Yup, I’d play both of those. You’ll do a lot of swinging and missing on those games, but long term you’ll win enough for them to be +EV. Still, they aren’t my favorite games.
The number of spins a symbol will be actively multiplied caps at eight, so that’s why it’s worded that way. No difference for advantage purposes. Any line hit, however small, will reset the counter for that symbol to eight.