The iGaming industry has been absolutely transformed in the last couple of years thanks to advancements in technology and mobile broadband speeds.

This has left a heavy mark on how suppliers are creating their online slot games today. They are not only competing against each other but also with hundreds of other ways people spend their leisure time. Be it Netflix, Tinder or one of the million games on the app store.

Today the leading suppliers of online slots are no longer creating 5 reels 25 pay-line games that mostly differentiate between their theme or multipliers in the free spins feature. What we are seeing are completely new categories of games, where the underlying logic of why they are created is nothing but pure genius.

These are slot games that completely disregard the conventional pay-lines functionality. Instead, you are presented with an 8×8 or a similar grid of symbols offering a payout whenever there are 5 or more symbols together in a horizontal or vertical line.

There is also a sub-niche for these known as chain reactors, where a winning line of symbols would blow up and new symbols would fall in their place for no additional stake needed.

This niche is still relatively new, but Play ‘N Go is one provider that really shines in this niche. Their Reactoonz slot with the cute monster “Gargatoon” is a big hit among the Youtube and Twitch slot streaming communities and is known for its high volatility and payouts of above 2,000x stake in a single spin.

Multiple other top tier suppliers have ventured into this niche, including Red Tiger with their Tiki Fruits and Push Gaming with their biggest hit release to date called Jammin Jars.

Pioneered by NetEnt the Cluster pays concept is somewhat similar to what the Grid Slots are all about. They’ve got rid of the pay-lines and instead wins are formed in symbol clusters when at least 9 of them are together in a horizontal and/or vertical fashion.

While popular, these games haven’t really taken off like the Grid Slots. A couple of titles to check are Aloha! Cluster Pays, The Legend of Shangri-La: Cluster Pays and the sequence of one of NetEnt’s most popular slots – Twin Spin Deluxe.

The last one matches the functionality of twin reels with cluster pays, to create a rather exciting playing experience.

Invented by Big Time Gaming’s chief Nik Robinson, Megaways is taking the world by storm.

Most Megaways slots are extremely volatile and offer the potential of wins as high as 50,000x per spin, which does very well with appealing to the hungry community of slots streamers and their followers.

The concept itself is covered in our Megaways section, but can also be explained in a single sentence. Each reel can feature between 2 and 7 symbols and these games create up to 117,649 winning ways when 6 reels are used.

Megaways is now licensed out to many top tier suppliers in the business, such as Red Tiger, SG Digital and Blueprint. We’ve seen some of the most iconic slots like Raging Rhino being recreated using this technology and the end product is almost always fantastic.

Our personal favorite category due to the underlying logic that can be explained as absolutely brilliant.

Let’s take BTGs latest game Kingmaker as an example of what the progression slots are like.

The game starts you off with a 1X multiplier for all premium symbols, but every time you score a win with 5 premium symbols, the multiplier goes up to 2X for that symbol.

This applies to your next wins using that particular symbol too, but here’s the caveat. When you trigger free spins, all multipliers are counted together and applied for the next 7 spins using maximum Megaways. After the free spins, the multiplier is reset to 1X on all symbols again.

What’s the logic? The supplier understands that most people will not quit a slot that they’ve put some effort into in a very visible way.

If you have 5x multipliers on all symbols, they’ll pay more when appearing, but you also don’t want to miss out on a 20x free spins feature. Most likely you’ll keep going until the free spins bonus round hits. Extremely clever and exciting to play.

One of the most popular online slots in Canada, Immortal Romance, also offers a progression based free spins feature.

The more times you trigger it, the higher the number of free spins is. However, the RTP on these features should still be the same, so it’s a slightly different approach.

How Real Money Slots Work

First of all, you should know that if you want to play real money slot machines, you need to be a registered player at an online casino. That is the only way you can make your real money deposits and wagers which can yield big payouts.

Although you can play numerous slots in free play or practice mode, they can be used only if you want to try a game out and test its features. You might enjoy the gameplay, what really provides you with excitement is the possibility of winning. Winning real cash.

So, if you are sure that you want to spend some cash and maybe win, slot games might be a perfect fit for you. The principle they run on is simple: you get a set of reels populated with various icons you need to match in a defined order to win a prize.

In most cases, your decisions which will affect the outcome of the game begin and end with a bet value you choose to place per spin.

