Introduction to Dancing Wilds
Dancing Wilds is a casino slot from LeoVegas Studios, retelling a peculiar story about a real-life phenomenon that occurred in Strasbourg in 1518. Known as the Dancing Plague, the incident involved a few hundred people who danced uncontrollably in the streets for weeks without any musical accompaniment. To this day, it has not been established what caused this bizarre behavior, but some theories speculate it was stress-induced mass hysteria, while others point to ergot poisoning. Whatever the cause, LeoVegas Studios decided to recreate those events in their medieval-themed game, where Death itself will take a leading role, acting as Walking Wilds that will assist you on the road to big wins. During the grand finale, meaning the game's main bonus round, you'll get to choose your destiny from mysterious cards that will reveal a selection of helpful modifiers.
If you're ready to join the dancing crowds and compete for the top prize of 5,000x the bet, look for the hooded Reaper in your favorite casino, but if you prefer some practice beforehand, there's a demo available at the top of this page.
Ben Caruana, Marketing Coordinator at LeoVegas Studios, had this to say:
"With Dancing Wilds, we wanted to explore the strange whimsy at the heart of the 1518 Dancing Plague-a real event that feels more like folklore. The game walks a fine line between eerie and playful, with features like Walking Super Stacks and wild transformations that mirror the uncontrollable rhythm of the story. Visually, we drew from the surreal energy of Hieronymus Bosch, mixing historical oddity with a vibrant, theatrical aesthetic. The result is a slot experience that feels alive-unpredictable, captivating, and just a little bit mad."
Theme, Gameplay & Payouts
Dancing Wilds is a video slot from LeoVegas Studio with 5 reels, 3 rows, and 20 paylines. The game offers a wide range of bet options, allowing you to choose your stake from as little as a Min.bet of 0.20 up to a Max.bet of 200. Running the game's engine is a default RTP of 95.00%, which is significantly lower than the industry average. You'll also experience medium-high volatility, which should make wins slightly less frequent but more valuable on average. The maximum prize achievable within a single spin is 5,000x the bet, and it takes 319 spins on average to trigger the bonus round. If you have Ante Bet activated, it instead takes on average 1 in 141 spins.
The action of Dancing Wilds, just like the peculiar plague, takes place on the streets of medieval Strasbourg. As you stand in the middle of a main alley, surrounded by townhouses and looking at a towering Gothic cathedral in the distance, you'll enjoy upbeat music and flower petals raining down from the sky. The image seems to be either the prelude or the aftermath of the historical events, as there are no dancing crowds in sight, and the environment seems eerily unpopulated, so it's best you focus on the playing grid in the middle. That's the place where meeting the dancing Grim Reaper may lead to some increased excitement. If you're ready for the encounter, the game awaits on most modern devices, like desktops, smartphones, and tablets, with its optimized, responsive design.
The paytable hierarchy comprises 9 regular symbols, which deliver payouts whenever you see at least 3 matching ones (or 2, in the case of the high-paying icons) on any of the paylines. Additionally, each qualifying sequence must follow adjacent reels, beginning from the leftmost one. Among the low-paying symbols, you'll find emblems from playing cards, including 10, J, Q, K, and A, awarding from 2x to 4x the bet for sets of 5 on a payline. High-paying icons include 4 pictures of citizens, depicting a beggar, a guard, a dancing woman, and a man with a flower, granting payouts worth between 7.5x and 20x the bet when you hit a combo on a payline spanning all 5 columns. Additionally, reels will hold Wilds represented by a dancing skeleton and Scatters depicting a lute.
Special Features & Slot Mechanics
What is the max win in the slot Dancing Wilds?
You can win up to 5,000x the bet.
What features are available in the slot Dancing Wilds?
The features are Walking Wilds, Free Spins, and Feature Buy & Ante Bet.
Walking Wilds
Wilds perform their traditional role of substituting for regular symbols during win evaluation, but they can also form independent combinations, awarding up to 25x the bet per 5-of-a-kind hit. Additionally, a Wild landing on the grid triggers respins and becomes a Walking Wild. It will move one column to the left per respin until it reaches the edge of the grid, where it disappears. Respins continue as long as there is at least one Walking Wild still on the grid.
Free Spins
A set of 3, 4, or 5 Scatters landing anywhere on the grid awards 12 free spins along with 6, 8, or 10 picks of the assisting modifiers. Retriggering the round awards 3 extra spins and 3, 4, or 5 additional picks, respectively. Before the game begins, you'll get to select tarot cards to activate the boosters that will be active throughout the round.
Super Stacked Wild = all Wilds appear as 3x1 stacks.
Wild Conversion = transforms the displayed high-paying symbol into a Wild for the duration of the bonus.
Symbol Expander = expands the selected symbol along the entire reel and awards another win evaluation.
Multiplier Wild +1 or +2 = adds a +1 or +2 multiplier to Wilds.
Extra Free Games = awards 2 or 3 extra spins.
Remove Low Pay = removes the displayed low-paying symbol from the reels for the duration of the bonus.
Feature Buy & Ante Bet
If you are eager to reach the bonus round faster, you can either activate the Ante Bet or trigger it instantly for a fixed buy-in.
1.5x = Ante Bet, increasing the trigger frequency of the bonus round to 1 in 141 spins on average.
120x = instantly triggers the bonus round with 3, 4, or 5 Scatters.
Final Thoughts on Dancing Wilds
LeoVegas Studios has undoubtedly chosen an original subject to base their medieval slot on. While there are games out there talking about some key historical figures and events, like Napoleon: Rise of an Empire by Blueprint Gaming or Pearl Harbor by Nolimit City, the Dancing Plague is one of the lesser-known incidents. It surely gives the setting an instant boost of intrigue, as long as it's appropriately depicted and envelops the topic in an atmosphere that reflects the actual character of the phenomenon. In Dancing Wilds, despite the artwork, soundtrack and the overall feel being properly medieval and of good quality, we didn't get to experience that unsettling sensation of the bizarre craziness that overtook the people of Strasburg. This could have been a genuinely intense and captivating theme if it had explored the matter more deeply, especially diving into the minds of those who fell victim to the plague. Focusing more on the dancing activity itself could also bring in more substance, and yet all we got were timidly twirling skeletons during the Walking Wild feature. Altogether, the theme is fine and functional, but also feels like a wasted potential for something truly moving.
Behind the scenes, the arrangement of features doesn't exactly tip the scales in the game's favor. At its core, we have Walking Wilds sliding across the grid and awarding respins, a mechanism that's been around since 2013, the year of Jack and the Beanstalk's release by NetEnt. Then, there are some uninspiring modifiers thrown on top of classic free spins to shuffle things around. Obviously, nobody would ever complain about some extra spins, additional multipliers, removed low-paying symbols, or additional expansions on the high-paying ones. Still, they just don't feel significant enough to reshape the usual free spins experience. It's nice to have respins within free spins, as the combination of the two can turn the session into a really long and fruitful one, but again, it's just more of the same over and over.
Dancing Wilds felt like a massive opportunity for an intense and intriguing slot, but turned out to be a relatively mediocre product with a shallow story and gameplay.
