Not so long ago, the phrase “slot machine” was associated with the classic “one-armed bandits” in which you insert a coin and then pull the hand over and over again in the hope of winning. Now, new technologies have come along, the rules of the game have become more transparent, and the game lines are thought out in such a way that the user has a better chance of winning. Here are some of the most important facts and innovations around pay lines in modern slots.
How do modern slots work?
Traditional one-armed bandits have three reels and one pay line—the central one, in which all symbols should be the same to get a win. These machines are still extremely popular in land-based establishments, as they are the simplest in terms of pay lines. Modern free penny slots are based on computer software and can have any number of pay lines with five or seven reels, and in some games, there are hundreds of them.
The winning combination, as before, is collected by matching the same symbols, but the pay lines can go through the reels in many different ways. Straight ones are going through all the reels, they can also run horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or in a zigzag way.
How many lines are there in slots?
There are many games with just one line, while the most common number is 3, 5, 9, 15, 20, or 25. In addition, there are slot machines with many pay lines—243 or even 1024. Microgaming was one of the first companies to introduce this type of emulator. Then, Net Entertainment and Playtech followed the trend.
In these games, the developers abandoned the concept of pay lines, and each symbol acts as a scatter. The slot will pay out as long as the same symbols are placed on the neighboring reels, regardless of where they are located.
Some machines are fixed, so you need to play on all existing lines. Others provide an opportunity to choose not only the number of pay lines but also the amount that the player wishes to bet on each of them. Obviously, the fewer lines the game provides, the lower the chances of winning, however, the cost of each spin here will be also fewer.
It is very important to know how many pay lines the machine has and how many of them the player is going to use. For example, 1 penny wagered on each pay line results in 25 cents per spin, but if you increase the amount to $10 per pay line, the total amount is $250. That is why some “penny slots” can also be considered high-stakes.
It is important to wisely use all the strategies offered on the Internet for online slots. Each of them should be necessarily tested in a demo mode. Meanwhile, the number of active pay lines defines the amount of your bet and win.