Updated
Lisa Michaels
Love slots with a Wild West theme? Take a spin on The One Armed Bandit from Yggdrasil Gaming. This is a 5x3 slot with 20 fixed paylines and high volatility. You’ll play with plenty of the symbols you expect to find in a Western slot — loaded pistols, a sheriff’s hat, a hip flask, spurs, and more. Line up matching symbolsto win cash prizes of up to 11,800x your bet and trigger two bonus features. Respins give you more chances to land winning combinations with multiplier Wilds, and you can trigger Free Spins with wins multiplied by up to x20.
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The One Armed Bandit’s control panel is at the bottom of the screen. It’s laid out neatly and all the buttons are clearly labeled.
Before you start playing, take a look at the paytable to see how much each symbol is worth and what the features involve. You can access this by pressing the ‘+’ button on the left-hand side.
Spinning is simple: press the green ‘spin’ button to play manually, or push the ‘autoplay’ button next to it to set up automatic spins. Use the ‘+’ and ‘-’ buttons on either side of the ‘coin value’ meter to change your stake. The ‘max bet’ button increases your wager to the highest level instantly.
There are 11 different symbols in The One Armed Bandit. The eight standard symbols award three payouts each, while the Wild, Scatter, and Bonus symbols perform specific functions.
The four playing card symbols pay the lowest in the game. The diamonds is worth up to 3.5x your stake, and the clubs pays 5x your bet for 5. Land 5 of the spades or hearts symbols to win 5x or 6.50x your stake, respectively.
The silver spurs pay 20x your bet for 5 on a payline, and the sheriff’s hat symbol awards up to 35x your bet. Land the hip flash to get up to 60x your bet. But the pistol is the most valuable standard symbol: get 5 on a payline to grab 80x your stake.
The sheriff’s badge symbol is Wild and substitutes for other symbols except the Scatter. The Scatter features the titular bandit and triggers both the bonus features. Bonus symbols appear in the Free Spins feature only.
To win prizes in The One Armed Bandit, you need to land three, four, or five matching symbols on a payline. The size of the prize is based on the symbols matched and how many make up a winning combination. But the Wild symbol can stand in for paying symbols and complete winning lines, making it easier to win.
One respin is awarded for each Scatter symbol that appears. Scatters can land anywhere, and you can get as many as four respins.
During respins, Scatter symbols are switched for x5 multiplier Wilds. They multiply any wins they help create by x5. Other Scatter symbols that land during a respin award extra respins to keep the feature running for longer.
Free SpinsIf you land five Scatters across all five reels during the Respin feature, you’ll win 10 free spins. Any unused respins become extra free spins.
The Free Spins round has a base x5 multiplier with Wild symbols on all reels. Land 2 Bonus symbols to boost the multiplier to x10, and another 2 to increase it to the maximum x20 multiplier. Each Bonus symbol that lands adds one more free spin.
You can expect a max win of 11,800x your bet in The One Armed Bandit. The Respins and Free Spins features can help you take your winnings higher and higher, though the chances of getting that max prize are very slight.
The One Armed Bandit has a theoretical Return to Player (RTP) rate of 96.30%. That’s a little higher than the industry average of 96%, so you have a slightly better chance of a fair return.
The high volatility creates the potential for high payouts, but it makes those payouts less frequent than in games with lower volatility (on average).
Right from the start, The One Armed Bandit impresses with its fun and exciting presentation. It opens with a sleek animated sequence that introduces the dusty Wild West setting and sheriff-versus-bandits concept. Even its title is a nice pun on the nickname for traditional slot machines with one handle on the side.
During the gameplay, the graphics look fantastic: there’s plenty of detail in the environment around the reels and the symbols. The base game is set on the edge of a small town, but the action moves onto a street lined with buildings for the Free Spins feature.
The audio is pretty much what you’d expect of a Western slot, with cinematic music and sound effects (including gunshots) to enjoy.
You can play The One Armed Bandit for free before you play it with real money right here, courtesy of our free demo. It’s always best to take a game for a free spin if you can: you’ll get to see how it works for yourself, including the base game and bonuses. Take your time to test The One Armed Bandit with virtual credits and decide if you want to play it for real.
The Wild West is a popular setting for slots, and there are plenty of other games that feature sheriffs, cowboys, and bandits. They offer a wide range of payouts and bonus features. But how does The One Armed Bandit compare to three other well-known Wild West slots?
The One Armed Bandit is another great slot from Yggdrasil Gaming, and it gets a lot right. I was impressed by the presentation right from the animated opening scene. You can feast your eyes on detailed settings and some eye-catching symbols while you play.
The Respin feature and Free Spins bonuses work well, with multipliers of up to x20 available to increase your wins. The RTP is better than average at 96.30% too, and the max win is terrific at 11,800x your stake. But bear in mind that The One Armed Bandit is a high-volatility slot, so the gaps between generous payouts can be big.
If you want to play more slots with a Western theme, try Gunslinger Reloaded and Diamond Rush Express.