Hold and Spin explained: resets, locked symbols, and payouts

Hold and Spin features keep qualifying symbols or their values while other positions respin. A new qualifying event may reset the counter, but the trigger, reset amount, collection rules, and ending conditions belong to that specific game. Three remaining respins do not mean only three respins can occur in the whole feature.

Track two separate things: prizes retained and respins remaining. A change in one does not tell you exactly what happened to the other. This guide uses official rule sheets, a provider description, and an invented counter trace, without gameplay testing or verification of a current U.S. casino build.

What triggers Hold and Spin, and which symbols stay?

Find the named feature in the matching rules. Do not combine every special symbol into one count or assume six symbols always start a bonus.

In IGT’s Scarab Link rules hosted by Loto-Québec, page 2, three Scarab Link scatters on reels 2-4 trigger Hold and Respin. The first respin then supplies at least six prize values or named jackpot symbols, which lock in position. The trigger symbols and the later held prizes serve different jobs.

By contrast, Treasure Box Kingdom’s rules, page 2, require five or more Coin Scatter Symbols. Their values initially combine into one locked coin, rather than all triggering coins staying in separate positions.

These are Québec operator-hosted rule examples, not evidence of a U.S. game’s current settings, state approval, or availability. Their feature names cannot identify an unknown machine’s rules. For symbol roles and position restrictions, use wilds, scatters, and bonus triggers.

Why does the respin counter reset instead of adding three?

A reset sets the remaining count to a stated value. It need not add that value to whatever remained.

Scarab Link page 2 starts the feature with three respins and resets the counter to three when a new prize value or jackpot symbol appears. That is a reset within the bonus; the same section says the bonus cannot be retriggered.

Here is a wholly fictional feature, not a trace from either game. It starts with three held coins and three respins. A blank consumes one respin; one or more new coins reset the counter to three. Coins stay held, and there is room for every coin below. There are no collectors, multipliers, jackpots, extra-spin symbols, or early-ending caps.

Respin	New coins	Left afterward
1	None	2
2	One	3
3	None	2
4	Two	3
5	None	2
6	None	1
7	None	0

The feature uses seven respins and ends with six held coins. Three starting coins plus one on respin 2 and two on respin 4 make six.

On respin 4, two new coins still reset the counter once to three; they do not add six respins. Nor is the new count the previous two plus three.

Treasure Box Kingdom page 3 has an additional wrinkle: its +1 Spin symbol raises the reset value for the rest of that bonus. A fixed three-reset model cannot explain every later counter in that document.

Why did held coins disappear from the grid?

Check whether their values were collected, rather than assuming the prizes were lost.

Treasure Box Kingdom page 3 describes a Treasure Box collecting the displayed coin values into a replacement locked coin. The other coins leave their positions, making room for more symbols. The number of occupied positions can shrink while their combined value is retained.

For an invented collection-only snapshot, suppose coins show $0.20, $0.30, and $0.50. A fictional collector replaces those three with one $1.00 coin, with no extra award or multiplier. Occupancy falls from three positions to one; value stays $1.00. Adding the removed $1.00 to the replacement $1.00 would double-count it.

That is different from cascading reels, where eligible symbols are removed and a changed grid is evaluated. Similar movement does not establish the same accounting rule.

When does the feature end, and what is actually paid?

Look for the end condition, settlement instructions, and exceptions together. Scarab Link pages 2-3 end the bonus at zero respins or 20 filled positions and award its prize values and jackpots afterward. Page 4 adds a jurisdiction-dependent cap on the settled amount, excluding the Grand Progressive Jackpot.

Treasure Box Kingdom page 3 uses zero respins or 15 locked positions; page 8 also describes a jurisdiction-dependent transaction cap that can end a bonus early. A full grid is not a universal ending or jackpot rule.

A counter reset also differs from entering another named feature. Aristocrat’s U.S. King Samurai description separately describes Hold & Spin Again and carrying prior values into it. This product summary is not a complete paytable or proof of a particular casino’s active configuration.

Record the title, mode, held-value rule, qualifying reset event, reset amount, ending conditions, and completed payout. Check the full transaction cost before calling a payout profit; the credits and total-bet guide explains that distinction. The paytable checklist helps keep those facts attached to the right version.

Neither the fictional trace nor a nearly full grid supplies symbol probabilities, RTP, or a reason to expect the next respin to complete the feature.