Many gamers visit an online casino for the sole purpose of playing slot machines, generally known as “slots.” The large selection does not necessarily make it easy to decide which slot it should be – even if the set of rules is basically always the same. For newcomers, there can still be one or two stumbling blocks, which is why a little knowledge of the rules for slot machines can’t go amiss.
Online slots already differ in the general presentation. There are slot machines with three or five reels (some WMS slots even have up to 10), slots with pay lines or win ways, and of course very different betting limits. Whether it’s three or five reels makes little difference.
However, it can be said that all modern slots are equipped with five reels. Three reels are more common on one-armed bandits or so-called “fruit machines” and date back to arcade days.
When it comes to pay lines, things get a little more special. The pay lines characterize the winning opportunities, i.e., the positions in which the same symbols have to appear in order to ensure a win. Most slot machines only count combinations from left to the right – as always, exceptions prove the rule.
In online casinos, there are slot machines with five, ten, 15, 20, or even 50 pay lines. Some WMS slots even have 100 of them. Some other slots do without the use of pay lines and use win ways instead – the standard here is a maximum of 243-win ways (e.g., Thunderstruck II), which drastically increases the player’s chances of winning (thanks to more possible combinations).
The bets are usually placed per pay line, less often are bets per round. Things get a little more complicated when the bets are set using coins. Here the player can set the token value, the level (which is a bet multiplier), and the number of tokens. Profits are then based on the token value.