Slots

How to play slots

Slots are perhaps the most popular of all gambling genre's with 1000's of varieties of different games on multiple software platforms. Slots can offer a variety of jackpots from progressives to matching symbols to special features offering a unique combination that slots players hunt for. Slot machines often offer several hundred thousand dollars (currency of your choice) in jackpots. Recently there was a lucky winner at a Microgaming Casino who won over $5,000,000 in a progressive jackpot.With less than $10 in bets - not a bad return on investment!

Almost everyone who has seen a slot machine in person has dropped a coin or 2 to try their luck at a win, and while slot machines are the most basic form of gmabling to master, they vary greatly between games. There are serveral varieties of slot machines which are all based on the original 3 reel, 1 line, 1 armed bandit style machine that requires 3 symbols on the payline to win. These machines became very easy to cheat with magnets and other old fashioned devices so along came the invention of computerised slots with special feature games and bonus rounds that resemble video game consoles - only with a real life bonus of winning money!

Slot machines are broken into categories based on how many reels spin in the machine and how many paylines are on offer. A reel is the section of the machine that spins, and the number of reels determines the type of slot machine and how many matching symbols are required. The 2 most common forms of slots of the 3 - reel and 5 - reel, where either 3 or 5 reels spin to deliver results in corresonding rows (paylines).

Slot machines are catergorized as follows:

Single Line Slots

As the name suggests, this type of slot machine allows you to play a single line at a time. This is a good for noves who are unsure how to play, or even how much to bet.

Bets on this type of machine vary from 5 cents to 5 hundred dollars, and again, this depends on the type of machine played, or the casino played at.

These slots machines mirror their real - life counterparts in that you nominate the amount of money paid per line per spin. The more you bet, the more you stand to return should your spin be a winner.

3 - Reel Standard Slots

3 - reel standard slots are the most common slot machines. You bet a certain amount, then spin the three reels and depending on the outcome of the spin, you either win or lose.

3 - Reel Max Bet 2 Slots

These machines allow you to bet the maximum of 2 coins, not 3 as in standard slots.

Multi -Line Slots

Essentially multi - line slots are the same as single - line slots, but there are more rows to win on. Instead of just having the centre line as the pay line, a multi-line machine will have the centre, top and bottom lines nad perhaps tow (or more) others available.

3 - line and 5 - line slot machines

Here you specify your bet per payline, and the paylines on which you bet. A payline is the line along which your total bet is then line bet x number of lines selected. 3 - line slots have 3 lines for you to choose between, and 5 - line slots have 5.

Max Multi - line slots

Same as above, only these machines have more than 5 lines. It is common today have 9, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50 and even 100 line slot machines.

Multi - Spin Slots

Multi - Spin slots allow you to spin once, choose which symbols you want to keep and then re-spin to try and match them. This offers the player more interation in the final outcome and adds to the excitement of playing the slots.

3 - Row and 5- Row multi- spin slot

This is the giant leap for slot machines. In multispin slots, after the first spin you xhoose which reels you want to hold, then spin the rest of the reels again. 3 -row or 5 -row mean you have 3 rows or 5 rows, like in multiline video poker you have multiple hands.

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How to play slots

A progressive jackpot means that a certain percentage of every bet goes into the progressive jackpot pool. You win the jackpot by obtaining a very high symbol combination, usually only when playing maximum bet.

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Bonus Game

Machines that have bonus game require you obtain special symbol combination (usually 3 scatter symbols), or collect certain symbols. When you do, you will enter a bonus round, with special prizes or you will obtain a free spin feature with a multiplier. Note that in some games you have to place the maximum bet to qualify for the bonus round. (Not common but always check the pay table before playing a game to check what is required to obtain the bonus feature.)

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