The Different Types of Online Slots
Slots are by far the most popular option for most casino players. From the moment they had first appeared, slots managed to capture the imagination of land-based gambling venues and their popularity only grew with the rise of online gambling.
Simple to play and requiring no knowledge or strategy and yet promising big potential rewards, slots attract inexperienced players and casino veterans alike. All you need to win is a bit of luck by your side.
To start with, slots were very simple and straightforward games with one or a few paylines and a small selection of symbols. However, as things moved on, game creators have come up with more and more ideas on how to make slots better and more exciting.
The result of this development is that today we have many different types of slots. All of them come with their own appeal and attract different types of players. Some enjoy the simplicity of classic slots, others prefer games with many ways to win, while others yet only care about big jackpots up for grabs and not much else.
Classic Slots
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Although technology has come a long way from early days of casinos, there are still players who prefer simple, straightforward games. If you belong to this group, classic slots will likely be just down your alley.
Featured at many online casinos, these games take after original slot machines. This means they usually have only three reels and a few paylines, without many special bonus features. To win at classic slots, you’ll simply want to line up three of the same symbol on a payline.
In terms of symbols, these games usually feature graphics such as cherries, oranges, lemons, watermelons, bells, 7s, etc. Because so many symbols in these games are actually fruits, classic slots are often called fruit machines or fruities.
With some of these classic slots, you’ll encounter some very simple bonus features and free spins as well but this is more of an exception than a rule. Simplicity is the main characteristic of these games and players prefer to keep it that way.
Scorching Sevens
Developed by Saucify, Scorching Sevens is a proper classic slot, featuring three reels and just a single payline across the middle of the reels. As far as the symbols are concerned, you’ll find cherries, bars, and flaming 7s, acting as wilds and multiplying your wins. You can bet 1, 2, or 3 coins per spin and, as with many classic slots, you’ll want to bet the max, as the top payout is significantly higher when playing 3 coins.
Lucky Diamonds
Play’n GO is a modern slot developer that focuses on fresh games and novel ideas. However, they also have a few classic slots in their portfolio, including Lucky Diamonds. This game is as classic as it gets, with three reels and one payline, and sound effects that will take you back in times. Symbols featured on the reels include cherries, single, double, and triple bars, 7s, and, of course, diamonds. Lining up three diamonds on the payline will pay the 2,500-coin jackpot when playing on the max bet.
Multi Payline Slots
As technology progressed and developers gained access to more elaborate tools, they started to create slots that offered more excitement. Slowly but surely, they started adding more paylines to the reels, creating more winning opportunities on every single spin. Alongside this, new reels were added, so a majority of slots following in the footsteps of classic games featured five reels instead of three.
When they first appeared, multi-line slots featured just 9 paylines but developers kept pushing for more, initially adding just one extra line to bring the number to 10, then 15, 20, 25, 50, to eventually create games with as many as 100 lines. It goes without saying that some of these “lines” had weird shapes and were hard to track, but players were generally happy to have more opportunities to win on every spin.
Depending on the slot, you can sometime select the number of paylines you want to play, while sometime it is fixed. Thus, multi payline slots provide much more flexibility and give players much more control over how they want to play and spend their gambling money.
Lucky Lady’s Charm
Lucky Lady’s Charm is one of the best-known multi-line slots. Developed by Novomatic, this game found great success in land-based casinos and remains one of top picks at online casinos even today. The original version of the game features 9 paylines and a big payout for the full line of the Lucky Lady symbol. Three magic ball scatters trigger free spins, during which all wins are tripled.
Thunderstruck 2
Thunderstruck 2 is an old online slot game developed by Microgaming. It features a Viking theme and offers 9 paylines across 5 reels. Despite its cartoonish and somewhat outdated graphics for today’s standards, many players still enjoy it from time to time, even if just for nostalgic reasons. Thor is the highest paying symbol and also acts as the wild, substituting for all other symbols on the reels. Landing three ram scatters anywhere on the grid triggers 15 free spins, with all wins tripled during the feature.
Ways-to-win Slots
Although slots with multiple paylines were a big step forward in comparison to classic games, players’ expectations continued to grow over time. Since it was virtually impossible to come up with more than 100 paylines on a standard 3×5 grid, developers came up with a completely new idea of ways-to-win.
