Online casino slots tend to be different than the classic slots. In classic slots you will only have 3 reels and one would need to match the middle ones to win. In online slots, or sometimes also referred to as video slots, the player will mostly have 5 reels and the position of the win could be in every place and direction within the reels. Of course classic slots is also digitally available on most of the online casinos available today. Have a look at the difference.
Even though this might seem a bit confusing it actually isn't, in fact, it's very easy to understand. Do not worry though, that is why we'r here and why we have come up with this online slots guide.
How To Play Online Slots
There is a vast range of online casino slots available out there, from Marvel themed ones to Hollywood film's aspired slots. However, all the layouts and concept of each and every one of them is the same.
Some standard controls and functions found in an online slots game are normally the automatic spin button with spin amounts together with the amount of lines you would like to bet on and the coin value for the lines.
These famous lines are called pay-lines. Pay-lines show all the hits you have made for a particular symbol. Symbols can be everywhere as long as they are all on the same pay-line with the same symbol. Usually there are between 5 to 30 pay-lines per slot game, each one of them represents a different alignment.
Back to the functions and controls. What these options do are quite simple, the automatic spin amount is fairly obvious, it will automate the amount of consecutive spins you would like to do with the same bet without you having to press spin every time.
As for the amount of pay-lines to bet on, you have to mainly consider two things:
- The bigger amount of pay-lines you bet on, the bigger chance for you to win because of increasing the chance of matched symbols on multiple lines. Of course, your bet will get much more expensive as the total bet would increase by the number of pay-lines selected.
- The less pay-lines you select, the less your bet would be but you will have also the least chance to win because of less possible hits.
So when and how do you win at Online Slots?
As previously mentioned, having more pay-lines available for winning in online slots makes it a bit more confusing when trying to realize how you actually won when having a win that looks like this;
Confusing huh?! ...actually it's not, let's brake it down!
There is a total of 20 pay-lines on this game as you can see from the numbers on left and right. The image above also shows you all the pay-lines that you have been successful on.
Placing your bet at online slots
First you have to select on how many number of lines you want to bet on. After doing that, then it's time to set the coin value you want to have for the lines. This will determine the total bet amount for your spin.
Therefore the first calculation is done like so:
number of lines X coin value = total bet amount per spin
Easy no? ...Press the spin button and wait for the reels to stop, hopefully you will hit and match some symbols in pay-lines.
If you got lucky and the slot machine matched some symbols on it's pay-lines, you will be shown an array of lines together with matched symbols running through them, just like the first picture shown above. That is the most basic answer we can give you for the question - how do you win at online slots?
How does online slots calculate your winnings?
First of all, let’s have a look at what all the reel symbols represent and how much they payout for this particular casino slot game. You can practice on this free online slots game later on, it's called “The Fruits”.
As you can see from the picture the cherry symbol is the one which pays out the most, in fact it would be the most infrequent symbol you will get when you spin the game, but when you get it, the game will splash some cash!
The above picture also gives us a clear and detailed information about the winning multiplication amounts per each reel symbol. To explain better, let's pick up the cherry symbol and explain what the numbers represent.
x5 - 5000 = If you get 5 cherry symbol in any one of the pay-line on the slot machine, your total bet will be multiplied by 5000. So if my total bet was 10 and the number of pay-lines selected was 8 that would mean
- 10 X 5000 = 50000 / 8 (number of paylines selected) = 6250
The calculation above is repeated for each and every payline you hit with matched symbols. So for example if I also hit x2 "Q" symbols in one pay-line, then, I would get an additional
- 10 X 10 = 100 / 8 (number of pay-lines selected) = 12.50
because the information table above shows us that every x2 "Q" symbols matched, you will have a multiplication by 10 with your total bet.
However, if my x2 "Q" was also hit on another different pay-line then the calculation would be as follow:
- 10 X 10 = 100 / 8 (total of pay-lines selected) = 12.50 X 2 (double pay-line hit) = 25
All totals are then added together to give you the final winnings. Assuming that my actual winnings where 6250 and 25, my final total wining would be
- 6250 + 25 = 6275
... not bad for one spin huh?!
To further enhance our explanations, the picture below clearly illustrates different positions of x2 "Q" symbols hit by three different pay-lines, the 8, 2 and the 6.
Lets now break down the winnings per pay-line from the above image so that you are given a real winning calculation. Let's assume we have selected 10 pay-lines at 0.30 coin value, totaling to a bet of 3.
Symbol values are taken from the above information table image.
- (x4 Watermelon Symbol) 200 x 3 (my total bet) = 600 / 10 (total pay-lines) = 60 (pay-line total)
- (x2 "Q") 10 x 3 (my total bet) = 30 / 10 (total pay-lines) = 3 x 3 (triple match) = 9 (triple pay-line total)
- (x2 "K") 10 x 3 (my total bet) = 30 / 10 (total pay-lines) = 3 (pay-line total)
- (totals from pay-lines) 60 + 9 + 3 = 72 (total winnings)
From the above illustrated winnings and calculation my total win is that of 72 credits/coins.
That is basically all you need to know before you start playing slots online. Remember to place your bets carefully and always check the total percentage payouts for each slots game before you commit yourself to it. It can help you get a clear idea about the possibilities in winning some good spins when playing for real money.
Free Casino Slots Game
Have a go at our free online casino slot game below and start practicing for free, then, pick one of our recommended casinos to start playing for real money! Enjoy and good luck!
