Light & Wonder Slots

Light & Wonder has a long history, reaching back a good hundred years in various forms. However, it’s also fair to say that the company today is far removed from what it once was. For the longest time the main products for the company were sports betting, lottery and related equipment. This all changed when this part of the company was sold off. At the same time, they sold off the brand Scientific Games that they’d held for decades, and rebranded into Light & Wonder.

In this review we are going to concentrate on what the company is today, and what it can offer to online casinos and players alike. And whilst they do operate land-based equipment and games, we are going to be paying more attention on the online side of things.

The platform of the company is quite strong, and they operate in most jurisdictions around the world. The games have been certified and tested to be safe and secure. But how do they play out? Let’s have a look.

Studios and Teams

Light & Wonder, or the previous iteration of the company, wasn't actually a slot producer in itself. They concentrated on sports betting and lottery equipment, and this they did in the land-based industry rather than online. Thus much of their expertise in this field came from acquisitions. The most important of these was NYX Gaming, which itself has acquired several companies like Side City, Betdigital, and Game360.

Rather than keeping these brands and studios as independent entities, they seem to have been instead incorporated into the larger company. Most of them stopped publishing new slots around 2018, with NYX itself releasing Reign of the Mountain King close to 2022, after which there seems to have been no new releases under this brand.

Most of these slots, sans the very old ones, are still alive and well. The total number of games runs into several hundred, and includes scratch cards, table games, and other odds and ends in addition to slots.

Most new games are therefore published under the fresh Light & Wonder brand, no doubt with the expertise of all these absorbed studios and teams. The company seems to average several releases per month these days.

Popular Online Slots

As the company has been operating for decades, it’s clear that they have built up a rather strong portfolio. Most of these popular slots are from the newer cast of games, though there are also some that tell a tale of the classic era.

Have a look at the popular Light & Wonder slots:

• Squid Game - One Lucky Day

Yes, this slot is based on the Netflix hit show, and that really shows one's popularity too. The basics of the game use the rather standard method of paylines through five reels. Luckily, the bonus game is themed after the show, and really stands out with interesting features. A must see for all slot fans!

• Monopoly Money Grab

Is it even possible to not know this iconic board game? Now you get to play it on the reels! The bonus wheel forms the base of the special features. These include jackpots and bonus spins amongst other things.

• Blazing Hot 7s

A classic slot with iconic symbols and graphics. The five reels each come with four symbols, and a total of forty paylines through which you can collect your wins. The only bonus feature comes in the form of bonus spins, during which all wilds turn sticky.

• Gold Fish Feeding Time

This is a slot that is clearly ported from land-based terminals. Perhaps not so fitting for mobile devices, but plays just fine on larger screens. There are several bonuses, which trigger through two special symbols. They result in bonus spins with modifiers like bonus coins, bet multipliers, extra wilds, or even jackpots.

• Jewel of the Dragon Prosperity Tortoise

The classic 5x3 grid has a total of forty paylines, so there’s plenty of ways to score wins. Hold & Spin is the major feature in the game, as it can reveal all sorts of jackpot wins. Players can also get their hands on bonus spins.

• Brood of Gods

A bit of a different setup in this one. The play area is a 5x5 grid, where wins are counted as long as there are a minimum of three adjacent matching symbols horizontally or vertically. Wilds are added when winning combinations disappear from the view, and multiplier coins appear whenever you score a win with four or five symbols. And there’s a whole lot more, including bonus spins.

• Cash Falls Outback Fortune

The wins here are considerably larger than what most slots from Light & Wonder offer. The company has also opted for a ways to win system, with a rather outlandish setup for the reels. And of course, there’s some massive fixed jackpots to score. If you want to see the Australian roots of the company in action, check out this slot.

• Rich Little Piggies Hog Wild

Another game with some rich jackpots to score. The game has a bit of a silly theme, but make your way to the bonus spins and you’ll be overwhelmed how deep the setup actually goes. For extra spins this is an excellent choice.

• Mighty Monkey Coin Combo

243 ways to win and six different monkey spin features to choose from. Special Element Coins land during gameplay, each having a chance of triggering their respective bonus games. These include a Jackpot Feature, Red Mystery Envelope Bonus, and many more options full of wins.

• Jin Ji Bao Xi: Endless Treasure

Another Reel Ways game, which is just the Light & Wonder version of ways to win. Here you also get access to a special bet of golden symbols, which adds more valuable symbols into play. A complex array of different special games are available, and sometimes you get to choose which one you’d like to pick. Read up the rules before taking a spin!

