How Do Slot Games Vary Online?
The advent of online gaming has made it more convenient and enjoyable than ever to play slots for real cash. Whether it’s online casino websites via your laptop or gambling apps on your smartphone, there are literally thousands of different online slot games now available across various online casinos and gaming platforms.
Developers have created a wide variety of slot games with different themes to suit people’s different tastes, with themes ranging from classic fruit machines and Vegas-style slots to branded slots based on popular movies, TV series, or books.
Playing slots online also comes with enticing incentives such as bonus rounds, free spins, wild symbols, scatter symbols, and progressive jackpots, all of which only adds to the overall variety and excitement of the slots in today’s virtual gaming world.
Is There a Decent Variety of Online Slot Machines, or Are They All the Same?
To the untrained eye, online slots may all seem the same, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Never has there been more variety to choose from when it comes to slots, and most websites or apps will offer a far greater variety of slots than any physical casino would.
Most online casino operators today try to give their fully registered members as much choice as possible when it comes to online slots and continue to add more new slots daily or weekly throughout the year.
With many gaming websites offering so much variety to choose, you often don’t need to shop around so to speak when it comes to needing to find new and exciting slots to look forward to. You can often simply stick with your personal favourite and trusted online slot provider and be more than content with variety.
History of Online Slots
The first online casinos began to appear back in the mid-1990s, originally offering a range of classic casino slots in digital format. These early online slots were quite basic compared to what is offered today and variety was minimal in terms of types of slots offered.
Things are completely different today. Most sites are now packed with anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 or more online slots, some as many as 6,000 or 7,000 slots, and instead of just one or two providers supplying them to the casino, anywhere from 10 to 90 or more different providers provide them.
As internet technology improved, access became more widespread, and we all started carrying smartphones, online slot games became more sophisticated. Developers started to incorporate better graphics, sound effects, and animations which helps to enhance the overall gaming experience.
The selection of online slot games expanded rapidly, with developers creating a wide variety of themes, features, and gameplay mechanics to cater to different tastes. When you play at today’s globally renowned online casinos like the official 10bet.com website for example, you will see they offer a large assortment of slot machine varieties from numerous market-leading providers, some of which include the following notable companies:
- Microgaming/Games Global/Triple Edge Studios/Stormcraft Studios/Just for the Win/Gameburger Studios + others
- Pragmatic Play/Reel Kingdom
- Red Tiger Gaming
- Yggdrasil Gaming/Avatar UX/Peter & Sons
- Play’n GO
- Skywind Group
- OneTouch
- Iron Dog Studios
- Push Gaming
- Blueprint Gaming
- Big Time Gaming (BTG)
- Hacksaw Gaming
- Pocket Games Soft (PG Soft)
- Thunderkick
The above companies are well-known for making some of the world’s most popular online slot machines with above-average payout rates (Return to Player percentage payout rates).
They also have fun in-play features and bonus rounds, huge fixed coin jackpots, life-changing progressive jackpots, responsive player controls, immersive storylines, and impressive graphics, sound effects, and 3D-rendered animated sequences that enhance the gameplay experience.
What are the Most Popular Types of Slot Machine Variants, Game Mechanics, and Features?
Online slot machines come in many different varieties as you now know, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have difficulty seeking out ones that suit your interests and needs. There are many easy ways to filter the huge variety of slots out there in order to help find what you’re looking for. For example, on 10bet, you can arrange them by ‘Top Games,’ ‘New Games,’ ‘Megaways Slots,’ or ‘Drops & Wins Slots.’
Popular slot machine types include classic slots for those that enjoy nostalgic gaming, which feature three reels and typically have simple gameplay with basic symbols like fruits, bars, and sevens. Video slots offer a more modern and feature-rich experience with five reels and advanced graphics, animations, and sound effects. They often include various bonus features such as free spins, multipliers, wild symbols, and scatter symbols to enhance gameplay and increase winning opportunities.
Another very popular variety is progressive jackpot slots which increases incrementally as players make bets. A portion of each wager contributes to the jackpot pool, which can accumulate to massive amounts. Progressive jackpot slots offer the potential for life-changing wins but typically have lower base game payouts.
And then you have the chance to personalize your gaming experience with branded slots based on popular movies and TV shows that may feature recognizable characters, themes, and soundtracks. You can also find slots based on music bands, sports, and popular video games.
Other varieties include Cluster Pays Slots, Cascading Reels Slots, Megaways Slots which come with the Megaways game engine that Big Time Gaming pioneered, and Drops & Wins slots are connected to Pragmatic Play’s network-wide monthly Drops & Wins online slot machine tournament, and Megaways slots.
Many online casinos categorize their slot games based on themes, features, or popular titles, making it easy to browse different categories to find slots that match your preferences. Use filters to narrow down your search based on criteria such as game type, volatility, number of paylines, and bonus features. And capitalize on free play or demo versions of slot games when offered so you can sample different slots and see which ones you enjoy before wagering real money.
Just some of the ways online slot machines can be categorised by theme/genre include (e.g., Wild West, Norse Mythology, Leprechauns, Horror, Science Fiction, Ancient Greece/Egypt), and so on.
As well as computer-generated slots available in the regular online casino, you can now find a growing number of these games presented to you in live dealer casino settings by actual human being dealers. Today’s best live dealer slots are from Evolution Gaming.
Some of the most popular online slot machine variants/categories out there today are the following:
- Fixed coin jackpot slots and progressive jackpot slots
- Megaways slots, which have up to 117,649 ways to win per spin
- Classic online slots with just 3 reels and 1 to 5 paylines
- Win ways slots or standard payline slots – similar to Megaways slots, but without the iconic Megaways game mechanic
- Free spins slots, bonus round slots, bonus feature slots (e.g. Wild Symbol features, like Shifting Wilds, Expanding Wilds, Random Wilds, Walking Wilds, Multiplier Wilds, etc. or Respins slots, Cash Collect slots, Game feature slots, to name a few)
- Branded online slots – normally based on famous movies, television shows, sports stars, or board games
There truly is a slot for everyone these days. If you’re a beginner/newbie, then you may like to start with the classic slots before progressing to the more complex and feature-rich Megaways slots or live dealer slots.
Final thoughts
When playing online slots for the chance to win real money, the most important thing you can remember to do is gamble responsibly. Before you deposit money into your chosen iGaming site like 10bet, set a reasonable budget and only play with disposable cash you can afford to lose.
Take advantage of demo versions first to get a feel for slot games and avoid placing huge wagers in a bid to chase any losses you may incur. Remember, it’s about having fun and using online slots as a form of online entertainment that can be had anywhere at anytime easily with your smartphone or laptop whether you’re simply at home or off traveling the world.
