Whether you want to maximize the amount of fun you have playing online slots or improve your odds of striking jackpots, understanding all the features that slot games use is important. Though most online slots are not complicated, a firm grasp of all the symbols, bonus features, and payline mechanics will help ensure that your online slots experience will be as entertaining as possible.
Symbol features
All slot games come with a variety of symbols that represent different values, scores, and potential bonus prizes. The look of the symbols will vary from game to game depending on the theme, but you can expect to come across two kinds of symbols most frequently: wild symbols and scatter symbols.
Wild symbols are like wild cards in card games. They can represent any other symbol and can be used to attain a larger variety of winning payline combinations. Some games will place restrictions on just how much versatility a wild symbol will have.
As their name implies, scatter symbols can appear anywhere on the reels and rows. They are most commonly associated with bonus rounds, free spins and other exciting prizes.
Depending on the type of slot game you’re playing, you might run into variations of wild and scatter symbols that further enhance their unique properties. Some wild symbols are sticky, meaning they will stay in place for multiple spins. Some scatters will increase the multiplier, giving you the opportunity to hit even bigger cashouts.
Thousands of slot games are available online today, so it can be hard to find the right games that offer the symbol features that are the most fun. If you use a resource like https://www.johnslots.com/en/slots/slot-features/, for example, you can find many slot games that are loaded to the brim with these kinds of symbol features.
Reel features
Like symbols, slot reels tend to have two primary features: multiplier reels and cascading reels.
Similar to scatter symbols that can provide multiplier opportunities, multiplier reels will multiply your winning score by a preset factor when triggered. Multiplier reels often come in values of x2, x3, and x4, though some slot games will go even higher.
Cascading reels refer to symbols that fall down from above as opposed to the traditional spinning reels that most people are familiar with. Cascading reels can create massive chain reactions, in which winning symbols are replaced and combined with other winning symbols to create massive bonus payouts.
Jackpot features
The jackpot features of slot games are perhaps the most sought-after features in slots. That’s because they are capable of awarding some of the highest winning scores and prizes possible in the history of online slots.
Jackpot slots are communal. Everyone participates in them, which means everyone is competing for the same final prize. This makes online slots with jackpot features a sort of competition or contest. There are two kinds of jackpot features: progressive jackpots and fixed jackpots.
A fixed jackpot has multiple players competing for a set prize that does not change, no matter what.
Progressive jackpots are more exciting, and as a result, they’re in higher demand. The jackpot prize increases based on the number of players that are playing the same slot. As each player makes wagers and bets, they will be adding to the overall jackpot pool. This makes progressive jackpots extremely competitive and hard to win, but the prize is especially massive to make up for this.
Gamble features
Though the name is a bit confusing since all online slots are a form of gambling, there are such things as gamble features. As in table games such as blackjack, some slots give you the opportunity to use a sort of double-or-nothing feature. This means risking all of your winnings for a chance at doubling or even tripling them.
These gamble features sound exciting, but they are understandably not as popular as, say, cascading reels or progressive jackpots. The idea of losing all of your winnings in the blink of an eye isn’t going to appeal to most fans of online slots.
Bonus features
Bonus features make up some of the most fun aspects of online slots and online casino games in general. Like a box of chocolates, they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
Most online slots’ bonus features come up as bonus rounds, which themselves are a broad category and can come with many implications and potentials, depending on the game or the software provider.
Some bonus rounds will bring you to a special screen where you will select one out of several prizes that will provide a major boost to your performance, such as multipliers, odds for better symbols etc. These rounds are often themed with the game itself: ancient treasure inside a pyramid in ancient Egypt, weapons in a wild west saloon, and other such examples.
One of the most popular forms of bonus round features is free spins. The number you win will differ depending on the game’s volatility and the bonus round’s rules, but receiving several or even a couple of dozen free spins as a prize for a bonus round is pretty common these days.
Bonus rounds can also lead to unique minigames that turn the standard slot rules on their head. Though less common than other bonus features, they’re fun and add a lot of excitement.
Some of these minigames take the form of a wheel of fortune, in which you spin the wheel and receive whatever prize you land on. These prizes tend to include things like multipliers or free spins. In some cases, if the online casino allows it, these prizes can also improve your VIP status in the loyalty program. Again, this is only if the online casino in question has a VIP or loyalty program. This often involves exclusive slot games that are custom-made for these casinos, and their particular parameters.