However, some slot titles allow more interaction which can add more excitement to the gameplay. The top prize is delivered for covering a paying line with the maximum amount of the top symbols, which can be 3, 5 or 6, depending on the game you play.

In addition to the regular game, with the majority of slot machines available on the market today you can enjoy innovative bonus features which will boost your winning chances and provide you with an entertaining and rewarding gaming experience.

These special features can come as special symbols or as a series of events triggered by certain combinations of symbols. You can benefit from wilds which act as jokers, free spins, multipliers, respins, bonus rounds and many more.

Placing Bets on Slot Machines

Once you launch a game to your liking, the first thing you should do is to adjust the bet you want to place on it. A betting range in most cases is wide, which means that it allows all kind of players to find a suitable bet value.

Depending on the game you have chosen to play, you will be allowed to wager extra coins per line and choose a coin denomination or you just have to select a bet per line. Keep in mind that your payouts will be determined by the bet you place.

As payouts are typically displayed in coins, you need to multiply this amount with the value of your bet to calculate the actual prize. Sometimes higher bets can help you enter bonus games or trigger progressive jackpots.

How to Win at Slots

You should be aware of the fact that slot machines are real games of chance. To be precise, your decisions can rarely affect the outcome of spins. Practically, when you play a slot machine, everything depends on your luck and the random number generator it is operated by. However, you should act responsibly if you don’t want to get robbed by the machine.

Slot Machine Strategy and Tips

When looking for a slot machine you need to find one that suits you both aesthetically and functionally. Try basic slot games like classic ones to learn the ropes and then move to more advanced games which offer more opportunities to win. As slot rules are not difficult to learn and each slot title comes with a paytable displaying all you should know about the gameplay, you can play and learn.

Slots with bonus games or rounds are great because apart from the winnings obtained during the base game, you can get instant prizes, free spins and other bonus features typically awarding bigger payouts.

Keep in mind that bonus features at some slots are triggered faster if you play at higher wagers. You should consider increasing your bet bit by bit until you reach the maximum bet which can be your ticket for the jackpot, especially if you play progressive slot machines.

We will repeat once more: know your limits and when to stop. This is the most important part of the strategy while enjoying slot games. If Lady Luck is not on your side, give up and try to win another day.

Play Free Slots Win Real Money

Before you start wagering real money on slot machines of your choice it is highly recommended that you try them out in free play mode. What’s more, when you register with the casino to your liking, you can receive free spins or a no deposit bonus and win real cash.

That’s right. If you are lucky enough you can practice and make real money winnings. However, depending on the casino bonus policy, you will have to meet certain wagering requirements before you can withdraw this cash from you account.

RTP: Slots Payouts

Now we are coming to the favourite part of playing slot games. When it comes to payouts, the first thing you need to check is the list of payout percentages of slot machines at a casino you have chosen to play at. All reputable casinos will provide their customers with these lists which might seem boring, but actually they are quite useful, especially when you are a newcomer to the world of online casino gaming. Payout percentages may vary from 80% up to 98% and you can easily guess that the higher the percentage the higher the chances of winning.

Besides, you should look closely at paytables since they not only that hide all kinds of useful instructions but all payouts are displayed there. It is a kind of an unwritten rule: the bigger the jackpot the harder it is to be won, so as a beginner you should stick to the games that deliver lower jackpots. At the end of each spin resulting in winning, some slots may offer the gamble feature. Although you can double or even quadruple your payouts, act responsibly when using it as you can lose them all.

Best Slot Machines to Play

Loads of slot machines have been launched on a monthly basis and companies compete among themselves to produce more and more attractive games which will keep players glued to the screens of their desktop, laptop or mobile devices. In matters of taste, there can be no disputes, but the quality of these titles varies and you should choose ones according to your preferences. The main classification of slot machines is: video, classic and progressive slots. All these games will provide you with an entertaining gaming experience, but you should know basic differences in their features.

Video Slots

Video slots are by far the most popular casino games and they constitute the largest library on every gambling site. They come in a variety of themes which will suit all kinds of players, both male and female. These games are developed on stories with symbols related to them and many of them look more like video games than slot machines, or what people who are new to this form of entertainment imagine slot machines should look like. Typically, video slots use 5 reels, though you will come across titles featuring 6 reels. As for paying lines, the amount of paying lines can vary, from less than ten to 50 and more.

