Ticket To Wild Slot Review

On September 5th, 2024, we reviewed NetEnt’s Casino Night, a game that captured our imagination with its stylish presentation and unique gameplay. Hence, we thought that we should give NetEnt’s products more attention going forward. In all honesty, we used to avoid them because they were rather simplistic, but given our experience with Casino Night, we decided that we should give newer creations from this legendary provider more recognition and analyze more NetEnt slots.

That line of thinking led us to check out Ticket To Wild, a NetEnt spinner that came out on August 22nd, 2024, which we noticed on account of some positive reviews from players we trust and its unusual theme. At the time of writing, this game did not impress anywhere, ranking best in Finland, where it was among the top three hundred and fifty most-enjoyed titles by Finish gamblers. We think that the mediocrity of many NetEnt products in recent years has cooled off game-of-chance enthusiasts to whatever this company releases, and that is why their spinners do not do as well. Of course, today’s sphere also features loads more high-end competition than it did back in the pre-2020 era.

Here, we explore if Ticket To Wild is another worthy addition to NetEnt’s catalog that deserves exploring, or is it a run-of-the-mill game from this famed Swedish developer.  

Theme & Design

The motif of this game is traveling animals. We are unsure if we have ever seen an online slot with this theme. A few travel-related titles come to mind, the first being Travel Fever by OnAir Entertainment. Then, we can think of the Betsoft classic The Tipsy Tourist, which is more of a beach slot, but we assume Cash Cruise by Spinoro and Frequent Flyer by Relax Gaming can fit this category. So, on second thought, we guess that there are not many travel spinners out there. Therefore, NetEnt is somewhat traversing little walked ground in the slotverse with this release.

The presentation of this game is pretty good, but we expect that from NetEnt. The Ticket To Wild slot has painterly graphics that depict an anthropomorphic cow and bull, which get featured on the intro page and promo materials but do not appear as in-game symbols. The reels here spin inside a suitcase, which appears to be packed with female accessories and pieces of clothing.

Ticket to Wild has а late-1990s, early-2000s Cartoon Network visual style, and light music that sets a playful tone, and adds to a charming vibe here. The sound effects are also not too-in-your-face, which is a common problem with the online slot genre.

The buttons get presented via a straightforward bottom screen interface, with the bet selector set centrally, flanked by the settings button to the left and the auto-play one to the right. You also see your win info in the bottom right corner of the screen and your site balance in the left one.  There is also a black bar at the very bottom, which has links to the help and pay pages. All that is pretty standard for releases from this company.

Specs & Gameplay

Ticket to Wild has a default 5×3 grid that expands by one row, boosting the number of pay lines from twenty to twenty-five.  The RTP of this slot is 96.13% and has a medium-high variance level. It has a x3,110 max win, a betting range that starts at $0.10, moving up to $20. NetEnt does not list a theoretical hit frequency for this release, which has a lower-than-expected max bet in our eyes.

You get rewards in Ticket to Wild by landing three to five identical tokens on this slot’s defined twenty to twenty-five paylines. The low-pay ones are five royals – A, K, Q, J, and 10, paying wins from x0.60 to x2 when five matching symbols from this group hit on a spin. You also get four high-pay symbols here. These are postcards of Japan, India, France, and Australia, the latter being the highest-paying ones, producing wins of x10 for five-of-a-kind combinations. The other three supplies wins of x3, x4, and x5 for five-of-a-kind combos for five matching Japan, India, and France postcards, respectively.

You have a ticket wild here that pays x10 for five and substitutes all the pay tokens.

Bonus Features

You have a unique Credit Card feature linked to reel counters and a progress bar with four milestones. The card mode is available in the base game; landing a Credit Card symbol on any reel adds one pin to the reel counter above it. Reel counters are active on all reels during the base game, and each starts with a maximum of three pins once it reaches its pin cap, a Ticket Wild gets triggered, which remains on the reels for three spins after it lands.

The progress bar is also active during the base gameplay. When an ink blob appears on a symbol, it increases it by one. There are four milestones, each unlocking an enhancement. Once all of these are completed, ink blobs no longer appear. The first asks for fifty and increases the Ticket Wild’s duration by a spin. The second requires one hundred blobs, and it unlocks the twenty-five paylines. The third has a one-hundred-and-fifty blob requirement. It reduces the counter’s max to two pins, making Ticket Wilds easier to activate. Lastly, the fourth adds an x2 multiplier to wilds and requires two hundred blobs.

Hitting three scatters on the first, third, and fifth reels gives you ten free spins in a round where two wilds get awarded on the first spin and remain for the duration, moving around the grid on every subsequent spin.

GOSU Verdict

Some gamblers are sure to find Ticket to Wild from NetEnt charming, and we agree. But in all other aspects, this slot barely squeaks out an above-average ranking from us. The max win is not stunning when combined with the top wager and the variance model. And while we like the progress bar and the ticket wild gimmick, we doubt these will hook many veteran players. Thus, we would call this title an okay one for casual online gamblers, but it is not something that will appeal to more experienced reel-spinning fanatics.

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