• Stargate Megaways

A classic Sci-Fi show, and another example just how strong branded games are with light & Wonder. And they’re doubling down on that, as this is also a megaways game, licensed from Big Time Gaming. And get ready for more surprises once you discover all the different bonus features!

• Invaders Takeover

4096 ways to win is combined with a sci-fi theme, which itself takes influence from some of the oldest video games. A special space wheel comes into play if you turn on the premium play feature. Once you get to bonus spins the reels gain some extra symbol positions, and 10 000 ways to win.

• Dancing Drums Prosperity

An Asian theme, which like in most cases is linked to prosperity and good luck. The Golden Drum symbols trigger bonus spins, which give the player five possible options to choose from. These offer larger reels or more spins, with up 7776 ways to win, compared with 243 in the base game.

• Rainbow Riches

This is in fact a series of slots that date back to 2009, when Barcrest released the original. It has become immensely popular, and is almost always at the top of most played slots at any online casino. There are various versions to try out, and all come with pots of gold!

Some Conclusions

Light & Wonder online slots are surprisingly heavy when it comes to special features. And sometimes the bonus spins require several pages of explanations with all their modifiers. Not that it is necessary to read them, as the games will still function the same. But at least you will understand what is going on, and why the wins keep piling on.

In general, you have all sorts of options when it comes to variance. There are plenty to choose from with medium and high variance, and even several low variance titles. RTPs are a bit so and so. Usually falling a tad bit under the average at around 95% or 94%, although with the latest titles they seem to have caught up with the trend, and are now offering games with 96% RTP.

When it comes to size of the wins the company opts for a somewhat modest approach. Usually the top win is in thousand, and more often than not under five thousand. But there are plenty of exceptions, and it’s not just once or twice that the wins are in the tens of thousands.

Other Casino Games

Vast majority of the games are online slots, but there are still a handful of games that fall under other categories. This is further complemented by the games inherited from the smaller studios like Nextgen Gaming.

Scratch cards are probably the more popular ones from these, including titles like Rainbow Riches Piles of Cash, Stargate Scratch, Loteria, Mad Mad Monkey, and Scratch Starmania.The Green Machine Bingo is rare example of video bingo, and on top of this you will find a handful of versions of roulette, and likewise some video poker games like Fortune Pai Gow Poker.

There are no big surprises here. Perhaps a game or two that you might occasionally play. Apart from the Instant Tap series. Games like Yahtzee Instant Tap, Cash Squares Instant Tap, and Cash Pong Instant Tap offer unique gameplay that you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. These games are fast paced, and often come with a general low level of wins. Excellent for quick gaming.

Unique and Common Mechanisms

The Instant Tap mentioned above seems to be unique to Light & Wonder. Premium play is another unique concept, though the idea behind it is rather common. Basically, you pay an extra bet to get a better chance of landing certain symbols, or bonus spins come around more often, or some such.

However, in this case the function is a bit different. The Premium Play extra bet adds in an extra 50% on the bet, though this number can be smaller or bigger depending on the slot. This then always triggers a game-specific feature whenever you reach a win of a certain amount. For example in Wild Outlaws any win more than 1.6 times the bet gives a chance of winning bonus spins or cash prizes.

Interpretation

Light & Wonder has an extremely strong set of slots, ones that can be found in most online casinos. There is a wealth of games to choose from, and this even includes scratch cards in growing numbers. When it comes to slots you can find pretty much anything you like.

However, the company isn’t all about creating specialized games. Whilst there are Megaways games and other similar systems in use, these tend to be quite rare. By far, ways to win and paylines are the two most commonly used methods.

Jackpots and bonus spins are two of the most important features across all games, and you will run into them more often than not. This doesn’t mean unnecessary repetition though. Pretty much every slot has their unique concept in the case of bonus spins, whilst the Hold & Spin feature that is often associated with jackpots also dished out coin wins.

The games are mobile compatible, save for some of the earliest releases. However, it’s quite clear that the roots here lay in land-based gaming. These games aren’t really made for cell phones or other smaller screens. Luckily, since the rebranding there seems to have been a change in this, and the latest slots are much more fitting.

For a company of its size the only thing that is so far lacking is the addition of bonuses and gamification. Light & Wonder does offer their own platform, and bonus spins and other such promotions do seem to be part of that package. All in all, we would say this is a slot provider that you definitely need to check out. There are a lot of slots to go through, so make sure to start with our recommended classics!