Hold & Spin complete analysis – from Lightning Link to Money Train

Hold & Spin locks coin symbols in place and keeps resetting the respins to 3 until the board fills up. This guide covers its history, from Lightning Link at Rand casinos in 2014 through Wolf Gold and Money Train to its place as a standard bonus in online slots, along with how it works and how it differs by provider.

the-dog-houseAI Slot Magazine

Published2026.10.23

Reading time24 min

ProvidersPragmatic Play

Hold & Spin is a bonus feature where, when a certain number of special symbols with values, such as coins or gems, land, those symbols are locked in place, usually with 3 respins granted, and the remaining count resets to 3 each time a new symbol lands. When the respins run out, the values of the symbols locked on the screen are added up and paid, and filling the entire board often awards the biggest jackpot. Depending on the provider, it goes by different names such as Hold and Win, Money Respin, or lock-and-respin.

This is an in-depth guide based on official materials and industry media reports, covering which land-based machine Hold & Spin started on, what legal disputes the original company fought over this feature, and how the rules changed as it moved to online slots. If you only want a quick look at the basic meaning of the term, you can read the wiki’s Hold & Spin entry first.

Ten years of Hold & Spin in a timeline

• 1930s: ‘Skill stop’ machines appear that let you hold one reel with a button while spinning again (cited in the industry as a distant ancestor of Hold & Spin)
• 2014: Aristocrat Lightning Link debuts, equipped with the ‘Hold & Spin’ feature
• June 2015: Lightning Link unveils 4 titles for the US Class III market (Happy Lantern, High Stakes, Magic Pearl, Sahara Gold)
• 2017: Dragon Link, the follow-up series, is released
• April 2017: Pragmatic Play releases Wolf Gold, and the “Money Respin” structure takes hold online
• January 2018: Pragmatic Play releases Chilli Heat
• July 2019: Aristocrat sues Ainsworth in a US court over Lightning Link intellectual property infringement
• August 2019: Relax Gaming releases Money Train
• 2020: Playson releases Buffalo Power: Hold and Win
• September 2020: Money Train 2 is released
• September 2023: Money Train 4, the final entry in the Money Train series, is released
• September 2024: A US federal court in Nevada issues a preliminary injunction barring sales of Light & Wonder’s Dragon Train
• January 2026: Light & Wonder agrees to a settlement paying Aristocrat $127.5 million
• May 2026: Hacksaw Gaming releases 3 Cursed Chests: Hold & Win, followed by a run of “Hold & Win” series releases the same year
• July 2026: Lightning Link High Stakes is announced as a real-money online slot for regulated North American markets

The starting point – Lightning Link and ‘Cash on Reels’

The game considered to have perfected Hold & Spin in its current form is Lightning Link from Aristocrat, the Australian slot machine manufacturer. Aristocrat calls this feature by the trademark ‘Hold & Spin,’ and in a 2025 interview, Aristocrat’s Chief Product Officer Matt Primer said Hold & Spin is a mechanic the company created for Lightning Link.

The core of Lightning Link is “cash on reels.” Because symbols showing amounts or jackpot names are visible right on the reels, players can understand what they are collecting just by looking at the screen. It also combined linked jackpots, where several machines share the same Grand jackpot, with standalone jackpots that build up on each machine separately. According to 2015 announcements, players could choose a denomination from 1 cent or 2 cents (50 lines) or 5 cents or 10 cents (25 lines), and the progressive jackpot amount was the same whichever one they picked.

Designer Scott Olive

Lightning Link is the work of Aristocrat game designer Scott Olive. Olive was inducted into the game developer hall of fame of industry analytics firm EKG in 2020, and now makes Aristocrat-exclusive games at HRG (High Roller Gaming), an Australian studio. In a 2022 interview, he explained that Hold & Spin evolved from several ideas already on the market, was refined bit by bit through various games before Lightning Link, and came together in Lightning Link.

Similar elements existed before that. Industry insiders point to the 1930s ‘skill stop’ machines and the old WMS Spinning Streak series, which held the reels in place and spun again, as precedents. It is more accurate to see Hold & Spin not as a completely new invention but as a feature that bundled already familiar elements into one simple, clear screen.

2014 or 2015?

The release year of Lightning Link is written differently depending on the source. Casino industry publication GGB described Lightning Link as a “2014” game in its 2024 and 2025 articles. On the other hand, industry outlet YogoNet reported that on June 10, 2015, Aristocrat unveiled four Lightning Link titles for the US Class III market, and CDC Gaming ran a “10th anniversary” article in October 2025. It appears to have launched first in places like Australia and then rolled out in earnest in the US in 2015, but we could not find any official document in which Aristocrat states the first release date. This article uses “first appeared in 2014, launched in the US in June 2015.”

