Willy Wonka Slots

Game & Theme Overview

Boasting WMS Industries' state of the art Sensory Immersion 2.0 player participation platform, the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory slot machine is powered by the CPU-NXT3 computing system. Players will see high resolution video clips from the eponymous film, hear streaming audio clips and music, all while enjoying graphics and animations which resemble a video game more than a traditional slot machine.

The fact that WMS Industries' Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory slot sports a seamless video game like feel should come as no surprise. Beginning in 1943, the company specialized in designing and manufacturing pinball machines, before moving on to arcade games in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1996, a shift to video slot machines occurred, but WMS Industries maintained its commitment to interactive entertainment, coining the term "participation slot" with the release of a Monopoly themed game in 2001. Eventually, WMS Industries would release dozens on participation slots, with several classic movie titles like The Wizard of Oz, Men in Black, and Lord of the Rings highlighting the company's portfolio.

Of course, among the film fan's favorite slot machine offerings, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is perhaps one of the most beloved additions to the genre. The game is based on the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder as an eccentric chocolatier and candy impresario Willy Wonka, which in turn was based on author Roald Dahl's seminal 1964 children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Known the world over for its almost psychedelic blend of bright colors, unforgettable visuals, and Wilder's musical mutations on the song "Pure Imagination," the original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory film told the story of young Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum). Growing up in poverty as a young English boy, Charlie yearns for adventure and advancement, but as an orphan living with his four grandparents, opportunities are sparse.

When the famous Willy Wonka suddenly comes out of self-imposed reclusion and offers five fortunate people a chance to tour his legendary chocolate factory, Charlie hopes against hope to find one of the rare Golden Tickets hidden in a Wonka chocolate bar.

While his friends purchase hundreds of bars at a time, and rich adults practically hoard the world's chocolate supply, Charlie can only buy a single Wonka bar with a coin he finds on in the gutter. Despite the overwhelming odds against him, Charlie finds a Golden Ticket and proceeds to take his Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) on the adventure of a lifetime. Along with a motley crew of colorful characters, Wilder's Willy Wonka proceeds to take his guests, and the audience, on a whirlwind tour defined by grand illusions and impossible mysteries.

The Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory slot machine faithfully recreates that epic journey, allowing players to row down the factory's famed Chocolate River. The orange skinned Oompa Loompas make an appearance during their own bonus feature, and lucky players can even enjoy a ride through the skies in the Great Glass Elevator. The quirky catchphrases which made Wilder's performance one for the ages are also included, so you'll hear actual audio from the film as Wonka tells you "all of my dreams become realities, and some of my realities become dreams.” The film's unforgettable soundtrack also accompanies the in game action, and after just a few spins you'll feel as if you're touring the factory like Charlie and the other children.

As actor Rusty Goff, who played one of the Oompa Loompas in the film, said of the game's immersive qualities:

During a stroll through the casino floor, you can't miss the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory slot. The word Wonka sits atop the machine in rainbow colors, with a portrait of the Wilder and his custom purple leisure suit and top hat. The signage is complete with an arrangement of character portraits featuring Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Augustus Gloop, and Mike Teevee. Everything is presented with a purple hue, and by the time fans of the film hear the familiar melody of "Pure Imagination" piping through the sound system, they're drawn in the machine's direction.

As a cutting edge video slot game, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory doesn't have the traditional title screen and background screen found in most slots. Instead, you'll see a revolving animation showing clips from the movie which corresponds to the in game features. Everything from the Fizzy Lifting Drink room to the factory's surreal candy garden will appear in the background of your screen, depending on which features you happen to trigger. The overall effect of this gameplay setup is that of watching the actual movie itself, and the game attempts to show the journey as it would appear through Charlie Bucket's own eyes.

During the actual base game, reel symbols include the traditional card rank symbols used by most slots, so you'll find the J, Q, K, and A with each symbol accompanied by a different candy.

Among the themed character symbols you can expect to find during the base game are Willy Wonka himself, Charlie Bucket, Grandpa Joe, and the Oompa Loompas. You'll also see an arrangement of symbols representing iconic images from the movie, including the fizzy lifting drink, the goose and her golden eggs, the Everlasting Gobstopper, the televised chocolate camera, the great glass elevator, and the Golden Ticket.

Gameplay Features and Mechanics

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a five reel, 40 pay line video slot machine.

With four symbol spots on each reel, the game includes 20 symbols in play on every spin.

Coin denominations for the game begin at $0.01, so technically it falls within the penny slot category, but you'll need to activate all 40 pay lines per spin. This puts the minimum cost to cover per spin at $0.40.

You can also increase the coin denomination by one penny at a time, up to $0.05, so the maximum cost to cover per spin stands at $2.00.

A nickel slot version of the game also exists, and when playing on the $0.05 minimum machines, the numbers above would simply be multiplied by five.

Like most WMS Industries slot games, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory includes the company's familiar gameplay setup. You'll be playing with wild symbols, scatter symbols, multipliers, bonus games, and other fun features.

