Slots are most definitely one of the most popular games online and the options are many. Few other casino games can generate such winnings from a small bet as this type of game. A good example is when a small bet and a single spin can yield a winning of several thousands times the bet. But how did this hype around online slots begin?
Popular slots
- Mega Fortune
- Mega Moolah
- Starburst
- Dead or Alive
- Gonzo’s Quest
History of the slot machine
One-armed bandits have since long been found in land-based casinos or in restaurants and bars where you would bet by putting a coin into the machine and pull its lever. In the 90s, though, these classic machines migrated to the internet where they were launched as “slots” in modern online casinos. Thus making these traditional casino machines available to a completely new crowd of people.
Did you know that there are slots with jackpots?
The whole thing started in the late 19th century USA when the mechanic, Charles Fey, invented a machine that paid out the winning immediately after a win. Similar machines existed at the time but they only payed out winnings in the form of cigarettes or drinks.
Fey’s electrical machine was named “Liberty Bell” and consisted of three wheels and several symbols. In order to start the game, the player had to crank the lever to spin the wheels of the machine. The highest winning from this machine was 50 cents and a skilled player could, after some practice, make the wheels stop in the exact same position time after time in order to win. The machines whare given the name “One-armed bandit” because of their owners habit to rig the machines in order to make them pay out winnings more rarely.
Fay’s machine stayed relatively modern for a long period of time, actually up until the 60s when the first machines with sound- and light effects were introduced. These machines would become the classic Las Vegas machines with their hefty lever and their (at the time) impressive special effects.
The modern slots of today are played in a similar manner, but instead of pulling a lever, the player just pushes an icon on the screen of his phone or computer screen. You will find a tremendous number of slots on the casino web sites and most of them can be played for free.
Rules when playing slots
Even though it may seem easy to start playing slots there are some rules you need to know about in order to get the best experience. Modern slots online do in general have several “paylines” which means that there is more than one way to achieve a winning combination. This is a big difference from the old one-armed bandits who only had one payline running over its wheels. The most common slots today have five wheels with symbols and there are more ways to win than to get the same symbol on every wheel.
The two most common symbols on slots today are “scatters” and “wilds”. A scatter increases the winning if it is part of a winning combination and it also triggers a set number of free spins if it shows up in certain combinations. The wild symbol is like a joker on the slot, it can replace other symbols and thus create winning combinations.
Slots is a classic game of chance where there is really nothing the player can do to affect the outcome or to lower the casino’s advantage. This is one of the reasons why the most generous promotions and bonuses casinos offer often are tied to slots. The thing you as a player can do to increase the chance of winning is to play slots with a progressive jackpot and to play them with high stakes. In these cases, it can be to the players’ advantage to play with a higher stake but the importance of controlling your gambling and to never gamble more than you can afford is also worth to mention.