How to Play Wizard of Oz Slots, Step by Step

To play the Wizard of Oz slot you choose how many of its 30 paylines to activate and how much to stake on each, then spin; three Emerald City symbols on reels 1, 3 and 5 open the Oz Pick bonus. That short answer covers the classic online game. The rest of this guide goes through each control and screen in order, with worked numbers, and then shows how the newer Over the Rainbow and the instant-win spin-offs differ.

Rules on this page come from Light & Wonder’s catalogue and press material and, where the maker gives no rules text, from the game description at Slingo, a UK-licensed site carrying the 30-line game. If a casino’s own help screen shows different settings, trust the help screen: operators may configure bet steps within the maker’s limits. For the background on versions and RTP, start with our Wizard of Oz slot review.

Step 1: open the right game

Several games carry the Oz name. The one described in steps 2 to 6 is the 5-reel, 30-line video slot that Light & Wonder’s catalogue lists as The Wizard of Oz Emerald City (game ID 500148). Check the provider line on the game’s info screen before you stake anything: it should read Light & Wonder, WMS or NYX. A different studio name means a different game, and nothing on this page applies to it.

Step 2: set lines and stake

Two settings decide your cost per spin. First comes the number of active paylines, up to 30. Then you pick the amount per line. Multiply the two and you have the total stake, which the game shows next to the spin button.

The first and last rows cost the same, yet they are not equal deals. With 15 lines you pay 0.30 for half the coverage at double the line value, so any win that lands on an inactive line is lost. Light & Wonder’s catalogue lists a range of 0.35 to 700 per spin for this game, and Slingo’s page quotes a £0.30 minimum, so your casino’s lowest step may differ slightly from the table.

Step 3: read the paytable before the first spin

Every licensed slot has a paytable screen, usually behind an “i” or menu icon. It shows each symbol’s award for three, four or five of a kind, scaled to your current line stake, plus the line patterns. Payouts on this game run left to right along an active line.

The symbol set follows the film. According to Slingo’s game page, the tornado, Dorothy’s house, the ruby slippers and Toto appear on the reels, alongside characters such as the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. The Wizard of Oz symbol is wild and stands in for everything except the Emerald City jackpot symbol and the feature icons. Neither Light & Wonder nor Slingo publishes the actual award values, so we do not print a paytable here: open the in-game screen, which updates as you change the stake.

Worked example: turning a paytable line into money

Suppose the paytable screen, set to a 0.10 line stake, shows 25.00 for five of a symbol. That figure already includes your line stake. Raise the line stake to 0.20 and the same five-of-a-kind shows 50.00; drop it to 0.05 and it shows 12.50. Wins on several lines in one spin are added together. The numbers here are illustrative only, chosen to show the scaling; the real values depend on the symbol and the game build.

Step 4: what happens during base-game spins

Press spin and the reels stop one by one. Glinda the Good Witch is the base-game surprise. Without any trigger symbol she can fly across the screen and, per Slingo, turn between one and five reels into wilds. When that happens, all active lines are re-evaluated with the new wild reels, which is why full line coverage pays off on these spins.

Autoplay is available too. Slingo’s page mentions an AUTOPLAY button for a set number of spins; use it with a loss limit if the casino offers one, so the run stops on its own.

Step 5: the Oz Pick and its three outcomes

Three Emerald City symbols landing together on reels 1, 3 and 5 start the bonus. Flashing symbols appear and you pick one. Each pick reveals one of three features:

1. Cash Win. An instant credit prize, added to your balance and ending the bonus.
2. Winged Monkeys. Eight free spins. During these, monkeys fly over the reels and change symbols into wilds. Slingo notes a surprise if the feature lands on reel 3.
3. Road to Emerald City. A pick game along the yellow brick road. You choose emeralds; each reveals a cash prize or a character, and a character takes you to that character’s level for more picks. Dorothy is the highest-value symbol in this round.

Your choice on the pick screen feels like a decision, but the game’s return is fixed in its maths. No pattern of picks raises the long-run payout; our odds and RTP page goes into why.

Step 6: after a feature

Feature wins drop into the balance when the round ends, and the game returns to the base reels at the same stake. A good habit at this point: glance at the balance against your starting figure and decide whether to stop, lower the stake, or continue. Writing the starting number down makes this easier than it sounds.

Playing on mobile and in the browser

No download is involved. Light & Wonder’s catalogue page offers separate “Play on Desktop” and “Play on Mobile” demo buttons for Emerald City, and the real-money game runs in the same way inside a licensed casino’s website or app. On a phone the controls fold into a smaller bar: the stake menu and the line selector usually sit behind one button, and the paytable behind another. Portrait and landscape both work in most casino wrappers, though landscape shows larger reels.

Old guides to an iPhone or Android “Wizard of Oz download” usually point to Zynga’s Wizard of Oz Slots, which is a different product. Zynga’s Google Play listing says the app does not offer real money gambling or any chance to win real money or prizes, and its machines are built for the app. Our free play page compares that app with the maker’s own demo.

How Over the Rainbow plays instead

Light & Wonder’s 2025 online release works on a 5×4 grid. BetMGM, the operator that carries it in the US, lists a stake of 0.30 to 30 credits, up to 45 paylines and an Autoplay option. Its feature set:

• Wilds: two Over the Rainbow wild symbols, one of which also pays the top jackpot when five land, per BetMGM.
• Glinda feature: may trigger on any spin and randomly replaces reels with a Glinda wild; a Tin Man, Cowardly Lion or Scarecrow feature can join it (Light & Wonder).
• Respins: two bonus symbols lock their reels while the others respin (BetMGM).
• Balloon Jackpot: State Fair symbols can award a 100x-bet Balloon Jackpot; five Over the Rainbow jackpot symbols win the 1,000x top jackpot (Light & Wonder).
• Free Spins: up to seven character features can be active in the round, according to Light & Wonder’s gaming site.

The instant-win spin-offs

Light & Wonder also lists two Oz games that are not reel slots. The Wizard of Oz (game 70669) is a match-3 or match-4 tumbler with a yellow brick road bonus, a wild poppies bonus and free games, and an Auto Play option for up to 20 rounds. Wizard of Oz: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore drops nine random blocks to build a path for Dorothy; the further the path runs, the bigger the win, and extra blocks can be collected or bought. Both use a single stake per round instead of lines.

Before you start

Set a session budget and a time limit before the first spin, and keep the stake at a level where 200 spins would not hurt. Real-money play is for adults only, and our responsible gambling page lists free help. If you are looking for somewhere to play with crypto, read our casino availability check first: the official game is hard to find outside regulated markets.

Questions about playing Wizard of Oz