The game is also connected to a wide area progressive jackpot, one which paid out $911,230.73 at the Palace Casino Resort in Biloxi, Mississippi on May 6th, 2014, and $1,391,728.01 at the Lodge Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado on September 14th, 2014. On December 17th, 2014 another player won $1,115,523 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A list of basic game specifications for the Willy Wonka slot can be found below:

During the base game, the most valuable symbol on the reels is Willy Wonka himself. Unfortunately, a detailed breakdown of the game's pay table has not been published, but as a low volatility machine, players can expect to receive smaller line pays which occur more frequently than other games.

Based on watching video clips of actual gameplay, payouts appear to range from 50 credits for landing three Charlie Bucket symbols, to 285 credits for landing three Willy Wonka symbols. Four of the Willy Wonka symbols in a row pays out 975 credits. Four of a kind in Grandpa Joe symbols pays out 150 credits, and five of the Charlie Bucket symbols will return 890 credits.

During the base game, the Willy Wonka, Grandpa Joe, and Oompa Loompas symbols will each appear as double sized symbols, occupying two spaces along a reel rather than one. This allows them to create winning combinations more easily than the other symbols.

The Oompa Loompas symbol is the wild symbol during the base game, and it can substitute for any other symbol except the scatter symbol to form winning combinations.

The scatter symbol is the great glass elevator symbol during the base game, and it can generate winning combinations from anywhere on the reels. Even better, the great glass elevator symbol transports you directly to the game's assortment of nine interactive bonus games.

Triggering the Bonus Rounds

Whenever you land three or more of the great glass elevator scatter symbols on the screen, you'll trigger Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory's wide array of entertaining bonus features.

Before entering the bonus rounds, you'll be treated to a virtual ride on the great glass elevator. The main game screen will direct you to look up as the high resolution video screen above shows the great glass elevator soaring through the skies. As it does, the game's motion sensing chair will move and rock along with the action, providing a full on sensory experience.

The great glass elevator will dodge various symbols on the screen until hitting one, and each of these symbols represents one of the nine available bonus games. You may also hit a predetermined credit amount of a few thousand credits.

The bonus games are separated into Picks and Spins, with the main characters from the movie representing each category. Mike Teevee, Augustus Gloop, and Violet Beauregarde represent Pick games, for example, while Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket, Grandpa Joe contain Spin games.

Should your great glass elevator arrive on a Spin game, you'll be presented with a screen showing five candy suckers. Based on which candy you select, you'll receive an allotment of between 7 and 12 free spins, and that's where the real fun begins.

During a free spin bonus game, whichever character your great glass elevator landed on becomes a stacked wild. This means that character's symbol will cover entire reels at one time during each spin, generating winning combinations all across the screen whenever matching symbols appear. You can have the stacked wild character symbol cover one, two, three, four, or even all five of the reels at one time, which triggers massive payouts.

Because the Willy Wonka symbol is the most lucrative in the game, players are hoping to hit the Willy Wonka free spins bonus game, but even the Charlie Bucket or Grandpa Joe free spins round can prove profitable due to the inclusion of stacked wilds.

The Pick games you can enter via the great glass elevator are simple touch screen pick'em games, with a number of symbols on the screen concealing various credit prizes. During the Violet Beauregarde Everlasting Gobstopper pick game, for example, you'll see 20 of the infinitely tasty candies on the screen. Your job is simply to select one and see what happens.

You may land on a credit amount which begins at 1,200 credits and tops out at 10,000 credits or hit the Exploding Gobstopper. This pick will blow up the rest of the non-credit Exploding Gobstoppers on the screen, leaving you with only credit values to choose from. Both the Mike Teevee and Augustus Gloop pick bonus games to work in identical fashion, with players choosing from 20 Everlasting Gobstoppers, some exploding the rest, and others concealing credit amounts.

Another bonus game your great glass elevator can land on features the Oompa Loompas, who will perform a song and dance routine for you. While they do, the reels on the screen will lengthen vertically to occupy both the main reel screen and the overhead video screen. This means you'll have up to 10 reels to work with during the next round of free spins, meaning the much higher likelihood of landing winning combinations.

Before the Oompa Loompas free spin bonus game begins, you'll also receive a random multiplier which will apply to all subsequent winnings. Topping things off, because the Oompa Loompas symbol is the game's wild symbol, entire reels will randomly be filled with wilds during each free spin. Between the addition of extra symbol spaces with lengthened reels, and entire reels turning wild, this bonus game can easily return 30,000 credits or more.

The most interactive bonus game in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate factory occurs when your great glass elevator arrives on the boat symbol. This opens up the Chocolate River bonus game, in which you'll pilot the boat down the famous river of chocolate from the film. Using the game's high definition screen and motion activated seat, you'll steer the boat down a flowing river of chocolate, all while trying to gather up free credits, extra rides, multipliers, and other treats.

Finally, after completing any of the bonus round games listed above, you'll be taken to a side screen displaying 10 Wonka chocolate bars arranged in a bowling pin like a pyramid. The Wonka bars will be unwrapped one by one, revealing either nothing but chocolate, or a medium sized credit amount.

Fittingly, the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory slot machine includes a small batch of Golden Tickets within these chocolate bars. If you happen to see the flash of gold after one of your Wonka bars is opened, you'll automatically receive a jackpot bonus of 500,000 credits. For penny slot players, this means finding a Golden Ticket will trigger a payout of $5,000.