Following one round with numbers

The rules of Hold & Spin differ slightly by game, but the most basic form used by Lightning Link and Pragmatic Play’s Wolf Gold is the same. On a 5-reel, 3-row screen, meaning 15 spots, the feature starts when 6 or more special symbols with values (hereafter coins) land at once. The numbers below are a hypothetical example to aid understanding.

• Trigger: 6 coins land. Their values are 1x, 2x, 1x, 5x, 3x of the bet, plus 1 ‘Mini’ jackpot marker. The 6 stay locked in place and only the remaining 9 spots spin again. 3 respins remain.
• Re-spin 1: no new coins. 2 re-spins left.
• 2nd respin: 1 more 2x coin is added. 7 fixed, and the remaining respins reset to 3.
• 3rd and 4th respins: no new coins in a row. 1 respin left.
• 5th respin: 1 more 10x coin is added. 8 fixed, reset to 3 again.
• 6th to 8th respins: no new coins 3 times in a row. The feature ends.
• Payout: coin values 1+2+1+5+3+2+10 = 24x the bet, plus the Mini jackpot amount.

As this flow shows, when the feature ends depends on when ‘three misses in a row’ happens. As long as even one coin lands, the feature continues.

The Tension Created by Reset to 3

The rule of resetting the respin count to 3 every time is the heart of Hold & Spin. Tension builds as the scene repeats: the remaining count drops to 1, then a coin lands at the last moment and sends it back to 3. Industry figures quoted by GGB also named the anticipation of waiting for “just one more” and the simplicity of the rules as the secret of the feature’s popularity.

Conversely, as the screen fills up, fewer empty spots remain for new coins to land. That is why the first few coins stick relatively easily, while the last few spots are hard to fill when the board is nearly full. The actual probabilities differ by game design and are not made public.

Four jackpot tiers and the blackout

Lightning Link-style jackpots usually come in four tiers: Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. Mini through Major are awarded through symbols labeled with the jackpot name instead of a coin, and Grand is by default awarded when all 15 cells are filled. Filling the whole screen is called a “blackout” in the industry. Aristocrat’s US patent drawings for Hold & Spin show a screen with 7 collected and a screen with all 15 filled side by side, and the example jackpots in the drawings are Grand $10,000, Major $500, Minor $50, and Mini $10.

Online games differ slightly in tier names and numbers. Wolf Gold uses three tiers (Mini, Major, and Mega) and awards the Mega Jackpot, 1,000x the bet, when all 15 spots are filled. Chilli Heat adds Mini and Major symbols and awards a 1,000x ‘Grande’ jackpot when the board is filled. The basic concept of jackpots and the difference between fixed and progressive types are covered in the wiki’s jackpot types entry.

Dragon Link, and Hold & Spin Goes to Court

The two series that became industry leaders

In 2017, Scott Olive’s team released Dragon Link, which put an Asian theme on top of the Lightning Link framework. According to Aristocrat’s official description, Dragon Link triggers Hold & Spin with the same “orb” symbol in every title, so players can recognize it at a glance no matter the theme. GGB reported that in EKG’s May 2024 game performance report, Dragon Link and Lightning Link ranked first and second in premium lease revenue, and Dragon Link alone accounted for 31.6% of theoretical revenue in that category.

A Lawsuit About Math, Not the Feature

Success on this scale drew competitor catch-up attempts and legal disputes. In July 2019, Aristocrat’s US subsidiary filed a lawsuit in US federal court, claiming that Ainsworth Game Technology’s Jackpot Strike copied the design of Lightning Link.

The bigger dispute is the lawsuit with Light & Wonder. On September 23, 2024, a US federal court in Nevada found it highly likely that Light & Wonder had improperly used Aristocrat’s trade secrets while developing Dragon Train, and issued a preliminary injunction barring its sale and lease. In January 2026, the two companies finally settled, with Light & Wonder paying $127.5 million and acknowledging that Aristocrat’s math information was used in developing Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.

The point worth noting here is that the dispute was not about ‘the idea of Hold & Spin’ itself. Industry publication GGB pointed out that Hold & Spin has become a common mechanic used by many manufacturers, and the issue in the lawsuit was trade secrets such as probability tables and math models. In other words, anyone can use the rules, but the numerical design that keeps players engaged under the same rules is that company’s asset. Aristocrat has since registered several US patents on Hold & Spin variants, such as ones where the board expands during respins. US Patent No. 11,625,982, filed in February 2020 and granted in April 2023, is one example.

