Hold & Spin, Hold and Win, Money Respin: how studios name the same pokie bonus

How the mechanic works

The basic pattern is the same across studios, whatever it is called:

1. A set number of special symbols, usually coins, orbs or money symbols, land in one spin and trigger the bonus.
2. Those symbols lock in place. The rest of the reels clear, and the player receives a small number of respins, typically three.
3. Only bonus symbols, and sometimes blanks or special modifiers, can land during the respins. Each new symbol locks, and the respin counter resets to its starting value.
4. The bonus ends when the respins run out or the screen fills. The values on the locked symbols are added together, and filling the screen often awards a top jackpot.

The appeal is visible progress: each landing symbol extends the feature and adds value. The maths underneath, including how often the bonus triggers and how values are distributed, is what differs between games, and it is reflected in each game's return to player rather than in the name of the feature.

Where it started: Lightning Link, 2015

Trade outlet Yogonet reported on 10 June 2015 that Aristocrat was launching Lightning Link as a Class III game in the United States. The launch had four themes: Happy Lantern, High Stakes, Magic Pearl and Sahara Gold. The games could be set up with four standalone jackpots or linked to a grand jackpot, and the report described the core bonus as "a hold and re-spin jackpot feature".

The launch report did not use the phrase "Hold & Spin". That name appears in Aristocrat's later material: its US page for a Lightning Link anniversary release refers to "a storm 10 years in the making" bringing new additions to the Lightning Link family, and to "the legendary Hold & Spin". This guide could not find a primary source showing exactly when the "Hold & Spin" label was first used, so it does not give a date for it.

Lightning Link stayed a land-based product for more than a decade. On 23 July 2026, Gambling.com reported that Lightning Link had made its online debut in North America with Lightning Link High Stakes, at operators including DraftKings, FanDuel and Hard Rock Bet. The Aristocrat studio page covers the company's wider game library.

Patents: why the name and the feature are guarded

In Australia, the question of whether a gaming machine feature can be patented went all the way to the High Court. According to law firm Clayton Utz, the High Court split 3:3 in 2022, and in 2025 the Full Federal Court found in Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Patents [2025] FCAFC 131 that Aristocrat's claims to an electronic gaming machine with a feature game were patentable.

That decision underpins a commercial deal announced in 2026. Ainsworth Game Technology's ASX release of 14 August 2026 says:

• Ainsworth has taken a licence to Aristocrat's Australian game play feature patents, including the "Hold & Spin™ patent family", for Ainsworth-branded products in Australia.
• The licence covers both electronic gaming machines and online and mobile games.
• Ainsworth pays A$8,500,000 in instalments over a 3.5-year term.
• The agreement includes a mutual release, a covenant not to challenge the patents, and a royalty-free licence to Aristocrat's responsible gaming patents.

Aristocrat's patent family also extends overseas. US patent US12198503B2, titled "Gaming machine and method with hold and spin symbol propagation", is assigned to Aristocrat Technologies Australia.

Trade marks: why rivals pick their own label

Names are protected separately from mechanics. IP Australia's trade mark register shows mark number 2549231, "FABULOUS HOLD & SPIN JACKPOTS", owned by Aristocrat Technologies Australia, in classes 9 and 28, entered on the register on 6 January 2026. Aristocrat's own material uses "Hold & Spin" as a feature name across its Lightning Link family.

Other studios therefore describe similar bonuses under their own names. The table lists examples taken from studio game pages.

Within each studio the label also travels across titles. BGaming, for instance, uses Hold and Win in other games too, such as St. Patrick's Pots Hold and Win, which it lists at 97.75% RTP. Wazdan's page for 9 Coins makes a point that applies to many games in this family: the base game itself offers no prizes, and the value sits almost entirely in triggering the bonus. Aristocrat, meanwhile, keeps extending its own family: the anniversary release page adds a Lightning Free feature and characters called the Shang Jin Warrior and the Master Magician around the same Hold & Spin core.

The names differ, but a player can recognise the family by the same three signs: locking symbols, a short respin counter that resets, and fixed or progressive jackpots for filling rows or the screen. The pokies guide explains other common features, and progressive slots covers linked jackpots.

