Wild Bazaar Introduction

NetEnt has a knack for keeping upcoming releases under wraps, which can be maddening for curious writers like us—admittedly for purely selfish reasons. The reason is simple: NetEnt, for anyone unfamiliar, has ruled the iGaming space for years, and even with newer studios pushing hard, its spot near the top is still largely secure thanks to classics like Dead or Alive, Jack And The Beanstalk, and Gonzo’s Quest. These hugely popular titles have clearly proven their staying power.

Whatever you think about the recent ups and downs in mathematical design, there’s no denying NetEnt is a powerhouse when it comes to production values, capable of delivering some of the best-looking slots you’ll find anywhere. That’s why we can’t help getting excited whenever a new title appears on the studio’s roadmap. You already know we love slots—and almost as much as playing them, we love writing about them. But enough talk. Let’s dive into Wild Bazaar.

This is a 5-reel, 4-row slot with 26 fixed pay lines and a 96.15% RTP. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. It runs on all devices, with stakes ranging from €0.20 to €400, and it sits somewhere around the middle of the volatility range. One especially nice touch from NetEnt: at any lower bet level, the Max Bet button has to be pressed twice before it activates. Cheers for that, NetEnt.

Stepping back to take in the visuals, the game gives off some quirky Disney-like vibes, likely due to the cartoon style paired with an Aladdin-esque theme. There’s plenty of subtle animation both during spins and while idle: a fan turning, a radio playing, and a soft breeze moving across the screen. Overall, it’s a charming and easy-on-the-eyes setting. As the name suggests, the action unfolds in a Middle Eastern market, framed by an Arabian town backdrop and bright blue skies.

Wild Bazaar Symbols

The lower-paying symbols are various trinkets you’d expect to see for sale in the bazaar—blue, purple, green, and red ornaments. Here’s where things get a little less standard: there are 4 premium symbols, all chests, and they all share the same coin value. Hitting 5 across a full pay line pays 7,5 times the stake . But that’s only part of the story, as we’ll cover in the next section.

Wild Bazaar Wild Spins Features

There’s no Scatter symbol in Wild Bazaar, and there isn’t a classic bonus round that shifts you to a different scene or swaps in a separate reel set. Instead, the premium chest symbols drive the action: whenever 3 or more matching chest symbols land on a winning pay line, you’re awarded one of 4 Wild Spins features for that spin:

• Stacked Wilds – Red Chest Symbol. Once triggered, Wilds can land as full reel stacks.
• Colossal Wilds – Green Chest Symbol. All Wilds show up as 2×2 Colossal symbols.
• Linked Wilds – Pink Chest Symbol. The leftmost and rightmost Wilds on the same horizontal row transform all symbols, including chest symbols, between them into Wilds.
• X2 Multiplier Wilds – Blue Chest Symbol. Any win that includes at least one Wild is multiplied by 2.

The best part is that you can activate ALL 4 Wild Spins features in a single spin, which naturally boosts the chances of hitting a full screen of wilds.

For example, if you land 4 blue chests, you’ll get 4 spins featuring the x2 multiplier wild. Then, if you hit 3 blue chests during one of those 4 respins, 3 additional spins are added to the feature you’re currently playing. If instead you land 3 blue chests and 4 red chests, the game will first run 3 spins with both the Stacked Wilds AND x2 Multiplier features active, and then it will finish with 1 spin that includes only x2 Multiplier Wilds.

Wild Bazaar Conclusion

Wild Bazaar shares a few traits with The Wish Master, the well-known NetEnt slot released in 2014. Both titles revolve around collectable Wild features that can be combined within the same spin. Beyond that, though, the comparison stops—Wild Bazaar isn’t a copy, and it deserves to be evaluated on its own.

So, did we have fun with it? Yes and no. It’s clear that Wild Bazaar is a more “commercial” release aimed at appealing to a wide audience rather than specifically targeting hardcore slot fans. That said, a similar argument was made about The Wish Master at launch—and that game ended up succeeding across every part of the market.

Wild symbols are always a crowd-pleaser, and this game definitely serves up plenty of them. What slightly annoyed us, though, is how surprisingly difficult it can be to land a winning chest combination, even when the reels seem packed with them. The base game can also start to feel a bit repetitive while you’re waiting for features to kick in, since it doesn’t offer much potential on its own. On top of that, a full screen of wilds pays just a 195x win without the multiplier, and 390x with the x2 multiplier, which isn’t particularly thrilling—although it is possible to hit multiple full-screen wilds during the respins. Unfortunately, this release gives the impression that NetEnt is taking yet another step in the wrong direction.

To get the most out of your play, we suggest taking advantage of one of the 200% deposit bonus offers listed on our site.