Best Western Themed Slots [2023]
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Like pirates, Leprechauns, and Egyptians, the Wild West narrative is hugely attractive to online slot developers. It connects people and treasure. It invokes luck and jeopardy. Can you find the gold of El Dorado? Will you beat the bandits and save the bounty? Are the Indians about the plunder that wagon train? Saddle up, grab that slot, and let’s spin.
Top Western Themed Slots
Wild West online slots come in a multitude of different flavours. From rangers and bison, to shoot outs and the Mississippi Queen, we’ve picked a few of our favourite rootin’, tootin’ online games that are quick on the draw and hit their target every time.
Wanted Dead or a Wild Slot
| Developed By | Reels | Paylines | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacksaw Gaming | 5 | 15 | 96.38% |
Wanted Dead or a Wild is an atmospheric online slot from self-proclaimed industry disrupters, Hacksaw Gaming. It’s five reels, five rows, and 15 paylines of action, set on top a moody comic book-style image, with a setting sun and a broken tree; all very Spaghetti Western. Icons include a buffalo’s skull, whisky, the barrel of a gun, a Stetson, and a bag of cash. The wild symbol is the base game’s jackpot at 20x the stake. There are three more icons of interest: Duel at Dawn, Dead Man’s Hand, and the Great Train Robbery. The music is pleasantly stripped back Americana. It doesn’t get on your nerves.
The base game of Wanted Dead or a Wild is fairly run of the mill. However, hit three of the feature icons and things get more interesting. Each bonus round has its own animated, dynamic, page and structure. The graphics really jump to life. In the Dead Man’s Hand bonus, for example, you spin to accumulate wilds and multipliers. You get three lives, which evaporate when you hit three consecutive blanks. Then you get to spin the reels with all the wilds and multipliers in play. It can soon add up to a nice haul.
Wanted Dead or a Wild is fun to play but really only kicks in on the bonus round. If you’re at the bar already, give it a spin. If you’re just passing through town, no need to make a diversion.
Dynamite Riches
| Developed By | Reels | Paylines | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Tiger | 5 | 20 | 95.70% |
Did you know that more than 300,000 people made the dangerous journey to California, between 1848 and 1855? It was the peak of the mighty Gold Rush and these prospectors were crazed with gold fever. Dynamite Riches takes us underground, with one of the Wild West’s most popular ‘spin-off’ tropes: gold prospecting and mining.
Dynamite Riches is five reels and four rows of subterranean online slot action, with a tobacco-chewin’ old prospector at the helm. The 20-payline game sits in a darkened tunnel. The audio: a lone banjo player. When you spin the reels, he picks up the rhythm.
The icons are just what you would expect: a Davy lamp, miner’s helmet, pickaxe, bag of gold, and gems. The jackpot icon is a smug prospector with a nugget of gold. There are two other key symbols, in this game from developers Red Tiger: the wild and the Gold Spins scatter.
Three scatters gets you eight bonus spins, with the chance of repeats. However, it is the wilds that are the Dynamite Riches USP. Every time you hit a wild, you light the fuse and edge towards four special features: Remove Low Paying Symbols, Random Wilds, Multiplier, and Mega Wilds. In this game, you need to go wild to win.
Western Gold 2 Double Barrel
| Developed By | Reels | Paylines | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just For The Win | 5 | 40 | 96.15% |
Finally, we get a cowboy-style, rootin’, tootin’, yee haw, of a game. Fiddlers, fiddlin’; slide guitar, slidin’; six-shooters, a-shootin’. An online slot packed with all the healthy homo-eroticism you want from the Wild West oeuvre. Western Gold 2 Double Barrel is the work of Stockholm-based online casino game developers, Just For The Win. The business was founded in 2016 and has an exclusive supply deal with Microgaming. You can see why online gaming’s finest wanted a slice of Just For The Win, when you enjoy a spin on this superb online slot.
The game has five reels, four rows, and 40 paylines. When you launch the game, you’re greeted with a drawling ‘howdy pardner’, followed by the Bill Ray Cyrus backing band. It’s all good. Visually, the game ticks every Saturday morning Raw Hide television stereotype.
Icons include, cowboy boots with spurs, playing cards, sheriff’s badges, white Stetsons, a horse, a wrangler, and a pair of six shooters. The reels sit on top of a typical desert landscape. Alongside, are two spinning barrels: one relates to the scatter (a golden horseshoe), the other unlocks when you hit free spins.
If you are lucky enough to hit four or more scatters, the Cash Barrel pays. The Cash Barrel is also activated, when you land the wrangler on reels 1 and 5. If you hit the Free Spins sheriff’s badge three times, you win three free spins. Add the wrangler on reel 5 and the Feature Barrel plays. In a nutshell: it’s all good. Western Gold 2 Double Barrel is a blast to play. Get ready for the hoedown!
El Paso Gunfight xNudge
| Developed By | Reels | Paylines | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| NoLimit City | 5 | 216-43,334 | 96.06% |
If camp cowboy action is not your thing, you can count on the developers at Nolimit City to bring the darker side of the Wild West to life. El Paso Gunfight xNudge is a truly innovative online slot, packed with features, 216 winning combinations, and a cast of bad ass cowboys.
