Wanted Dead or A Wild Slot Review
Most Western slots use the frontier as decoration; Wanted Dead or A Wild actually plays like the place it depicts, mean and mostly empty until somebody draws. A 5×5 grid, 15 paylines, high volatility, a 96.38% RTP and a 12,500x max win sit inside a world of scorched red sky, a dead tree against the sun and a WANTED poster nailed across rough timber, built by Hacksaw Gaming.
We first covered it in 2021 and liked it, and nothing has changed since: the same three bonus modes, the same VS symbol duels, the same rough frontier, now sitting in a catalogue alongside Le Bandit and Rip City. A game this brutal doesn’t soften with age, and that’s mostly to its credit.
How the Base Game Pays
Wins need matching symbols on one of the 15 predefined lines, on adjacent reels from the left. Only the highest win per line counts, and multiple wins in a round add together. Stakes run from 0.20 to 75 per spin, and feature buys can exceed the top of that range.
The wild substitutes for everything except the bonus symbols and the VS symbols, and it’s the richest symbol on the grid at 20x the bet for five. Beyond that, the paytable stacks like this:
- Wild: 20x for five
- Gold coin: 2x for three, 10x for four, 20x for five
- Money bag and whiskey bottle: 1x, 5x, 10x
- Bull skull and outlaw face: 0.5x, 2.5x, 5x
- 10, J, Q, K and A: 0.1x, 0.5x, 1x
All symbol values are multiples of the total bet, so the list reads the same at every stake. A five-of-a-kind royal pays back exactly the spin; the gold coin at five is the only base symbol worth 20x. Two full lines of royals in a round still barely cover the stake, which tells you where the money actually comes from.
VS Symbols and Duels
The VS symbol is the engine of the whole game. It expands when at least one VS symbol forms part of a win, filling its reel and revealing two outlaws, each carrying a multiplier. The duel plays out, the winner’s multiplier covers the reel, and the reel turns wild.
Thirteen multipliers are possible, and the gap between the bottom and the top of the ladder is enormous:
- Low rungs: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, 10x
- High rungs: 20x, 25x, 50x, 100x
Land more than one VS symbol and the values are added together before being applied to the line wins. Land one on every reel and the entire grid counts as wild. The VS symbols appear in the base game and in Duel at Dawn, and nowhere else.
Duel at Dawn
Three or more DUEL scatters in the base game trigger Duel at Dawn, which awards 10 free spins. It’s the same game with one change: more VS symbols in the deck. That’s all it needs to be, because the VS duels are where the money lives.
A reel that duels turns wild and carries a multiplier, so a spin with two or three of them stacked up can escalate quickly. The max win is reachable in this mode, as it is in the base game and in Dead Man’s Hand. It isn’t reachable in The Great Train Robbery.
Dead Man’s Hand
Three or more DEAD scatters trigger the strangest of the three modes. It opens with a collect phase: wilds gather in a counter to the left of the reels, multipliers build on the right, and the goal is to stockpile as many of both as possible before the phase ends.
A meter next to the grid tracks the remaining spins. It sits at three, and every wild or multiplier collected resets it back to three. The collect phase only ends on three consecutive non-winning spins, so a lucky run can keep it going a long while.
After that comes the showdown, a second phase of three spins with everything you banked put to work. Every collected wild lands on the grid for each spin, and every win is multiplied by the collected total. A thin collect phase makes for a thin showdown; a fat one can go anywhere.
The Great Train Robbery
Three or more TRAIN ROBBERY scatters trigger the simplest mode: 10 free spins in which every wild that lands stays sticky for the rest of the feature. No meters, no phases, no duels beyond the usual VS symbols.
Bonus Buy
All three modes can be bought from the base game through the buy menu, and each buy runs at its own RTP:
- The Great Train Robbery: 96.27% RTP
- Duel at Dawn: 96.33% RTP
- Dead Man’s Hand: 96.43% RTP
The most involved mode also returns the most. Duel at Dawn is the one to think hardest about: a genuine all-or-nothing round. Dead Man’s Hand is the more interesting gamble, since the collect phase gives you something to watch before the showdown decides it.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Playing this is mostly a waiting game under a blood-red sky, and the reason to sit through it is the duel: a VS symbol expanding into a wild multiplier reel turns a nothing spin into something in a heartbeat. Nothing else here changes the temperature like that.
The best thing about it is that the three bonus modes genuinely differ. Dead Man’s Hand is the pick, because the collect meter resets on every pick and three quiet spins end it, so each wild feels earned before the showdown pays it out. The worst thing is the dead air between those moments: long stretches of the base game pay next to nothing, and the 12,500x ceiling only comes near in the modes that hit hardest. The Great Train Robbery, sticky wilds and nothing else, barely justifies its own name.
This suits players who like a harsh, patient Western and don’t mind feeding a game that gives little back between duels. Anyone after steady wins or a round that pays regularly should look elsewhere. For the rest, the frontier is still as rough and rewarding as it was in 2021.
Wanted Dead or A Wild FAQs
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What is the RTP of Wanted Dead or A Wild?
The RTP is 96.38%. The three bonus buys each run at their own figure: 96.27% for The Great Train Robbery, 96.33% for Duel at Dawn and 96.43% for Dead Man’s Hand. -
How do VS symbols work in Wanted Dead or A Wild?
A VS symbol expands to fill its reel when it forms part of a win, revealing two outlaws with multipliers between 2x and 100x. The winner’s multiplier covers the reel, which also turns wild. Multiple VS symbols add their values together, and one on every reel makes the whole grid wild. -
How does the Dead Man’s Hand bonus work?
Three or more DEAD scatters trigger it. A collect phase gathers wilds and multipliers, and every collect resets the spin meter to three; three non-winning spins in a row end the phase. Three showdown spins then play out with all collected wilds on the grid and every win multiplied by the collected total multiplier. -
Can you buy the bonus on Wanted Dead or A Wild?
Yes. All three bonus modes can be bought from the base game and should be approached with care. -
What is the maximum win on Wanted Dead or A Wild?
The maximum win is 12,500 times your bet, and it can be achieved in the base game, Duel at Dawn and Dead Man’s Hand modes. When it hits, the round ends immediately and any remaining free spins are discarded. -
How do you trigger The Great Train Robbery?
Land three or more TRAIN ROBBERY scatter symbols in the base game. The feature awards 10 free spins in which every wild that lands stays sticky for the whole round, so the grid fills up as the spins go on. -
What are the minimum and maximum bets?
Bets run from 0.20 to 75 per spin. Feature buys can exceed the top of the standard range. -
How many paylines does Wanted Dead or A Wild have?
There are 15 fixed paylines. Wins need matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left, and only the highest win per line is paid. -
Who makes Wanted Dead or A Wild?
Hacksaw Gaming. It’s one of their most enduring releases, sitting in a catalogue that also includes Le Bandit and Rip City.
