The Foundations That Make Up Modern Slots

February 19, 2015

In the online slots world, you'll find thousands of games with different themes and payout tables from different software developers. However, if you look at the way most of these games are build, there are certain foundations that are found in all of them. Something that's really important to realize is that these foundations are what make up the preferences that most players have, so understanding these foundations can make it easier for you to find games that you'll love. We're going to walk you through the most important of these foundations to give you a starting place for using this information.

Every game has a number of basic components. The paytable is the one that all games must have, and this means it's the part of the game that players are most likely to take for granted. The way a paytable is weighted will drastically change how the game plays. With a top-heavy paytable with few small or medium payouts, you're going to have a lot of longer losing streaks and a high-volatility experience overall. On the other hand, a more balanced paytable will give you smoother sailing, and this consideration can drastically change the correct bet size for having the best overall experience.

Another foundation is the bonus feature or features as the case may be. Free spins are almost considered a necessity in today's slots, and they almost always come as the result of lining up three or more bonus symbols or scatter symbols. Pick a box style games are also very popular, and they give you a lower-volatility experience than the free spins because you're typically guaranteed at least a moderate payout. As you're seeing again, volatility is one of the key factors that comes into the gameplay aspect of the equation.

The final foundation that we're going to talk about is the wild symbol and how it's handled. Generally speaking, the more wilds you have in terms of how often they show up, the lower the volatility. Other wild features like wild multipliers, stacked wilds and sticky wilds can give a higher or lower volatility just depending on how often they show up, but it usually doesn't change all that much on average as long as the wilds show up on all five reels. This is something that most people don't take into account when it comes to the gameplay aspect of modern online slots.

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