Slot machines have been part of the casino landscape ever since they were first introduced to Vegas casinos in the 1940s.  They continue to offer the simplest and most user-friendly gameplay at the casino for players of all betting levels, experience backgrounds, interests and gaming styles. At one time, the slots were relatively unsophisticated gaming machines – you pulled a lever or pushed a button to spin the reels and collected payouts based on the matching combinations that your spins achieved.

Today, cash slots online have evolved. There are machines with dozens of paylines and machines with no paylines at all. Today's slot machines display special symbols, offer bonus rounds,  present unique features and include technological elements that create a heightened atmosphere of excitement, anticipation and fun.

Whether you're curious about why RTP matters for your long-term returns or how High Volatility changes your hit frequency, learn slot terminology so that you'll enjoy a more successful gaming event when you play slots online.

The Big Three

If you only learn three terms, these are the ones that you want to know. These terms define the math behind every spin:

  • Return to Player – the Return to Player, also known as the RTP, is the theoretical percentage that a game pays back over millions of spins. For instance, if a slot machine is advertised as having a 97% RTP, you'll know that $97 out of every $100 is returned to players in wins. Games with high RTPs give you more chances to land wins. Games with higher RTPs have lower house edges.
  • Volatility – a game's volatility is the variance, or the risk level of the game. There are high volatility slot machines, medium volatility machines, and low volatility slots. The higher the volatility of a machine, the fewer the wins BUT the bigger the payout. Low volatility games have frequent but smaller wins.
  • Random Number Generator – the RNG is the computer algorithm that ensures that every single spin is 100% random and fair. For gamers who are considering relying on a "system" (double your bet after a loss, double your bet after a win, etc), it's worthwhile to remember that the RNG proves that a slot machine is never "due" for a win because every spin is a fresh start and the results of the spin have no connection to whatever came before it.

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Reels, Paylines and Ways to Win

To understand a modern slot machine, you have to look at it as a three-layered system. The Reels are the body of the game and the Paylines or Ways to Win are the rules that tell that body how to pay you.

Following is the  breakdown of these three essential mechanics:

  • Reels – the reels are the vertical sections that spin when you click the "spin" button. There are classic slot machines that have 3 reels and video slots with 5, 6 or 7 reels. The more reels there are, the more spaces there are where the symbols can land.
  • Paylines – paylines involve specific, pre-determined patterns that run across the reels. To win, your spin must result in symbols that complete a match across those lines. In the past, there were simple, straight horizontal lines but today, the paylines can zigzag, form a "V" shape or create lightning bolt patterns across the screen.  Paylines in today's slots are Fixed which means that you place one bet that covers the combinations that appear on all of them.
  • Ways to Win – also called "PayWays" or "All Ways Pay". Ways to Win slots removes the need for symbols to fall in a specific pattern in order to create a win.  As long as matching symbols land on adjacent reels, you win. It doesn't matter if they are at the top, middle, or bottom of the reel. A standard 5-reel, 3-row slot has 243 Ways to Win. Some of the newest slots have 6 reels and 4 rows, which creates 4,096 Ways. In-between there are other possibilities. In Megaways slots,  the number of symbols on each reel changes with every spin which gives you even more Ways to Win.

Unique Slot Machine Elements

You can find unique slot machine elements – each machine offers its own selection of these special elements. Some of the most popular include:

  • Free Spins – The free spins game is triggered by a specific combination that appears on the reels – typically three Scatter symbols. When you activate the free spins, the regular game stops and you are taken into the free spins game, where you spin the reels for a specified number of times for free and collect the resulting prizes.
  • Respins – in some games, the triggering combination can appear on a free spin which activates respins, so you are able to continue to spin the reels for free and collect the resulting rewards.
  • Cascading Reels – also known as Rolling Reels, Cascading Reels is one of the most popular features in online slots. It turns a single spin into a potential "chain reaction" of multiple wins. In a game with Cascading Wins, when you spin your reels and the symbols land, you collect your payout for a winning combination and, instead of the spin ending, the symbols that were part of that win explode, vanish, or dissolve from the screen. The symbols that were above the winning ones drop down into the empty spaces and new symbols fall from the top of the grid to fill any remaining gaps. If these new symbols create another win, the process repeats. This continues until no new winning combinations appear.
  • Expanding Reels – Expanding Reels change the physical size of the game board. The "dynamic grid" is triggered when a specific symbol lands. The game board physically stretches with more rows added to existing reels. Because there are now more symbols on the screen, the number of Ways to Win skyrockets.
  • Grouped Wilds – Grouped Wilds act as blocks or clusters of Wilds that move together as a single unit. Grouped Wilds often appear as 2x2 or 3x3 blocks, generally as Oversized symbols. If a 3x3 Grouped Wild lands on the center reels, 9 positions are turned into Wilds at once which guarantees multiple wins across hundreds of paylines or ways. If a Grouped Wild lands only partially on the screen, the game might nudge it into full view to complete its coverage.

These and other unique features create a slots gaming adventure of fun, excitement and real money wins!

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