Some slot machines come with adjustable paying lines, which means that you are allowed to decrease the amount of active ones, while others feature fixed paylines. You will also be offered to play slot machines at which you can win in 243 or even more ways. That practically means that the machine pays whenever you land identical symbols on adjacent reels, regardless of their position on the reel they land on. These games are quite cool because they can produce some big wins and you can easily form multiple winning combinations at once. You can also find games which pay both ways, from the leftmost or the rightmost position.

The biggest attractions of video slots are their bonus features and these additions to the regular game are getting more and more innovative with each new release. These bonus features include Wilds which will complete your winning combinations by replacing other symbols, multipliers which will double or treble your payouts, free spins during which you can win without a single coin wagered and so on. You can always read a slot review and get all the needed information before you start spinning the reels.

Classic Slots

Classic or fruit or 3-reel slot machines may seem a bit outdated in comparison with video slots which look fantastic. However, classic slots still have loyal fans that prefer old-school slot machines to flashy video slots offering bonus features which distract them from the straightforward gameplay. So, before you opt for any of classic slot titles, you should know that they use 3 reels and only a few paying lines. Sometimes, you can form winning combinations only in one way by landing three identical or combined symbols.

Classic slots can also use a wide array of themes, but in most cases they will have retro look with bells and sevens and cherries and stars. While video slots typically provide players with great sound effects and music scores, with classic slots you will listen to electronic sounds of reels spinning and few sound effects playing when a win is hit. However, players love classic slot machines as they offer huge payouts at a reasonable cost. Of course, if you are lucky enough to grab them.

Progressive Jackpot Slots

Progressive slots or jackpots are very popular with slot enthusiasts because of ever-growing prizes they award to the luckiest players. Basically, they are video slots with the addition of one, two, three or even four random progressive jackpots which can be won throughout the game. Some companies like Microgaming, Playtech and NetEntertainment provide their players with a chance of winning huge amounts which can reach millions of dollars.

These games are networked and all bets placed on various titles from the network feed the prize pool. In most cases, progressive jackpots are won randomly at the end of any spin no matter if it ends in a win or in a loss. Some titles award progressive jackpots only when a certain combination of special symbols is created or during the bonus round within which you need to reveal matching symbols which will determine the value of the jackpot.

If you opt for any of these titles, visit the paytable. Some paytables indicate that you need to wager the maximum amount if you want to hit any of these lucrative payouts while others suggest that the higher the bet the bigger the chance of winning progressive jackpots. So, you know what you should do.

Best Slots Casino

When choosing an online casino you will play at, you will see that some of them offer the games provided only by one software supplier. However, there have been more and more gaming venues lately which run on multi-platforms offering slot games from a wide range of software developers which is perfect if you are not sure what games to play. You can easily browse the library and try out slots according to your preferences until you find those which suit you best.

Free Cash Games No Deposit

The best online casinos welcome their new players with a welcome package which may include free spins or a no deposit bonus. If you sign up with any of them you can enjoy dozens of free spins credited to your account as soon as you make the first deposit. They are awarded on top of a deposit-based bonus which will be added to your balance and double the credits you can use to play any of slot titles. So with free spins and doubled credits you can spend hours playing your favourite slot games.

Keep in mind that free spins credited by the casino are played at the minimum wager and visit the terms and conditions section to learn how much you can wager while using bonus cash. To turn payouts won while wagering free cash into real money, you need to meet wagering requirements which means that you need to bet the bonus and sometimes the deposit amount between 20 and 50 times. The good news is that all bets made on slot machines contribute 100% towards the playthrough requirements.

Besides welcome bonuses and free spins credited to new players, online casinos offer monthly or weekly promotions to their existing players. They can come in the form of free spins which can be used on specific slot titles. This is the way online casinos promote new slot releases which have just been launched and you can easily win on the house while learning how to play a brand new game on the market.

Online Slots Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

• Choose a reputable online casino
• Start playing in free play mode
• Use bonuses, free spins and promotions
• Know your limits and when to stop
• Place maximum bets when playing progressive slots
• Keep an eye on the paytable

Don’ts

• Don’t expect that you can beat the machines
• Don’t increase the bankroll you set yourself to begin with
• Don’t increase the stakes based of a winning streak