The Wild Life is IGT’s online safari slot: five reels, 10 fixed lines that pay both ways and a lion wild on reels 2 to 4 that expands to fill its reel when it is part of a win. In the free spins every expanded lion stays locked until the round ends, and each new scatter adds two spins, up to 200. The return is 96.16%, the cap 2,500x. The free demo below is a similar safari pokie.
The Wild Life runs on five reels and three rows with 10 fixed lines, and every line pays from left to right and from right to left. Some listings, including the 2016 GTECH one, say 20 lines, most likely because they count each direction as a line. Bets run from 10 cents to $200 a spin, and the line bet is always a tenth of the total. The standard return to player is 96.16%, operators can run versions as low as 92.16%, and a few review sites print other figures between 95% and 96.12%. Most databases rate the volatility high, while a couple of listings say medium, and IGT publishes no hit frequency. The top prize is 2,500 times the total bet, or $500,000 at the maximum stake. Some sites quote 5,000x, which would need a five-of-a-kind line to pay in both directions at once, and no source confirms that.
The Wild Life Pokies Characteristics
A win needs three or more matching symbols on a line, reading from reel 1 to the right or from reel 5 to the left. Wins are multiplied by the line bet, only the highest win on each line is paid, and wins on different lines are added. The lion is the wild. It lands only on reels 2, 3 and 4, stands in for everything except the scatter, has no pay of its own, and when it is part of a win it grows to fill its reel, which puts a wild on all 10 lines. In the base game that lasts one spin; in the free spins it stays. The scatter is a map of Africa that can land anywhere and pays no cash.
Current builds have no autoplay or quick spin, although the 2016 GTECH listing mentioned autoplay, and there is no gamble, no bonus buy and no jackpot; the non-progressive jackpot some descriptions mention is just the top line pay. With fixed lines the stake is the only decision, so there are no tricks to The Wild Life slot machine beyond choosing a stake the balance can carry.
Figures are multiples of the line bet for three, four and five of a kind; divide by 10 for multiples of the total bet.
The Africa map scatter pays no cash; three, four or five of them award 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Five lionesses on a line pay 250 times the total bet, so the 2,500x ceiling matches that pay on all 10 lines at once. As the lion never lands on reels 1 or 5, every five of a kind needs the real symbol at both ends.
Three, four or five Africa map scatters anywhere award 10, 15 or 20 free spins at the triggering bet. Any lion that expands as part of a win now stays locked for the rest of the round, so each locked reel improves every spin that follows, and with all three middle reels wild any regular symbol on reel 1 or reel 5 completes at least four of a kind on its line.
Each scatter landing during the round adds two spins, up to 200 in total. Whether three or more scatters also award a fresh 10, 15 or 20 is unclear: one review says the round retriggers, another says it cannot. Two review sites claim free-spin wins are doubled, but the main databases list no multiplier, so treat that as unconfirmed. Reviewers also say the bonus is hard to land; one player reported more than 2,000 spins without a trigger.
At 96.16% the game keeps about 3.8 cents of every dollar bet over the long run; at 92.16% it keeps about 7.8 cents, roughly twice as much for the same reels, so it is worth knowing which version a casino runs. High volatility means long quiet stretches in the base game and a balance that relies on the free spins to recover. One reviewer’s 100-spin test found a win on about 30% of spins, too small a sample to plan around.
At $1 a spin each line is worth 10 cents: three lionesses pay $5, five elephants $100, five lionesses $250, and the 2,500x ceiling would be $2,500. A $100 balance buys 100 spins at that stake, which is no promise of a feature this hard to land. At 20 cents a spin the same $100 covers 500 spins and five lionesses pay $50, which gives the scatters five times as many chances.
The original was first listed in 2016 under the GTECH G2 and Spielo labels, both GTECH brands, and game databases date its IGT release to 22 March 2017. Since July 2025 IGT’s slot business has been owned by Apollo-managed funds, merged with Everi, and still trades as IGT. Lion Safari and other IGT safari titles that show up in searches are different games.
The Wild Life Extreme, released in September 2023, is the only sequel. It keeps the lion on reels 2 to 4, expanding and sticky in 10, 15 or 20 free spins. According to one review, its base game has five fixed lines and can shake the screen to add one to three extra wilds, and the free spins add a fourth row with 10 lines. Its RTP is given as 96.16% by one site and as 92.16% to 96.16% by another, and volatility ratings run from low-medium to very high.
The setting is an African savanna at sunset in a wooden frame. The wild is a lion that leaps out of the bushes, the scatter is a map of Africa, and the top symbol is a lioness, or a jaguar on some sites, ahead of an elephant, a rhino, a giraffe, a zebra and A to J cards in animal-hide textures. The soundtrack is styled on a jungle adventure film and can be muted. The game runs in HTML5 on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, so there is nothing to download. Reviewers find it easy to use but dated to look at.
The Wild Life is not a pub or club pokie: no land-based version has turned up, and the 2016 ACT approval notice we checked lists other IGT games but not this one. Online, IGT supplies it to licensed operators in regulated markets: one game database finds it in 21 countries, most often Britain, Norway, Finland and Denmark, but not Australia, and operators in Italy, Canada and the US carry it too. We could not confirm it at any of the offshore casinos accepting Australians that we checked, so whether you can play The Wild Life slot online for real money depends on the casino, and a lobby search is the way to check. IGT publishes no official free demo that we could find, though a few review databases offer free play.
The Wild Life is a plain pokie with one good idea. The base game is 10 lines both ways and a wild that expands, and little happens until the scatters arrive; then the sticky reels build up across the round and extra scatters keep it going. It suits patient players who like simple rules and can sit through long gaps between features, not anyone who wants frequent bonuses, modern graphics, autoplay, a bonus buy or a jackpot. The one thing to check is the return: 96.16% is a fair price, 92.16% an expensive one, and the reels look identical either way.
96.16% at the standard setting. Operators can run versions as low as 92.16%, so check which one a casino offers.
Land three, four or five Africa map scatters anywhere for 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Expanded lions stay in place for the round, and each further scatter adds two spins, up to 200.
2,500 times the total bet, which is $500,000 at the $200 maximum stake. Some sites quote 5,000x, but no source explains how it would be reached.
Yes. The 10 fixed lines pay left to right and right to left, which is why some listings say 20 lines.
Not in pubs or clubs, as no land-based version has been found. Online it is carried by licensed IGT operators overseas but was not confirmed at the casinos taking Australians that we checked.
IGT’s 2023 sequel. It keeps the expanding, sticky lion and the 10, 15 or 20 free spins, and one review describes random extra wilds in the base game and a fourth row in the free spins.