Instead of having to line symbols up in a particular way, these games only require symbols to be on adjacent reels from left to right on any position. This provided new opportunities and allowed for the creation of slots with 243 ways to win.
When they first launched, these games were a huge hit as they changed the entire paradigm. All of a sudden, games could offer much bigger wins, especially when combined with various boosts and multipliers.
Then, to make things even more interesting, game providers started producing games with extra lines and reels, expanding the number of win-ways. Eventually, technology has made it possible to create games with a variable number of symbols on each reel, making it possible to create games with hundreds of thousands and even millions of win-ways.
Immortal Romance
Microgaming was one of the early adopters of the new 243-ways technology and they created quite a few titles in this group. However, their Immortal Romance slot remains one of the most popular and sought after games. The game features a classic vampire theme and a bonus feature with several different choices that you get to unlock as you play.
Bonanza
Created by Big Time Gaming, Bonanza is one of the first slots to take advantage of the variable number of symbols on the reels, kicking off the sub-genre of megaways slots. On any single spin, Bonanza can produce up to 117,649 ways to win, creating opportunities for some truly stunning wins. Add to this the bonus feature where the total win multiplier increases with every single win combination, and it is no surprise this quickly became one of the most popular slots of all times.
Bonus Slots (Video Slots)
So far in the text, we focused on types of slots based on the number of paylines and ways to win. However, there are some other important distinctions between different slot games. Bonus slots, often also simply categorized as video slots, make up a large group of games that offer special features as a part of the gameplay.
Read more about all the different video slot machine features
A majority of modern slots are bonus slots to some extent as all of them feature at least free spins that players can win by landing scatters or special bonus symbols. Some, however, go a step further and offer additional mini-games.
Slots with bonus features are particularly popular with the players because they give you something to aim for. Often, you’ll want to play a particular slot until you manage to unlock the bonus because these games are usually capable of producing their biggest wins during the bonus.
Age of Asgard (One of the Best Online Slots Ever)
Age of Asgard is a rather unique and highly entertaining slot developed by Yggdrasil. It is, in our opinion, one of the best slots ever made. The game features not one but two sets of reels that spin at the same time. This is another slot inspired by Norse mythology that promises a lot of fun. Each set of reels can trigger the bonus, during which players are awarded 10 free spins and the grid expands to 5×6, creating more space for winning combinations. A very cool feature is if five free spin symbols show up, it has a super free spin wheel, where you can win extra good free spins or cash prized on top of your free spins.
Legacy of Egypt (One of Our Favorite Slots)
Featuring the ever-popular ancient Egyptian theme, Legacy of Egypt by Play’n GO is a fun slot with 30 paylines and familiar symbols such as scarabs, pharaohs, and famous Egyptian deities. The bonus is triggered by landing three or more pyramid scatters and features a multiplier of up to 8x on all wins. Furthermore, during the bonus, pyramids act as wilds as well and you can win even more free spins with a fixed multiplier by landing two or more scatters in the bonus. Legacy of Egypt is one of the best online slots out there.
Progressive Jackpot Slots
In the world of slots, progressive jackpot slot machines have a very special place. While most modern slots have a potential to produce pretty big wins in comparison to the stake per spin, only jackpot games are capable of paying out truly life-changing money. Odds of this happening are, of course, slim, but that doesn’t prevent players from trying their luck, especially when jackpots are high.
These days, there are many networked jackpot slots that share their progressive prizes with dozens or even hundreds of online casinos. So, with some of the most popular titles, it isn’t uncommon to see the jackpot reach seven or eight-figure amounts.
Different slots have different rules when it comes to winning the main progressive prize. Sometimes, you’ll be required to play the maximum stake to have a shot. Sometimes, however, everyone has a shot at winning millions, even if you were to play just $0.10 per spin. So, in theory, you could just deposit $10 and play a few spins and, with a lot of luck, could become a millionaire.
When you think about this, it is hardly a surprise that players flock to these machines. And the best part about it is – the more players decide to play, the bigger the jackpot gets, so it’s like a big snowball that just keeps on rolling until someone finally strikes gold.
