The different types of online slot machines

By: Charles Jay
Submitted: 2009-11-02 16:41:34
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The online slot world has seen many different slot machines arise throughout the last decade. There are quite literally thousands of different online slot games available today. Most of these are inspired and sometimes based on the original slots that are found at brick and mortar casinos. But there is a trend now that we see more innovative slots than ever before, surpassing the standard of what a regular slot machine used to be.

As many slot machines as there are they all fit nicely into 3 or 4 categories. These categories help players decide what group they should aim at, according to each person’s personal taste.

The first category is called the Classic Slot or Traditional 3-reel slot. These are indeed very similar to the classic slots you’d see at Las Vegas or Atlantic City. They all have 3-reels, with simple icons like Sevens, Bars, Cherries, Stars, Coins and the like. Normally they only have one pay line, which goes through exactly in the middle of the 3 reels. The pay-table is quite simple to follow as there are only up to 10 winning combinations. In the online casino world, these are commonly referred to 3-reel slots.

The second category is inspired by the newer trend in land-based casinos. The Video Slot is an advanced version of the 3-reel slot. This slot has 5 reels instead of 3, multiple pay lines that zigzag through the 5 reels. The most prominent feature of this game is the bonus round. The player not only gets to spin reels but upon getting a special icon, the player enters the bonus round which is a kind of mini game. During the mini game the player plays some sort of virtual game that rewards the player with coins, if the player does well. Video slots are common today both on land casinos and online casinos.

The third category refers to the Progressive Slot Machines. Any person that has visited a Las Vegas casino would have noticed that there are these slots that have a big increasing jackpot screen over them. The jackpot increases slowly after every spin in made in any of the connected slot machines. The jackpot is shared by a network of casinos, sometimes this is a called a city-wide progressive jackpot. Any player spin reels on the participating slots, at any casino in Las Vegas, can win the top prize. These prizes can sometimes reach millions of dollars. The online casino world has incorporated this idea and now there are inter-online casino networks for progressive slot machines.

The final category is the i-Slot. These games don’t have a counterpart at normal land casinos. They were invented for the internet only. The creator is Rival-Gaming, a leading casino game developer. The i-Slot shares the same number of reels as the Video Slot but it offers much more than the latter. It has first of all a story or theme that evolves as the player advances from one stage of the game to the next. The player may have to play several bonus rounds to advance from one stage to another. The reel icons may change during the transformation of the slot. The bonus round are also more skill based than the video slots, they require attention, wit and craft to perform well. For this performance the player receive huge jackpot prizes. The I-slots come complete with multipliers, free spins, expanding wilds and win animations.

That’s my review of the current categories or varieties of online slots. Hope you have found enough information here to classify all the slots you have been playing online.

Article source: Expert Articles