How Do You Play Online Slots?
The rules of playing slots are simple, deposit and wager, take your chance by spinning the reels and collect a pay-out if the symbols line up.
Nowadays a lot of slots will let you choose how many paylines you want to play with – the more paylines in operation the more chance is that you’ll find a winning combo.
Most slots also include, at the very least, a Wild Symbol and a Scatter Symbol, although their functions differ slightly from game to game. They’re usually pretty valuable, though, triggering bonus features, paying out with multipliers or increasing your winning chances.
If you’re still unsure of how to play, you can get started by playing in practice mode before you play for money.
Rules of Online Slots
The wacky world of online slots can be an exciting place. Packed with variety, features and constantly updated content, it’s important to make sure you know how to play online slots before diving in head first.
This guide aims to give you an understanding of how slots work, what all the different features are, the rules of the games and, importantly, the process of winning.
How Do Online Slots Work?
The basic rules of slots are fairly simple, but there can be small differences from slot to slot that you'll need to learn to recognise.
The first step is to select your stake size. This tends to range from around £/$/€0.10 to £/$/€1.00, but this depends on the slot. You then need to choose how many paylines to activate.
Paylines are simply the line or lines drawn across your reels where the sequence needs to end up. In games with multiple paylines, you can select more than one but this requires an additional stake. Each payline you activate adds another bet to your spin, making your total bet the number of active paylines multiplied by your stake.
How Do Slots Pay Out?
The process for winning is pretty simple: a specific sequence of symbols needs to land on one or more of the paylines you’ve bet on.
Some sequences are harder to achieve and therefore pay more and some are more frequent but will give you a smaller jackpot. Most games have a guide to your sequences and paylines, known as a pay table, showing you just how much you could win in every combination.
What Are Scatters, Wilds and Multipliers?
If you’re confident that you understand the basics of how to play online slots it’s important to become comfortable with the many features within games.
Scatters, wilds and multipliers are among the most important symbols in a slot, as landing them in the right place on the reels can unlock bonuses, boost your payouts or increase your chances of a winning combo.
Types of Online Slot Games
While there are a number of different names for slots (pokies, 3D slots, fruit machines etc.) they all essentially refer to two types of online slot: classic slots and video slots.
- Classic slots are also known as reel slots and are the most simple of slot games. They have the appearance of traditional slot games, usually with three reels and can have 1, 3 or 4 paylines.
- Video slots take advantage of modern graphics and technology to create a more immersive experience. Mostly they have at least five paylines with some even going up to 100 paylines. In some instances they don’t have paylines at all, instead using their own ways to win, all laid out within the game.
There are games featuring characters from film, slots themed around your favourite sport. There are even slots set in distant lands, mythical eras and most things in between.
Some slots have special jackpots attached that increase in size as the game is played. These are known as progressive slots and with jackpots reaching into the millions, are some of the most popular online slots.
