Wizard of Odds Slots Analysis

I have been reading the Deconstructing the Atkins Diet Slot Machine article at Wizard of Odds.
The line pay combinations aren't adding up, in my mind anyway.
The first line shows the combinations for the Atkins symbol.
5 in a row makes sense, there is only one combination.
4 in a row should be 31, not 28. The first 4 reels show an Atkins symbol and the last reel shows any of 31 other symbols.
What am I missing ?

I'll add one more, 5 in a row steaks is listed as 431 combinations.
From the reel distributions it should be 2x3x2x2x3 = 72

Only the highest win is awarded per played line.

4 Wilds pays 500 times the line bet
5 Steaks pays 1000 times the line bet

Thus, 4 Wilds + 1 Steak is scored as 5 Steak rather than 4 Wilds. There is 1 Wild symbol on every reel, and 3 Steak symbols on the fifth reel.

1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 3 = 3 combinations for Wild-Wild-Wild-Wild-Steak, and these are the 3 combinations you are missing.


For your second question, you are overlooking the fact that Wild symbols can substitute for any other symbol except scatters.

Thank you JB, I knew the wizard couldn't be wrong.