Hold & Spin crosses over to online

Pragmatic Play – from Wolf Gold to a series

The game that popularized this structure in online slots is Pragmatic Play’s Wolf Gold, released in April 2017. According to Pragmatic’s official description, when 6 or more full moon Money symbols land in the base game, ‘Money Respin’ begins, with 3 respins that reset to 3 each time a Money symbol lands. In effect, it carries almost the same skeleton as Lightning Link over to a 5-reel, 3-row, 25-payline online slot.

Chilli Heat from January 2018 put a Mexican festival theme on the same structure. According to the official description, Money symbol values range from 1x to 100x the bet, and only Money symbols remain during the respins. Pragmatic Play then released a string of games with “Hold and Spin” right in the title, starting in September 2020 with the 3-reel, 3-row Ultra Hold and Spin. In Ultra Hold and Spin, the diamond Money symbol can pay up to 500x the bet.

Big Bass – Hold and Spinner, released in March 2023, is a case where the basic rules were changed. According to the official description, just 3 coins in the base game start the bonus, you get 4 respins, and they refill each time a coin lands. With a lower trigger requirement and more respins, the same Hold & Spin feels completely different.

Playson – ‘Hold & Win’ as its signature

Playson pushed its Hold & Spin-style feature under the name “Hold and Win.” In a 2023 industry interview, Playson’s chief operating officer named Buffalo Power: Hold and Win, released in 2020, as one of the most valuable games in the company’s portfolio and described Hold and Win as a very big trend in the online market. The sequel, Buffalo Power 2: Hold and Win, came out in May 2023.

Money Train - Turning Respins into a Battle of Characters

Relax Gaming’s Money Train is considered the biggest variation on Hold & Spin. The first game, released in August 2019, is a 5-reel, 4-row, 40-payline western slot with a max win of 20,000x the bet.

The Money Train bonus is, at its core, a Hold & Spin. According to the official description, the bonus round in the second game starts with 3 spins, and each time a symbol lands you get more chances. The difference is that the symbols that lock in are not simple coins but ‘characters’ that each have their own abilities.

• Collector: gathers all values on the screen and adds them to its own value.
• Payer: adds its own value to the board.
• Sniper: doubles the values of up to 8 symbols.
• Necromancer: revives a character that has used up its effect.

From the second game onward, “persistent” characters that re-trigger their effects on every spin became the core. So even with the same reset-to-3 rule, values can grow much larger the longer the respins last. According to official sources, the max win grew from 50,000x in the second game to 100,000x in the third and 150,000x in the fourth and final game, released in September 2023. Money Train 2 is the game that became the benchmark for this kind of “character-driven Hold & Spin.” This approach, where fixed symbols collect and grow each other’s values, also ties into the Money Collection entry in the wiki.

Same Framework, Different Rules - By Provider

The basic rule of “lock, 3 respins, reset” is shared by almost every provider. The difference comes from what each one adds on top.

• Aristocrat (Lightning Link, Dragon Link): triggered by 6 symbols, 3-spin resets, 4-tier jackpots, and a linked progressive. It is the closest to the original form.
• Pragmatic Play: there are games that faithfully follow the original form (Wolf Gold, Chilli Heat) as well as games that change the trigger conditions and number of respins (Big Bass – Hold and Spinner). Many games also mix it with Megaways or tumble.
• Relax Gaming (Money Train): a character-driven design that gives abilities to fixed symbols. It is built around jumping straight in with bonus buy.
• Big Time Gaming (Megapots series): each spot spins on its own individual reel during respins, and filling the board doubles the entire bonus.
• Hacksaw Gaming (Hold & Win series): the remaining count is called ‘lives,’ and the 3 lives are refilled.
• IGT: calls the same type of feature “lock-and-respin.”

Big Time Gaming’s Millionaire Megapots, per its official description, starts 3 respins with 6 or more coins, turns each cell into its own independent reel, applies a multiplier to the winnings when the respins end, and doubles the entire bonus if every cell is filled. As you’d expect from the company that created Megaways, the base game is Megaways. The origins of Megaways are covered in detail in our Megaways complete analysis guide.

In 2026, Hacksaw Gaming released a string of games with ‘Hold & Win’ in the title. Le Bandit Hold & Win triggers two types of Hold & Win games with rainbow symbols, and in both games the 3 lives are refilled. The official max win is 2,500x, setting a lower cap than games that advertise tens of thousands of times the bet.