When similar becomes too similar: the Light & Wonder dispute

The most public fight over hold-and-respin style games was between Aristocrat and Light & Wonder. Light & Wonder's investor relations site carries a joint statement dated 11 January 2026 headed "Litigation between Aristocrat and Light & Wonder resolved". Search summaries of that statement say Light & Wonder agreed to pay US$127.5 million, acknowledged that Aristocrat maths information was used in developing Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon, and agreed to stop commercialising those games. The investor page itself refused access when this guide tried to open it, so those figures are reported here as published summaries of the statement rather than as text read directly from it.

The point for players is narrow: the dispute was about confidential maths and game design information, not about the generic idea of locking symbols. The generic idea appears across many studios under different names, while specific implementations are protected by patents, trade marks and confidentiality.

What the name tells a player, and what it does not

• It tells you the bonus shape. Hold & Spin, Hold & Win, Money Respin and similar labels all signal locking symbols and resetting respins.
• It does not tell you the RTP. The studio pages above show returns from 96.01% to 97% for the listed online games, but each game's return is set by its maths, and some studios publish several RTP builds of one title. The article on slot RTP versions explains how to check the active figure.
• It does not tell you the jackpot odds. Fixed jackpots shown as Mini, Minor, Major and Grand are part of the game's maths and are paid only when the specific condition is met.
• It does not tell you the volatility. Hold-and-respin bonuses concentrate a large share of a game's return in a feature that triggers only occasionally, so long runs without a trigger are normal. How long depends on the individual game's maths, not on whether the bonus is called Hold & Spin or Hold & Win.
• It does not tell you who made it. A game called "Hold and Win" on a casino lobby may come from any of several studios. The studio name is usually in the game's info screen.

Land-based pokies versus online versions

In Australian pubs and clubs, a Lightning Link style machine is approved by a state regulator, has to meet a minimum return, and must display its RTP or RTP range under the national gaming machine standard. Online, the picture is different. Offering online pokies to people in Australia is prohibited under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, so hold-and-win games on offshore sites are not approved or monitored by any Australian regulator. The Act targets providers rather than individual players, but players on those sites have no local regulator to turn to if a jackpot is disputed.

The mechanic is identical in spirit; the protections around it are not. Anyone who finds that chasing the next locked coin is costing more than intended can contact Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858 for free, confidential support, and BetStop is the national self-exclusion register for licensed Australian wagering providers.

Questions readers ask

Sources

Every figure and date in this article comes from the documents below; we re-check them when a source changes.

1. Yogonet: Aristocrat launches Lightning Link (10 June 2015)
2. Aristocrat Gaming: Lightning Link 10 Year Storm
3. Gambling.com: Aristocrat's Lightning Link slot makes online debut across North America
4. Ainsworth Game Technology ASX release, 14 August 2026
5. Clayton Utz: Aristocrat finally prevails in long-running patentability dispute
6. IP Australia: trade mark 2549231, FABULOUS HOLD & SPIN JACKPOTS
7. Google Patents: US12198503B2, hold and spin symbol propagation
8. Pragmatic Play: Wolf Gold
9. Pragmatic Play: Big Bass Hold & Spinner
10. BGaming: Royal Beellion Hold & Win
11. Wazdan: 9 Coins
12. Light & Wonder: Litigation between Aristocrat and Light & Wonder resolved
13. Australian/New Zealand Gaming Machine National Standard, Revision 12.1

Read next

MarketsMinimum return to player for pokies: every state and territory compared, and where online slots fitFrom 85% in NSW and Queensland to 90% at the Perth casino: the minimum pokie return set in each jurisdiction, read from the national standard.7 min readMarketsPayID vs Osko vs PayTo vs the NPP: who does what, and why casino deposits look differentFour names for parts of Australia's real-time payment system, what each one actually does, and what changes when the payee is an offshore casino.7 min readRegulationCuraçao licence reform explained: the LOK, the Curaçao Gaming Authority and the end of sublicencesThe LOK replaced Curaçao's master-licence model, the Orange Seal expired in October 2025, and a portal breach in 2026 changed how licences are shown.7 min read