The essential elements that make up a slot game are all called slot features. These are made to increase gameplay excitement and possibly increase your winnings. Slots with special features are undoubtedly more thrilling for most people.
However, they can offer more than simply amusement. To help you understand which feature to look out for in your next slot game, we’re going to dive into the world of slot features in this post.
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Popular Slot Features
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We’ve included some of the most popular below, but you’ll soon realize that game creators are constantly battling to design new features or improve old ones. Game providers can name these features whatever they see fit.
For example, if you give the Nitropolis slot game a try after reading this post, you’ll notice many of the features explained below, may be under a completely different name. However, they’ll essentially function in the same way.
Paylines and Win Ways
The first slots created had a single straight payline that ran across three reels. Modern video slots allow you to bet on several paylines ranging from five to 100. Paylines, often known as winning lines, might be horizontal or zigzag, fixed or flexible, and are indicated in each game’s paytable.
Many current video slots have fixed paylines, which means that your wager covers all winning lines. Many video slots also pay just one direction. However, paylines have developed, and we now have slots that payout both ways and features like Win-All-Ways, Megaways mechanics, 243 Ways To Win, and Cluster Pays.
Scatters
Bonus games are frequently triggered by scatter symbols. The number of scatter symbols required to trigger the bonus feature is specified in the game rules. A minimum of three is normally required. More scatters might provide larger bonuses depending on the game.
Also, Scatter symbols may not always adhere to payline restrictions. Instead of needing to line them up on successive reels after a win line, they’ll pay in any position. As is customary, scatters can behave in whatever way the developer desires.
Wilds
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Wilds are typically employed as symbol substitutes to assist you in creating winning combinations that might otherwise be incomplete. Wilds often replace all other paying symbols except scatter and special symbols.
Yet, distinct wild varieties will arise during bonus rounds in some more complicated and bonus-rich slots. An example of this would be where the wilds change to a different symbol and have different rules between a base game, bonus game, and free spins rounds. Slots can incorporate a variety of wilds, including regular wilds, sticky wilds, and expanding wilds.
Jumping wilds, walking wilds, and multiplier wilds are some of the other varieties. Viewing the game’s paytable might also help you better grasp these symbols.
Bonus and Jackpot Games
Bonus and jackpot games come in several formats and provide you with the opportunity to earn additional cash by playing the feature game. Bonus games are normally granted when particular symbols appear on the reels and remain for a brief amount of time before returning you to the base game.
Some bonus games include sophisticated visual graphics, whereas others are considered basic. Some jackpots demand talent, while others, like a pick game, are purely random. Here’s where online slots truly shine and transcend into the video game side of things, with many of the features involving rich narratives and gameplay.
Progressive Jackpots
It’s critical not to mix up the above-mentioned fixed jackpot winnings with progressive jackpots. Progressive jackpots function by connecting several slot games to pool a very high payout.
Every single participant in any of the games may strike it rich and win a life-changing sum of money. The internet has made it incredibly simple to network online slots, and progressive jackpot slot games are quite popular among gamers.
Gamble Features
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The ‘gamble’ element is reminiscent of the old fruit machines that are being brought back to life in various ways. It allows players to ‘gamble’ their gains, which are normally doubled if they win but lost if they lose.
Typical gamble features ask you to guess the color of the next card picked from a deck or whether the next number will be bigger or smaller than the previous one.
Cascading and Tumbling Reels
Cascading Reels, Rolling Reels, and Tumbling Reels all function similarly. They give the reels on slot games a distinct and unusual ability. Once you have spun and landed symbols on the reels, the winning symbols in your combos fall or cascade down to make way for a fresh pick.
The new symbols may then be combined with the symbols originally landed on the reels to generate new winning combinations. This process usually continues until no more winning combinations are created, giving you many chances to win with only one spin.
Free Spins and Respins
This is one of the most basic and typical bonus rounds seen in slot machines. Free spins are a bonus feature that, as the name implies, gives you several free spins to increase your earnings.
A free spins round can be triggered in several ways, including when particular symbols appear in a row on one of the reels or when a certain amount of the same symbols appear elsewhere on the reels.
You’ll be given a set number of spins, and winnings will accumulate as the spins rotate around the reels. The best free spins rounds are those that combine with multipliers.
Multipliers
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Multiplier symbols, as the name implies, multiply any winnings by a specific amount. Depending on the game, this amount can range anywhere from a 2x multiplier to any amount. They also come in a variety of forms, with some running on standard reels and others exclusively as part of a specific bonus round or feature.
Choose the Right Game
These special slot features may increase your winning odds, which is what every gamer desires. The correct game with the right characteristics must be chosen, though. If you’ve never played a video slot machine before, those with lots of features could seem overwhelming.
However, once you get the hang of them, they’re typically simple to grasp. You’ll also be able to recognize the features of slots faster the more often you play.