Hold & Spin by the Numbers in AI Slot Data

Among the Hold & Spin games listed on AI Slot, Pragmatic Play has the most, followed by Yggdrasil and Play’n GO. By release year, new titles from 2025 and 2026 make up most of them, showing that this is still an actively used mechanic. Free spins is by far the most common companion feature, followed by multipliers and money collect. This means a standard structure has emerged: respins and free spins kept separate, or Hold & Spin triggering again inside free spins. The share of games supporting bonus buy is also fairly high.

How to read the numbers in Hold & Spin games

Money Symbol Values Are Multiples of the Bet

In online Hold & Spin games, coin values are mostly set as multiples of the bet. Figures in the official descriptions, such as Chilli Heat’s 1x to 100x and Wolf Gold’s 1,000x Mega Jackpot, are all multiples of the bet. Progressive grand jackpots grown together by many machines, like Lightning Link in land-based casinos, are generally not seen in online demos.

Max win and blackout are different

The blackout reward for filling the board and a game’s max win may not be the same number. Wolf Gold’s Mega Jackpot is 1,000x, but on a blackout you also receive the coin values on the screen. Conversely, in games like Money Train where characters grow the values, you can reach the max win without a blackout. For the meaning of max win, see the wiki’s max win entry.

The Same Game Can Have Multiple RTPs

Hacksaw Gaming’s official page lists Le Bandit Hold & Win’s RTP as four versions: 96.27%, 94.29%, 92.23%, and 86.28%. Relax Gaming also sets separate alternative RTPs by country for the Money Train series. Even for the same title, a different RTP version may be set depending on the operating site, so when comparing numbers you should check which version it is.

Reset to 3 Is Not a Promise of a Long Bonus

Just because the respins return to 3 each time does not guarantee the bonus will last long. If you get 3 empty respins in a row right after the trigger, it ends with only the value of the coins fixed at the start. By trying it yourself in the demo, you can get a feel for roughly how many coins it typically stops at and how rare blackouts are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Hold & Spin and Hold & Win different features?

These are features of the same family. The structure of locking special symbols and resetting the respin count is called Hold & Spin by Aristocrat and Pragmatic Play, Hold and Win by Playson and Hacksaw Gaming, and lock-and-respin by IGT. Detailed rules differ from game to game, so check each game’s description separately.

What was the first Hold & Spin slot?

Aristocrat’s Lightning Link is considered the game that perfected the current form. Industry publication GGB reports 2014, while Yogonet reports a June 2015 US release, so the years given differ. Designer Scott Olive has also said he developed this mechanic bit by bit across several games before Lightning Link, so it is hard to name a single ‘first game.’

Why are there 3 respins?

Three respins became the industry standard, but it is not a fixed rule. Some games, like Big Bass – Hold and Spinner, give you four. More respins make the bonus last longer, so providers generally adjust other numbers such as coin values or trigger frequency to keep the overall RTP balanced.

Does filling the board always mean the max win?

No. The blackout reward differs by game. Wolf Gold has a 1,000x Mega Jackpot, and the Megapots series has fixed rewards such as a doubled bonus, while a game’s max win is set separately from these.

Does having Hold & Spin mean a higher RTP?

The presence of a feature has no direct relationship with RTP. RTP is set by the math design of the whole game, and the same game is often supplied in several RTP versions. Hold & Spin changes the shape in which wins come out within the same RTP.

Is Money Train also Hold & Spin?

The skeleton of the bonus round is the same. It starts with 3 spins, chances continue each time a symbol lands, and the values of the locked symbols are added up. However, because the locked symbols are characters with abilities such as Collector, Payer, and Sniper, the way values grow is far more complex than in a standard Hold & Spin.

Related reads

If you are curious about another mechanic that builds anticipation through chain reactions, read our tumble complete analysis guide as well. To see the basic form of Hold & Spin for yourself, start with the Wolf Gold and Chilli Heat demos to see the 6-symbol trigger and the reset-to-3 flow, then move on to Money Train 2 and Millionaire Megapots to compare how the same framework has been varied. Demos are for trying games with no real money at stake, so use them to understand the feature’s rules and rhythm.

Sources: Aristocrat Gaming official site, CDC Gaming, GGB Magazine, Yogonet, Asia Gaming Brief, Google Patents (US11625982B2), Pragmatic Play official site, Relax Gaming official site, Big Time Gaming official site, Hacksaw Gaming official site, Gaming Intelligence, iGaming Business