THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAYLINES AND Approaches to Succeed AT VIDEO SLOTSPosted by Jonassen Lloyd on February 27th, 2021 Made by Fortune Coin, the first true video slot hit the floor of the luxurious Hilton Hotel in 1975 and soon virtual reels became the most popular attraction in casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Since then, a lot has changed and modern pokies bear little resemblance to their unpretentious forerunners. Jam-packed with various special symbols, bonus features, and even skill mini-games, newest releases may also brag of unusual sets of slots and an incredible number of approaches to win. 3-REEL STEPPERS AND ONE PAYLINE As most of us know, ancient one-armed bandits had three reels and only 1 pay line. The goal was easy: to hit three matching symbols on this middle row. If you think that such simple games are background... On the other hand, nearly all slots we play now have multiple paylines that offer a wide selection of bets and also make possible winning on more than one line at one spin. The amount of lines may be fixed or adjustable and vary greatly depending on the reel layout and the programmer's intentions. "win both ways" If it comes to the standard set of five reels and three rows, the winning combinations can usually be completed by landing between three and five matching symbols on an active line starting from the leftmost reel. This left-to-right principle is legitimate in nearly all instances, however in addition, there are names that pay both ways (left-to-right and right-to-left). NetEnt's Starburst is one such instance. Innovative technologies have brought a multitude of new ideas and opportunities, a few of them resulted in the remarkable changes to slot mechanisms: Sydney-based Aristocrat was one of the first software developers to utilize the scatter notion as the foundation for the entire game. Its Reel Power™ mechanic does not have any paylines but is enhanced using 243 methods to win that cover from left to right with all the symbols in any position. "lines became combinations" In other words, lines simply become mixes and instead of betting on players have to purchase reels. To be eligible for all 243 ways, at Choy Sun Doa or similar slots, you want to purchase all five slots while wagering on a single, two, four or three reels provides you access to 3, 9, 27 or even 81 ways to win respectively. Reel Power™ was so warmly welcomed by the gaming community, that other brands were in a hurry to start their own versions of multiway fun. 243 became a favorite variety, frequently fixed so players simply choose the bet level and all ways are busy constantly like in Microgaming's Alaskan Fishing or Bally's Cash Spin. NO LIMITS FOR VIDEO SLOTS Enlarged playfields caused increasing the number of a potential lucky mix, therefore 6-reel Raging Rhino created by WMS has 4096 while BTG"s Dragon Born presents impressive 8232 ways to win. "incredible 117,649 ways to win" In its turn, Large Time Gaming's unique Megaways™ mechanic is able to generate up to incredible 117,649 ways to win at every spin! It is successfully used by other famed providers. Blueprint, for instance, enabled with Megaways™ its own Diamond Mind. quartermainesterms to the multi-trend, audience turned out to be a new buzzword in the area of slots. Winning combinations are called clusters and no more shaped by hitting symbols on a payline however by landing a certain number of matching icons adjacent to each other horizontally or vertically. Legendary NetEnt licensed its own Cluster Pay™ mechanic that puts in motion the reels of several releases produced by this gaming house. While in 5x5 Lost Relics gamers need to hit between six and twenty-five matching symbols, in 6x5 Aloha! As there are no limits for slots that are virtual, slot designers enjoy a great deal of freedom and frequently stuns us with very huge grids, as we see from Betsoft"s Sugar Pop II that also pays on planets but of four continuous symbols. Well, we do not complain. In the end of the day, isn't what we need?Like it? Share it! More by this author |