What are Hold and Win slots?

Hold and Win slots use a respin feature where qualifying prize-bearing symbols remain fixed while the other positions resolve again. If another qualifying symbol appears, it also stays in place and usually restores or extends the remaining respins. The feature ends when that finite counter runs out or another game-defined completion condition is reached.

Wolf Gold shows the basic pattern: Money symbols trigger the round, stay held while the other positions respin, and each new one resets the counter. The next sections walk through it step by step.

Hold & Win vs Money Respins: how Slotathon uses the terms

Hold & Win is the familiar market label, but providers use many names for similar-looking features. Pragmatic Play calls the feature in Wolf Gold and Pyramid King a Money Respin Feature. Cowboy Coins uses Free Respin Feature, Myth of Ra calls its version Ra’s Gold, and Gopnik uses Kiosk Raid.

Slotathon uses Money Respins for the narrower behaviour in which dedicated prize-bearing symbols stay held in their positions through a finite respin sequence. What matters is what the feature actually does, not the name printed on it.

That distinction becomes important when a game uses a Hold and Spin label for a broader retained-symbol feature. The label alone does not tell you which mechanic is actually present.

Names such as Hold & Respin, Hold n Link, Link & Win and similar provider labels should be read as clues, not definitions. The behaviour decides the classification.

How do Money Respins work?

To see how one of these features works, follow five questions: what gets you into the round, what stays held, what happens to the other positions, what restores or extends the counter, and what finally ends the sequence.

In Wolf Gold, six or more Money symbols trigger the round. Those symbols remain fixed, the other positions turn into special Money-or-blank reels, and three respins begin. Each new Money symbol stays on screen and resets the counter to three. If no new Money symbol appears, the counter can fall toward zero.

Depths of Fortune uses the same broad loop with different language. Five Coins trigger Hold & Win, but the feature talks in terms of three lives. A respin without a new Coin consumes a life, while landing at least one new Coin restores the life count to three.

The wording changes, but the structure is recognisable: held prize symbols, repeated attempts to add more, and a finite counter that eventually ends the round.

What stays held during the feature?

What stays held is usually a dedicated prize-bearing symbol, but it does not have to look like an ordinary Cash or Coin symbol.

Wolf Gold and Pyramid King hold Money symbols. Myth of Ra holds gold coins during Ra’s Gold. Gopnik works differently: Kiosk Raid holds prize labels, and each new label receives a multiplier value from the top row and keeps it until the bonus ends.

Cowboy Coins shows that the held symbols do not all have to look alike. Newly landing Money or Special symbols remain locked during Free Respins, so the feature is not limited to one visual symbol type.

What resets or extends the respin counter?

In many of the games Slotathon has reviewed, landing at least one new qualifying prize symbol restores the counter to its starting state. That is common, but the exact number and the language used for it are not universal.

Wolf Gold, Pyramid King, Cowboy Coins and Myth of Ra all use a reset-to-three pattern when a new qualifying symbol lands. Depths of Fortune describes the same kind of continuation through lives: a new Coin restores the feature to three lives.

Pots of Power: Mummy’s Treasure also resets its remaining-spin counter when a new Coin lands, even though its starting count varies, as the next section explains.

Do Hold & Win features always start with 3 respins?

No. Three is common in the games Slotathon has reviewed, but it is not part of the definition.

Pots of Power: Mummy’s Treasure is the clearest exception. Before Hold & Win begins, its Pre-Bonus Wheel independently selects a starting spin count of three, four or five, a 5×4, 5×5 or 5×6 grid, and two, three or four Power Frames. That produces 27 possible feature setups.

So “three respins” is a familiar implementation pattern, not a safe shortcut for identifying every Hold & Win feature.

What happens when the grid fills?

A full grid often ends the feature, but what happens next varies.

In Wolf Gold, filling all 15 positions ends the Money Respin round and also awards the Mega Jackpot. Pyramid King similarly awards its fixed 1,000x Grand Jackpot when all 15 positions are filled.

Pots of Power: Mummy’s Treasure does something different. Filling the board ends Hold & Win immediately, then applies a multiplier to the total pot: x2 on a 5×4 grid, x3 on 5×5 and x4 on 5×6.

What prizes can held symbols carry?

Held symbols can carry ordinary prize values, jackpot values or other game-specific prize labels.

In the reviewed current rules for Wolf Gold, Money symbols can carry values from 1x to 100x total bet across a defined value set, or carry Mini or Major jackpot values. Pyramid King also allows Money symbols to carry fixed Minor or Major jackpot values, while the full grid separately awards the Grand.

Gopnik looks quite different on screen. Its Kiosk Raid labels receive values from a top row generating x1 to x100 multipliers, and those values remain attached to the held labels until the bonus finishes.

So jackpots can be part of the feature, but they are not required for it to be Money Respins.

Money Respin examples compared

Money Respins vs Money Collection

Money Collection is about a collector symbol, character or game state awarding or aggregating visible monetary or prize values. Money Respins are about prize-bearing symbols staying held in place while the rest of the grid keeps respinning under a finite continuation rule.

Depths of Fortune shows how the two can coexist. Its Hold & Win round holds Coins and runs on a life-reset loop, while separate Loaded Reel rewards include Collect and Collect & Multiply behaviours. Those collection events sit inside the respin feature, but they are not what defines it.

Money Respins vs Held-Position Respins

Held-Position Respins are the broader category when retained non-Wild symbols or occupied positions drive a finite respin loop, but the retained set is not limited to dedicated Money, Cash or other prize-bearing symbols.

Monopoly Megapots is the clean boundary example. Six or more Coins, Houses or Cards trigger Hold and Spin. Each position then becomes an individual reel that can reveal more Coins, Houses or Cards, and each new qualifying reveal resets the respin counter to three.

That looks familiar, but the retained set is broader than the Money Respin definition. This is why the provider phrase “Hold and Spin” is not enough on its own to classify a feature.

Money Respins vs Free Spins

Free Spins are an awarded batch of spins under game-specific bonus rules. Money Respins use a held-position loop where qualifying prize symbols remain in place and the remaining positions respin.

The two structures can interact. In Wolf Gold, Money Respins can trigger during Free Spins as well as from the base game. In Pyramid King, a randomly selected expanding Money symbol during Free Spins can create enough Money symbols to trigger the Money Respin feature.

Free Spins may provide the route into the feature, but once the held-position respin loop begins it is still a separate mechanic.

What the Hold & Win label does not tell you

Knowing that a game has Hold & Win still leaves several questions open: how the feature triggers, what stays held, how many respins or lives it starts with, what resets the counter, whether the grid can expand, what happens on a full board and whether jackpots are involved.

It also tells you nothing by itself about RTP, volatility, hit frequency, feature frequency, maximum win or the likelihood of winning. The presence of a Hold & Win feature is not evidence that the round appears more often or offers better value.

A collector character is not required either. Collection can appear inside a Hold & Win round, but the collector is separate from the held-symbol respin structure.

Related slot mechanics

Money Respins often appear alongside other mechanics, especially collection, progression and Free Spins.