spins in countless new games: A symbol, usually a “cash-on-reels” symbol (that is, simply displaying a dollar or credit amount) serves as a trigger for a bonus event-say, six of the symbols scattered on the reels triggers the bonus.
Those symbols stay in place, awarding their accumulated value and locking in for what is typically three free spins of the remaining reels. As long as at least one of the symbols lands, the spin count returns to three, and the player is awarded the cumulative bonus. All the cash symbols remain until three spins without any more symbols, at which point the player is awarded the accumulated bonus value. If all the spots on the reel array fill with the special symbols-commonly called a “blackout”-a top progressive jackpot is usually awarded.
Lightning in a bottle
The game generally recognized as the granddaddy of this kind of game mechanic is Aristocrat’s Lightning Link-designed by Scott Olive, the legendary Aristocrat game designer who in 2020 was inducted into Game Developer Hall of Fame by Eilers & Krejcic Gaming.
Olive, who now creates games exclusively for the supplier from his HRG Studios in Australia, says the hold-and-spin mechanic-trademarked as Hold & Spin by Aristocrat-evolved from several ideas that were already out in the marketplace. “Our games are a mix between new ideas and things that have worked well in the past,” Olive said.
“It was an iterative process as the mechanic evolved over a number of games before Lightning Link. Pieces of the Hold & Spin mechanic can be found in all those early games, but it came together in Lightning Link.”
It did indeed-several of the top-performing games listed monthly in the premium and wide-area progressive categories of EKG’s monthly Eilers-Fantini Game Performance Report are typically versions of Lightning Link or its successor, Dragon Link.
“The Hold & Spin game style has a strong player following, as shown by the sustained performance of Lightning Link, Dragon Link and Dollar Storm over many years,” Olive said. “Of course, we have our most popular features in our new games together with some new ideas. We plan to evolve our style of game by continuing to give the players what they love with some exciting new twists and turns along the way.”
Spreading the wealth
The sudden universal appeal of the hold-and-spin game style among players has prompted virtually every major game supplier to utilize a form of the mechanic in a substantial number of new titles year after year.
“Hold and re-spin games are attractive to a wide variety of players and have been for many years,” said Anthony Baerlocher, vice president of product management, innovation and mechanical reels at IGT. “Quality hold-and-re-spin games are easy for players to understand, and the games amplify the fun by showcasing what we call ‘money on the reels.’ Players clearly see that the achievable credits and incremental game play excitement are driven by the prospect of landing additional symbols that keep the feature going.”
“When I look at hold-and-spin, I see it as a breakthrough game mechanic when it hit the market,” said Nathan Drane, senior vice president of global product management at Scientific Games.
“I think it gained players’ attention because of its simplicity combined with the depth of experience. It’s simple in the sense that it is ‘what you see is what you get.’ It’s cash on the reels, it brings cash and cash prizes to the forefront. Instantly, players understand this mechanic. They’re chasing cash.”
Mike Brennan, chief product officer for Bluberi, believes the hold-and-spin mechanic presents “a really fascinating combination of elements and mechanics that really were already accepted by players in the past, but packaged and presented really nicely.”
Brennan, who was a longtime slot development executive for IGT before moving to Bluberi last year, said hold-and-spin combines cash-on-reels, free spins and scatter pays to create a new experience. “Scatter pays have been around, free spins have been around, and even independent reels that lock and re-spin have been around,” he said, offering the old WMS game series Spinning Streak as an example of an early version of hold-and-spin.
“The fact the mechanic has rejuvenated some tried-and-true elements of mechanics that were player favorites but might have been a little dormant … The appeal is intrinsic because it is based on elements that already exist,” Brennan explained. “If you play the hold-and-spin games, the fact that you slowly build and collect towards a blackout, whether that’s 15 symbols on a five-by-three or something else, really makes the top award feel more attainable than any other modern progressive playoff I can think of.”
Other prominent game developers give a similar outlook on hold-and-spin. “The biggest appeal of hold and re-spin is the anticipation,” said Keith Kruczinski, vice president of game development and design for Gaming Arts. “‘Will I get one more!?’ ‘Can I climb higher!?’ ‘Only one more, and I’ll get to the top!’ That kind of anticipation is exceptionally exciting.
“The simplicity of the hold-and-re-spin mechanic is one of its intrinsic appeals,” said Loren Rosenberg, senior vice president and chief product officer at Everi Holdings. “The mechanic is simple in concept, making it easy for players to understand what they stand to win, which is easier than worrying over a variety of symbol types, pay line configurations, and which symbols pay the most.”
