Slot games have been popular for many decades, and have made the switch from being played in person via “one-armed bandits” to being played online. We no longer have the limits of what is physically possible, as the way the slots spin can be created in software, with quirky graphics and mini-games that go far beyond the reels. This modern age of games has opened up some possibilities.
There are so many slot games on the market today, with many casinos offering hundreds of different casino games. If you visit a site to play online slots you’ll likely see many different themes and features. Each of the sites in the industry is trying to offer something that the competitors can’t or at least provide a lot of choice for their players. In this guide, we’re exploring some of the more unusual slot game features.
Of course, the outcome of slot games tends to be totally random and based on random number generators. While other games like Blackjack rely on strategy, the random basis of the online slots means that the makers can be a little bit more inventive.
Megaways
One of the biggest features on the whole of the slot game market is the Megaways feature. This has become really popular and is used in a huge number of different games.
While traditional games have been limited and had a set number of symbols on a reel, such as a “6 x 5” design, the Megaways slots can change every time the reel is spun, meaning there are thousands or even hundreds of thousands of combinations.
Most Megaways slots have six reels that are constantly evolving, and therefore so are the pay lines. Most earn a win by landing the same symbol across multiple different reels, starting on the reel on the far left and moving across.
Some of these slot games combine other features such as tumbling symbols that can replace any winning combinations, meaning that one spin can turn into multiple matches.
Cluster Wins
While most slot games historically have focused on matching symbols along a reel, usually from left to right, there are also features including cluster wins. These cluster wins provide a different way of doing things. It means that when you match symbols, they need to be in a cluster rather than a line if you are going to fit enough for a win. This cluster may appear in the center of the reels, or anywhere else.
A lot of cluster win games don’t have specific “pay lines” so you are just looking for groups of the symbols as they pop up on the interface of the game.
Expanding Wilds
This is another feature that has become quite popular. The way casino games like slots are now made means that there are not anywhere near as many restrictions, so the symbols don’t have to stay the same size. Developers have got good at adding a lot of interesting extras like expanding wilds. When a wild symbol appears on the reels it usually means that it can be substituted for many different types of symbol. It can help to fill in the gaps, so to speak.
An expanding wild will usually appear on the reels as one symbol and gradually become much bigger on the reels, this means it covers more spaces and can help to complete much bigger wins if players are fortunate enough to match other symbols. Wild symbols can also do other things, and some developers add features like multiplier wilds, which can increase the wins, and even moving wilds which can flit around the reels as required.
Musical Features
There has been a trend towards music rounds and music features, and there are even some games that are fully based on music. Even big bands like Guns ‘N Roses and Motorhead have given their name to some of the slots on the market.
The music from these bands is actually included within the game and some even have “guitar hero” style mini-games within the slot.
Music gives developers more opportunities to add something unique to the game they are creating, and with some musicians being happy to add their names to the games for more exposure, these types of games are pretty common.
Summary
The fact that so many games are made all the time shows that there is a demand for them to be made.
With so many mini-games and different themes, developers are not short of ideas and strategies that they can use to create interesting slot games, all of which have their unique twists. Mini-games can add another layer and don’t even have to feature reels at all. This is one of the reasons why we see so many mini-games, usually triggered by scatter symbols.
Slot features continue to evolve all the time, so there are bound to be new types of slots being released and unusual features and mini-games.
