When Liberty Bell commercialized one-armed bandits in 1895, the growth of their popularity was unimaginable. Today, slot gaming is unrecognizable compared to the late 19th century, as developers have added fresh and innovative ways to play, which is why we are going to cover 10 types of slot machines you’ll hear about in casinos today.
Classic Slots
Classic slots were the first style of slot game released when online casino gaming really took off back in the 1990s. These games are simple 3-reel slots, usually with one payline, but they also come with 3, 5, and 9 paylines.
As for the symbols, these are typically fruits, bells, bars, and 7s. The gameplay, by nature, comes with low volatility gameplay, giving you frequent wins through 3 symbol combination wins.
3 Reel Slots
3-reel slots can be classic slots as per the section above, but there are also 3-reel games that come with 3D graphics, animations, free spins bonuses, jackpots, and other bonus rounds.
Charlie Chance Hell to Pay by Play’ GO is an excellent example of a modern 3-reel slot with bonus features and free spins. Due to the fact that there are 3 reels and 3 rows, usually described as 3×3 slots, these slot games usually come with 1 to 9 pay lines.
Video Slots
The term video slot is used interchangeably in the online casino and land-based casino industry. In reality, a video slot is a slot game cabinet with a monitor displaying a slot game, or in the modern era, multiplier slot games on one video slot.
However, you will also see casinos and reviews refer to them as online video slots, which essentially describe all types of slot games in this list.
Online slots
There is no mistaking what online slots are. They are digitally created HTML5 slot games that you will find at online and social casinos that you connect to over the World Wide Web.
You can play online slots via mobile phone, tablet, a casino app, and, in most cases, via your web browser (on PC).
5 Reel Slots
When graphic design advanced and internet speeds increased, slot developers began to move away from the classic 3-reel slot and introduced 5-reel slot games. In the beginning, these games came with a 5×3 reel configuration and anything from 5 to 50 pay lines.
Today, game developers have created more innovative 5-reel slot games that come with 5×4 and 5×5 reel conditions. Some of these slots incorporate up to 100 pay lines, while others don’t use pay lines at all.
Instead, they use 243, 1,024, 2048, and 4,096 ways to win using the adjacent reels feature that links up symbol combination wins without the need for pay lines.
Free Slots
Free slots are any online or video slot game you play that you don’t have to use real money or crypto to spin the slot reels. You will see many online casinos offer demo slots, while you can also play free slots at social casinos set up to attract players who don’t want to play real money slot games.
Also, on the topic of real money, you cannot win cash playing free slots, especially those that use a demo mode. Yet, some social casinos offer coin rewards, which you can build up to enter slot tournaments that pay cash if you land in one of the top spots in the leaderboard or earn the highest number of multipliers in slot race promotions.
Progressive Slots
Progressive slots offer you the chance to win a jackpot. Some progressive slot games will have a single jackpot, while others will have several jackpots that pay hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or over a long period. The general rule of thumb is that the more infrequent the jackpot, the higher the progressive jackpot will pay out.
The term progressive is used because the jackpots on these slot games continue to increase the more players bet. This is as opposed to having a fixed jackpot that remains the same value.
Non-Progressive Slots
Like progressive slots, non-progressive slots also offer you a shot at landing a jackpot win. The key difference is the jackpot doesn’t change. These slot games can still feature one or multiple jackpots of varying sizes, with the lowest-paying landing more often than the higher-paying jackpots.
Another point worth noting, if you are new to casino gaming, is that you will also hear slot players call these types of slot games fixed jackpot slots.
Payline and No Payline Slots
We’ve placed payline and no payline slots in the same category because they both use the left-to-right reel mechanic to form symbols. For instance, a 3-symbol win would require alike symbols on reels 1-2-3 and a 4-symbol win on reels 1-2-3-4, and so forth.
The main point is that the first symbol in the combination always begins on reel 1, and subsequent symbols run across consecutive adjacent reels with gaps between the symbols.
You may occasionally come across slots using the pay both-way feature, which means you can line up combinations of wins from left to right and right to left.
As for the differences between payline and non-payline slots, this is simple. A payline slot will only payout for a symbol combination if the symbols run across a pre-set pay line, while non-pay line slots just require symbols to be on consecutive adjacent reels with no pay line required to activate a winning combination.
Cluster Pays Slots
Cluster pays slots are one of the latest innovations in reel mechanic technology that has entirely changed the way we play traditional slots.
While payline slots and no payline slot games use a left-to-right mechanic to line up symbol combinations, cluster pays slot games use clusters of symbols that land on adjacent positions on the reels.
Cluster Pays generally use a large grid system of 7×7 to 8×8, but there are also 5×5 cluster reel games. Landing combination wins, or clusters is a matter of forming various shapes on the grid, such as L-shapes, Y shapes, squares, rectangles, and various other clusters. So long as the symbols sit on adjacent positions, then you get paid!
Additional Slots Types
Aside from payline, non-payline, and cluster pays slots, there are also other types of slot games that have their own uniqueness and features.
New and trending slots
With new features and mechanics being introduced every year, new slot games are constantly being released to the market. Some of the latest trends in slot games include:
- Ronaldinho spins: This game allows players to spin for free while a football legend kicks the ball onto reels, creating extra wilds and multipliers.
- Diamond Hits: This game offers a linked jackpot prize that grows until it is won. The jackpot can be triggered by landing three diamond symbols on the reels.
- The Mighty Toro: This is a cartoon-based slot game with two antagonists, Toro and Matador. The symbols include bullfighters, roses, and fans to create winning combinations.
- The Chillies: This slot game features a Mexican theme with chilies as the main symbols. Players can trigger stacked wilds, free spins, and a big jackpot.
Hot slots
Hot slots are games that have a high payout percentage and are popular among players. Some of the hottest slot games in the market include:
- Gold Sirens: This is a game inspired by Greek mythology with symbols such as sirens, golden apples, and Poseidon. The game has a high payout percentage of 97.03%.
- Hot Volcano: In this game, players can trigger free spins and multipliers by landing volcano symbols on the reels. The game also has a high RTP of 97.02%.
- Greek Legends: This game features various Greek gods and goddesses as symbols, such as Zeus, Athena, and Hades. The game has a high payout percentage of 96.99%.
Only the Tip of the Iceberg
Covering 10 types of slot machines in this guide is only the tip of the iceberg. You will find plenty of other names to describe a variety of different styles of slot games. For example, bonus buy slots allow you to purchase bonus rounds without having to wait for scatters or other features to trigger free spins or respins.
With that being said, the 10 types of slot machines we’ve covered in this guide give you a good grounding of the various terminology used by casinos and slot players.
