There’s a neat and tidy look to the visuals here. The reels feature stars, playing card suits, bars, 4-leaf clovers, horse shoes and bells. The best symbol is the lucky red 7 which pays 2, 5 or 8 times your total stake if you land 3, 4 or 5 on adjoining reels.
There are also 3 wilds. The standard wild can appear on all 5 reels. They’re joined by the Top Wild and Bottom Wild which hit on reels 2 and 4 respectively. These wilds are key to unlocking 1 of Sidewinder’s 2 features.
Sidewinder feature - land the Top Wild on reel 2 and you’ll open up the bottom horizontal reel below the main set. Similarly, if you land the Bottom Wild on reel 4 it opens up the top horizontal reel. Land wilds both reels 2 and 4 and both the horizontal reels open up. With 1 horizontal reel open, the number of ways to win increases to 576. With both open, it rises to 1,125 to give your winning chances a big leg up.
Free Spins feature - land 3 or 4 bonus symbols on the same spin and your reward will be 6 or 10 free spins. These are played out on the fully expanded 1,125 ways to win machine complete with the 2 horizontal reels. Land a standard wild in the same position on both horizontal reels on the same free spin and they’ll expand and turn the whole of the reel on the standard machine wild too. Every time a free spins symbol lands during this round, another free spin is added to your total.
The gameplay in Sidewinder is a little unusual thanks to the horizontal reels so a few spins in demo mode are recommended. If you enjoy classic fruit machines with a fresh extra or 2 attached, then Sidewinder is worth a look. It can pay out handsomely though with wins of up to 2,720 times your stake available on each spin/free spin.