What Are Online Slots? A Beginners’ Guide
You’ve played slots, right? The reels, the paylines, the symbols, and the excitement. But do you know how to play them? Sure, it’s easy to click ‘Spin’ but do you know what it all means?
After reading this quick guide, you will!
Slot machines have always been a staple of the casino both online and offline. They are also one of the casino’s most popular games, with some online casinos dedicating entire sections to hundreds of slots games alone. If you are going to be spending your time playing at any online casino, it is well worth knowing the basics of slots.
Types of Slots Games
There are many different types of slot games and we are going to cover two of the most popular ones here, 3- and multi-reel slots.
3-Reel Slots
3-reel slots, also known as ‘single line’ slots, is the simplest of all slot games. It is the best type of slot game for newbies because they are simple and extremely enjoyable. Simply spin the reel and it will stop at random with three symbols.
Normally, 3-reel slot games take a maximum wager of three coins per spin. The rewards of a 3-reel slot game are healthy and also come with progressive jackpots.
Video or Multi-Reel Slots
Another popular type of slot game is the video slot game. These have at least five reels (sometimes called t-reel slots) and just like with 3-reel slots, there are a variety of symbols featured. With 5-reel slots, though, there is more than one payline and these can go into the hundreds.
Some of the advantages of 5-reel slots include free spins, multipliers, and lots of betting options.
What is a Payline?
A payline is the line that determines what pay-out will be awarded based on a winning combo. Most slots usually have between 9 and 30 paylines. If you pick a slot game with 25 paylines, then there are 25 possibilities of winning. If you pick a slot game with 100 paylines then there are 100 winning combinations of symbols.
Paylines can run in all kinds of direction. Straight, diagonal, zigzag, and in certain patterns. A win can happen anywhere on the payline, too; they do not need to be next to one another.
How Online Slots Work with RNGs
Video slots, the kind was seen at online casinos, have several different paylines that can stretch into the triple figures. Once the play or ‘Spin’ button is pressed, the RNG draws five random numbers each on every reel with each number corresponding to a different symbol. The reel numbers will then stop depending on the numbers that each has been assigned by the RNG.
A video slots system does this by quickly calculating the complex mathematics behind your win or loss once the final reel has stopped. This means that any winnings are automatically calculated and added to your balance.
The Random Number Generator (RNG)
The RNG is what makes slots machines work both on and offline. Because slots machines are not and cannot be managed by a croupier, it is down to these RNGs to keep games running.
RNGs feature in all online casinos and are used to determine the outcome of the many slots that are on offer. These outcomes are entirely dependent on algorithms, or combinations of algorithms, meaning that the result of any previous spins are irrelevant to the outcome of future spins.
In every single physical and virtual slot machine, there is a computer component known as the RNG and its main purpose is to create random sequences in intervals of a millisecond. It does this day in, day out without fail.
RNGs will always produce a random and different series of numbers each time a machine is spun.
