How to play
Hold and Nudge is a classic pub fruit machine: three reels and one win line, marked in red across the middle. You can see the symbols above and below the line too, and that matters.
- Choose your stake (10, 20, 50 or 100) and press Spin.
- Line up three of a kind on the red line to win. Cherries also pay on their own: one cherry on the left reel, or two cherries starting from the left.
- After a spin that doesn’t win, one of two features can light up:
- HOLD. On the next spin you can hold up to two reels. Tap HOLD under a reel to keep it exactly where it is, then press Spin with hold. The stake stays the same as the spin before.
- NUDGES. You get 1 to 4 nudges. Each tap on NUDGE moves that reel down one step, so the symbol just above the line drops onto it. When a nudge makes a win, you’re paid and the nudges end. Collect gives up the nudges you have left.
A hint shows the best nudge, and the HOLD buttons glow on the reels worth holding (the hint looks at the chance of a win on the next spin).
Pay table
Pays are multiples of your stake and include your stake back:
| Line | Pays |
|---|---|
| 7 7 7 | 120× |
| BAR BAR BAR | 60× |
| Melon Melon Melon | 30× |
| Cherry Cherry Cherry | 24× |
| Bell Bell Bell | 18× |
| Plum Plum Plum | 14× |
| Orange Orange Orange | 12× |
| Lemon Lemon Lemon | 9× |
| Cherry Cherry (from the left) | 4× |
| Cherry (left reel) | 1× |
The odds
Each reel has 20 stops, all equally likely. How much the machine pays back depends a lot on you:
| How you play | Return |
|---|---|
| Spins only (no holds or nudges) | 53.85% (exact) |
| Best nudges, never holding | 82.51% (exact) |
| Best holds and best nudges | 95.23% (exact) |
The first figure counts all 8,000 reel combinations. The other two come from working through every hold and nudge situation exactly, including how a hold now affects the next spin. The HOLD hint looks only at line wins on the next spin, so it sometimes suggests a hold that isn’t worth taking; following the hints every time returns a little less than best play, about 94.9%. After a losing spin, the machine lights NUDGES 8% of the time and HOLD 20% of the time (HOLD never comes twice in a row after a held spin).
Tips
- Hold only when it beats a fresh spin. Counting the nudges and the chance of a later HOLD, an ordinary spin is worth about 0.9523 of your stake. Hold when the reels you keep are worth more than that on the next spin, and otherwise spin normally. Two sevens on the line easily clear that bar: the third reel then has a real chance of a seven. Used this way, the hold feature adds about 12.7 percentage points to the return.
- Look above the line before nudging. A nudge brings the symbol above the line down. Work out which reels can make a line within your nudges.
- Don’t nudge into a small win if a big one is in reach. A win ends the nudges, so nudge the other reels first.
For a classic three-reel slot without features, try Classic Slots.
If you enjoy Hold and Nudge, try Hold’em Duel or Hold’em Raise next.