Not only can you adjust the five-reel slot configuration for volatility, from 23334 to 43332, with the flick of a switch; you can also shoot up the bar, if the spins aren’t going your way. The mood is dark, with some serious looking gunslingers holding fort.
El Paso Gunfight is an xNudge game; occasionally, wilds nudge in with multipliers from 1x to 3x. There are also several bonus rounds to play for. Just hit three scatters and you could be in for the Deputy and Marshall Spins, the Drunken Gunfighter Spins, 4 Dead in 5 Seconds or 6 Feet Under.
This is yet another standout title from a truly disruptive developer. Original, engaging, and with lots to unlock and discover. It’s dark and it’s dangerous. Ready? Steady? Draw…
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Dead or Alive 2
| Developed By | Reels | Paylines | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| NetEnt | 5 | 9 | 96.82% |
We had to feature at least one online slot from the mighty NetEnt. Dead or Alive 2 is nine fixed paylines, five reels, and three rows, of high-quality action from arguably the best game developer in the business. It’s the sequel every cowboy-loving slots fan has been waiting for. As you spin the reels, you look down the high street of a typical frontier town. In the background a coyote howls and Ry Cooder picks out a few notes. When you hit a winning combination, the music kicks up a gear.
Visually, it’s a great piece of work, with graphic novel-like styling. Icons are par for the cowboy course, with boots, guns, hats, badges, and bottles of whisky. The wilds are represented by five crazy looking characters. The scatter is a buffalo skull and six-shooters. Subtle animation brings the game to life. Hit three or more scatters and you win the Dead or Alive 2 Free Spins. There are three options: Old Saloon, High Noon Saloon, and Train Heist. Each bonus round comes with different multipliers and wilds. You can choose between more smaller wins or fewer big wins. It’s your call.
Dead or Alive 2 is a great game; moody, engaging, exciting, and fun to play. Clearly, a lot of thought has gone into making a sequel that, not only manages to retain all the fun of the original, but also adds some exciting new features. Give it a spin.
Wild West Theme Slots: The Background
Where to begin? The American frontier was initially established in Jamestown, Virginia, when the English built their first settlement in 1607. For the next 250 years, English, French, Dutch, and Spanish settlers would set up shop in the promised land.
Every year, the settlements would creep further west; establishing a new, ever-shifting, frontier. Fur traders and missionaries were on the front line. Soldiers would creep forward one fort at a time. The war of independence ended in 1783. This heralded a new wave of expansion, as the new citizens of north America set out to claim their share of the promised land.
The classic Wild West period, that Hollywood loves, really only started in the mid 1800s. Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, the Texas Rangers, and Sitting Bull; all these iconic characters were born out of this period. The railroads headed west, the pioneers moved in, legends were made.
The Wild West prevailed until the start of the 20th century. The last wild Indian ‘Ishi’ surrendered in 1911 and the last recorded stagecoach robbery was on December 5, 1916. Now it was down to Hollywood and the storytellers to spin the tales and keep the legends alive.
Unlike many online slot tropes, the Wild West is based in reality. All those crazy shootouts, the brawls, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid. It all happened. Remember that, when it’s showdown time, with the slots, at the online casino.
Wild West Theme Slots: Sights and Sounds
Grab your Stetson, your six-shooter, your sheriff’s badge, and saddle up. Popular western icons are guns, hats, the hangman’s noose, sassy gals, Wanted posters, bottles of moonshine, bison, gold bullion, nuggets of ore, horses, Native Americans, wolves, rattlesnakes, eagles, vultures, the railroad, chewing tobacco, boots and spurs. There is no shortage of material here.
Aurally, Sergio Leone has a lot to answer to. The lone church bell, the rattle of the snake, the creaky saloon bar sign, swaying gently in the breeze; in the distance, a gunshot. Then the strings kick in, the uplifting sound of the James Last Big Country orchestra. The Mexican guitarist in the bar, a ‘yeehaw’. The trumpeter plays a solo. It’s all good. You’ve heard it a million times.
Cowboys, Native Americans, the Gold Rush, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the Alamo, Tombstone, Deadwood, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the American frontier, aka the Old West, aka the Wild West. The history of north America has been a rich source of story, legend, and myth, since the first settlers saddled up and headed west, towards the setting sun. The quest to discover riches, the wealth of characters involved, the mind-blowing peril, the danger, the unknown, the pioneer spirit. It all adds up to make the saga of the Wild West perfect fodder for any story teller, from movie maker and novelist, to musician and online slot developer. The ingredients are second to none.
Let’s face it: the modern casino was born in Las Vegas; a city in the middle of the Mojave Desert, on the Spanish Trail, the old road to Los Angeles. The Wild West and gambling have an authentic connection. Blackjack, poker, roulette, and craps; these classic table games may have originated in Europe, but they evolved, into what they are today, in the saloons and casinos of frontier America. Betting was elevated from the back streets and brought into a new environment: the casino – creating its own language and culture in the process.