If you are an avid gamer, you would have known about slot games. We offer a detailed overview of the popular online and land-based slot machines and their designers and manufacturers in our guide to slot games. Here are the things to know about Slot Games.
We try to answer every question possible that an individual might have about the slot machines, slot industry, and slot games. As there is no substitute for the time spent trying out the real thing, we include these free games even if you are using play money.
What to Look For In Slot Games
When searching for a game to play, you look for a number of different features. These features can be described as whatever that separates one game from the other or differentiates a game in such a unique way that it stands out from the crowded cliché of web-based or traditional slot machines.
Some of the most known slot features in the modern gambling industry are:
1. Scatter Symbols
In order to trigger a pay out or other reward, traditional reel symbols have to appear in a specific combination on an active pay line. Regardless of where they land on the game’s pay lines, scatter symbols trigger bonus rounds or pay out jackpots or other prizes. Progressive prizes or bonus or side games can be triggered by modern online slots using scatter symbols. This is also one of the things to know about Slot Games.
2. Wild Symbols
To form winning combinations, wild symbols substitute for most or all other reel symbols. Many casinos will pay off big jackpots for spinning them in combinations of 3, 4, or 5 on a payline, however, modern wild symbols often perform other roles as well. There are other wild symbols that may trigger bonus or side games, or even acts as scatter symbols.
The ways bonus symbols behave are changing along with the online gaming industry even if the wild symbol is not a new innovation. When “expanding wilds” will make the other symbols wild when they appear in specific combinations by expanding, while “stacked wilds” on the other hand make all the reels wild at once that leads to even more frequent and bigger payouts.
3. Bonus Games
Any game that takes place outside the standard spinning-reel action of a slot machine is the bonus game. The earliest bonus games allowed players to double a payout by guessing the color of a virtual card from the virtual deck and were quite simple. Online slot bonus games nowadays range from simple pick-em games to more complicated skill-based shoot-em-up action. This is one of the Things to know about Slot Games.
Types of Slot Games
Various kinds of slot machines exist in today’s market. The variety found in the market of console and computer gaming are rivalled by varieties of slot machine. The attention of people raised on top-of-the-line film entertainment and gaming should be captured by the modern slot machine designers. There is an entire section of the types of slot machines dedicated on the following page.
Some of those varieties mentioned briefly are:
1. Mechanical Slots
Any slot machine that performs without electricity, computers, or fancy gadgets is called as a mechanical slot. Most casinos do not hold any mechanical slots as anything besides a lobby display or novelty. Since they were first played in a region of America where there was no electricity for more than half-century, the earliest slot machines were completely mechanical. These days, authentic antique mechanical slot machines are collector’s items.
2. Classic Slots
A classic slot is any slot machine that has three reels and a single pay line. Since vintage slot games are also from the classic era and can also be described in this way, this phrase can be a little confusing. Many gamblers love to play classic slots because they either only play that kind of game or these games are sort of mindless entertainment. Another reason why some slots fan like classic slots is due to their simplicity which means they will accept small wagers and contain relatively-high payback percentages.
3. Fruit Machines
This phrase won’t be heard much outside Australia and UK but in those regions it is a common slang for the phrase “slot machines”. The name was given because the earliest slot games utilized symbols resembling fruits like bananas, lemons, cherries, etc. however, the phenomena of the fruit symbol has faded away all these years but the name stuck around. Everyone knows what a fruit machine is in the United Kingdom but you will hardly ever hear the phrase ‘slot”.
Another slang that is quite common for slots is slot machines. This name is quite popular in Australia and New Zealand, however, most people use the word ‘slots’.
4. Video Slots
Instead of mechanical reels, modern slot machines use video screens. The vast majority of the games are video slots nowadays in a casino. It is possible that every slot on your average American casino floor is a video slot unless the casino has some old mechanical games on display for fun. This word is used to distinguish classic slots from the modern titles that do not rely on the mechanical reels.
5. 3D Slots
To make their titles stand out from the crowd and give their games replay value; modern slot designers rely on all sorts of bells and whistles. As 3D technology becomes more available to game designers, games that implement 3D graphics are becoming more common. Thanks to the array of 3D movies and the large release of 3D televisions; audiences are becoming quite familiar with 3D technology.