“Hold-and-spin provides engagement and anticipation,” said Steve Walther, vice president of product management, slots for AGS. “Players know that if they collect a certain amount of symbols with hold-and-spin values that they will trigger a bonus feature that will award them the values on the symbols. Collecting more symbols usually leads to a longer bonus and higher prizes. Some innovations like Imperial 88 games will allow players to collect all their values instantly and continue while also providing multipliers to help boost the values.”
Growing presence
The hold-and-spin phenomenon is still growing, with increasing percentages of product maps from all slot suppliers devoted to the mechanic, or at least featuring it in concert with other popular game features.
“Over the last few years, approximately 25-30 percent of the themes from AGS have some form of hold-and-spin mechanic,” noted Walther. “Some of the hold-and-spin games have been high-earning games for operators, but there are other categories like persistence games that have earned more.”
Walther said Money Charged and the Imperial 88 series have been among the top AGS games in the genre.
Other suppliers are just getting started in terms of creating new experiences with hold-and-spin. “We’re developing tracks where we can create some special sauce and then kind of reutilize it and have some learnings, and then add some new elements and iterations,” explained Bluberi’s Brennan. “And we have a hold-and-spin track. Our No. 1 game in the market right now, Colossal Dragons, uses the hold-and spin bonus. And we are committed to using it in a portion of our roadmap.”
“We really try to spend most of our time innovating and not imitating,” said Gaming Arts’ Kruczinski. “That being said, we do have an adaptation of the hold-and-re-spin feature in our Fortune Finders series. Moving forward, likely less than 10 percent of our games will have this kind of mechanic.”
Other suppliers, like Scientific Games, are using hold-and-spin in a major way. “I characterize it as the largest percentage of our portfolio in terms of mechanics,” said Drane. “We break our portfolio down into nine mechanics, and hold-and-spin would be the largest percentage of those nine mechanics.
“But I almost view it now as hold-and-spin is like the old free games. Players are expecting that more and more. That’s why you’re seeing so many games come out with hold-and-spin, and it may not even be the main event. It may be there’s a hold-and-spin feature within the game or within a bonus board or another element of the game, but it is still the hold-and-spin feature the players are expecting and loving. So yes, it is a very large percentage and the largest category in our portfolio.”
Drane said Ultimate Fire Link represents “the most prolific install base” for SG in terms of hold-and-spin on premium games. In the for-sale library, the winner is Lock-It-Link, which “has had many incarnations, so it really tracks the evolution of hold-and-spin in the market,” he noted. “It’s no longer one experience. You are now seeing different permutations.”
Going forward, Drane thinks hold-and-spin will best be utilized in combination with other popular features, be it free spins, wheels, expanding reels, or any of the various “pot” collecting games on the market. “Mash-ups combining these features continue to be popular,” he said.
Here to stay
All this means the hold-and-spin mechanic is going to be around the slot development universe for a long time.
“Hold & Spin will continue to be another mechanic that can be used to engage players,” said Walther at AGS. “Suppliers will continue to innovate on this feature to provide exciting new thrills.”
“I don’t see it going anywhere,” said SG’s Drane. “I think it’s ingrained. I think it’s a player-favorite mechanic which has become akin to a free games feature. And I just see it evolving not, not going away.”
“I think it will continue to evolve,” agreed Bluberi’s Brennan. “When somebody deconstructs and recreates the emotion and the elements of hold-and-spin, perhaps the jackpot chase in a slightly different form, I think that approach will gain traction. I think the elements of hold-and-spin that attract players are definitely here to stay.
“We believe we can expect the hold-and-re-spin mechanic to be popular for the foreseeable future if it continues to appeal to and engage players,” said Everi’s Rosenberg. “It’s natural for the mechanic to fade in popularity over time as more novel, innovative mechanics are introduced, but the hold-and-re-spin mechanic is highly favored by players at current.”
“Given that it has been around for at least 15 years in some form or another, I’d liken (hold-and-spin) to a free games feature,” added Gaming Arts’ Kruczinski. “It will never go away, but we’ll keep seeing better, cooler, and even more fun adaptations of it.”
“Hold and re-spin has been around for almost 15 years and had a strong rebirth about five or six years ago,” said IGT’s Baerlocher. “Given that longevity, I believe it’s something we’ll see on casino floors for another 15 years or more, and an area where IGT will continue to direct a portion of its innovation resources.”
“It is now one of the core key mechanics in the future of gaming, just like free spins and expanding reels once were,” said Jon Hanlin, Aristocrat’s senior vice president, commercial strategy and business analytics. “It is now a consistent part of our business and will remain a staple in the industry.”
“The Hold & Spin mechanic makes the game exciting and simple to follow,” said Olive. “It’s very easy to learn and appeals to all types of players. Simplicity always drives the best results.”