Mega Fortune
Mega Fortune is one of the best-known progressive slots from NetEnt. Featuring a rich lifestyle theme with symbols such as expensive cars, boats, and champagne bottles, this game may be old but this doesn’t make it any less popular.
To have a shot at the Mega jackpot, you’ll need to land three Bonus symbols on a payline. When this happens, the mini-game is triggered with a jackpot wheel consisting of several circles. If you’re lucky enough to go all the way and get to the final, smallest circle, you’ll win the Mega jackpot, which regularly pays millions of dollars to players from all over the world.
Wheel of Wishes (New Slot With a Mega Jackpot)
Wheel of Wishes is a fresh video slot from Alchemy Gaming, a smaller independent studio that entered a partnership with Microgaming. Now, Microgaming is famous for its jackpot slots, especially Mega Moolah and Mega Moolah Isis. Wheel of Wishes is another exciting jackpot slots to add to the mix, with the minimum main jackpot amount of $2,000,000.
Named the Wowpot!, this jackpot can be won from the Bonus Wheel, which is quite similar to the wheel in Mega Moolah. Namely, once you trigger the Wheel, you’ll have a shot at winning one of four jackpots: Mini, Minor, Major and, of course, Wowpot!
3D Slots
If you are all about the gaming experience and enjoying your time playing then 3D slots are probably your cup of tea. Thanks to modern technologies, developers are able to create games that go beyond just flat reels on the screen and actually use 3D models to create a more immersive and enjoyable atmosphere.
These slots feature a variety of different themes and in-game mechanics, so you’ll be able to find a game you like. Often, they’re based on popular movies or TV shows, so many players are attracted by the familiarity of the title and enjoy the fact these slots feature short cut-scenes from the movies they love.
Thanks to modern technologies, 3D slots are available on desktop computers and mobile devices alike these days. With mobile phones being what they are these days, there are no obstacles to players enjoying the full gaming experience on the palm of their hand!
Fairy Tale
Enter the stunning world of magic and fairies with the Fairy Tale slot from Endorphina. Taking you high up into the clouds, this 20-payline game is all about the atmosphere. While the mechanics and bonus features are nothing to write home about, the 3D setting of this Endorphina’s game will quickly immerse you into the magical adventure you’ll remember.
Enchanted
Enchanted is just one of many 3D slots developed by Betsoft, a company that focuses primarily on developing 3D games. Opening the doors to the world of wizardry and mystical wins, Enchanted features impressive 3D animations to accompany every single win, with symbols popping off the screen and characters dancing and jumping on the reels. Add to this interactive 3D bonus features and this game will easily capture your attention even at the lowest stakes.
VR Slots
The latest type of slots to appear in the iGaming world are Virtual Reality or VR slots. These games are still quite young and there aren’t many of them around but they represent the logical next step in online gambling.
Like everything else VR, these slots aim to take player from a passive observer and bring them inside the game. Instead of sitting in front of your computer and clicking buttons, you’re actually able to enter the game’s world and interact with it from the inside.
While some believe that VR will never really pick up in the world of slots, there is no reason why this can’t happen. Developers will simply need to come up with ways to animate players and make it worth their while to get the gear that’s required to enjoy slots this way. And, if there is one thing that casino game creators are good at it’s coming up with new ideas to get players more involved.
Jack and the Beanstalk VR
Jack and the Beanstalk VR is a remake of NetEnt’s classic. NetEnt is one of the first companies to adopt the idea of VR slots and they’ve been doing a fine job at it thus far. Jack and the Beanstalk VR has a familiar theme and setting but features enhanced graphics and allows players to enter Jack’s world and join him on his magical adventures. The game is about much more than just spinning reels and hoping to win.
Miss Midas VR
Developed by NextGen, Miss Midas VR features the legendary tale of King Midas but with a great twist. The game focuses on beautiful Miss Midas instead and in its VR version allows players to experience the adventure in a much more personal way.
Final Words
If your new to online slots and are not sure which ones to play, it can be a good idea to try them first in free play mode.
If you want to start playing right away, you can find the best online slots below:
