Most Popular Slot Features Explained - List of Best Slots Features
Everything you need to know about top slot features, from Wilds to cascades. Read our guide on how you can increase your chances of winning at slots online.
Guide to the Most Popular Slot Features
Some years ago, the most popular slot features were Hold options, Nudges, and the like. Today, players have plenty of extras to make their favorite games more exciting. But the best slot features add more than just entertainment value. In-game characters do what every player wants - from boosting your winning chances to adding some suspense to your gaming sessions. All gamers have to do is pick the right slot for their gaming preferences. But first, you need to understand all the nitty-gritty details of popular slot features. Our guide will use examples, visuals, and in-depth explanations to get you up to speed.
Slots Features Explained
Slot machines have come a long way from the mechanical one-armed bandits of old to elaborate video slots with thousands of ways to win. Because the basic premise of these games is still the same, software providers have to come up with ways to distinguish their creations from the rest of the slot machines available on the market. From themes to how players win, the features of casino games make up each title’s identity.
Popular slot features are designed to boost your potential wins and make the game more exciting. Think free spins rounds, Wilds, cascading reels, jackpot symbols, Scatters, etc. A slot machine with more features doesn’t necessarily pay out more. In fact, some feature-dense slots may be more expensive to play. However, once you understand how different features work and spin a few demo rounds, it'll get easier to pick games that provide excellent entertainment value.
List of the Most Popular Slot Features
While you’ll come across countless online slots machine additions throughout your gaming adventures, the best slot bonus features fall within the following categories.
Wilds and Scatters
Wilds are some of the most popular slot features around, and for a good reason. Depending on the game you're playing, these characters may appear as simple logos, the storyline hero, or whatever the developer may think of. Whatever they may look like, when Wild symbols appear in a combination that otherwise wouldn't have won, they complete the line to result in a win. In addition, some games pay out a jackpot if Wilds line up to complete a payline.
Scatters are similarly one of the best slot bonus features you can see appear while spinning the reels. These symbols typically trigger bonus games or rounds. With some slots, a specific number of Scatters can unlock free spins. Unlike most other popular slot features, Scatters normally don't have to pay on a winning line. By appearing anywhere on the screen, Scatters makes your spin worthwhile.
Free Spins
Free spins are, by far, the most popular in-game slot machine bonus feature. Players usually trigger this bonus when they land three or more Scatters anywhere on the reels. Each software provider sets its free spins features differently, but typically you’ll get a prize multiplier attached to each winning round. Free spins may also be activated on a special set of reels loaded with unique features that aren’t available in the main game.
Expanding Wilds & Sticky Wilds
Expanding Wilds typically appear during free spin rounds. As their name suggests, these classic slot features expand into neighboring positions, making for some huge cash wins. Expanding Wilds may also act like Scatters, paying in any position on the screen. Sticky Wilds are another popular slot feature that stays in place for several re-spins, ensuring that you enjoy more winning chances for much longer.
Stacked Symbols
Instead of getting one Scatter, Wild, or other popular slot features appear on the game screen, stacked symbols land on the reels on top of each other. The result is that players get chances to create lucrative wins on more paylines. Stacked Wilds are an excellent example of classic slot features that still appear in popular slot types today.
Cascading Reels
Cascading reels bring enhanced winning chances to the table. Unlike with standard reels, winning combinations here “explode” and disappear from the reels to make way for the characters on top to fall into their places. This process continues until no more winning combinations are being formed. Cascading reels are also called avalanche reels or rolling reels in some slots.
Multipliers
Would you rather have a 100x payout or 10x? Of course, every player would want the bigger payout. Multipliers are the best feature slot games can offer players who want to boost their wins instantly. Even if they don’t help you complete a winning combination, these bonus features jack up the value of your prizes when you do win. Depending on the game you’re playing, you can find standalone, progressive, adding, or increasing multipliers.
Picking Mini-Game
New slot features like mini-games carry you away from the main game and give you options to explore in search of more wins. You can find random cash prizes, mystery boxes, or bet multipliers. In addition, some progressive slot machines unlock jackpots during the mini-games. Typically, picking side games are set on secondary screens, away from the slot’s main reels. You pick by clicking on different objects to reveal prizes.
Prize Wheel
Prize wheels are much like mini-games. But instead of winning random prizes from a variable selection of slot bonuses, you get a typical wheel of fortune. Players get to enjoy the iconic wheel and arrow slowly lining up to land the highest possible payouts. Progressive jackpots may have several smaller prizes spread across the wheel, while the grand jackpot sits on one of the harder-to-hit spots.
Difference Between Slots Features and Slots Mechanics
As you’ve already gathered, slot features are key symbols and bonus functions that enhance the core game. On the other hand, slot mechanics have to do with the basic premise of each slot machine. For example, when you place your stake and press the spin button, you expect the reels to start spinning until they stop, and you get an outcome.
Unlike levers and gears that controlled one-armed bandits in the past, random number generators now determine whether you win after each spin. The return to player percentage is another critical part of slot mechanics. Put simply, it is the amount of money a slot machine is expected to pay out over its lifetime.
Other slot mechanics that may appear similar are paylines and ways to win. Paylines are vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or zig-zag lines where symbols need to line up to create a winning combination. Each game’s paytable clearly defines these winning lines. On most games, paylines pay out in one direction. However, it’s not unusual to find slots that pay in both directions. In this case, we start counting ways to win, as one payline can create more than one win.
Things get even more interesting when you encounter some increasingly popular slot engines like cluster pays. With this mechanic, symbols group to create a win. Classic paylines do not apply here. Megaways are another innovative mechanic to look out for. Before you even consider the other bonus features, Megaways allow for thousands of ways to win, with possibilities changing with every spin.
Closing Thoughts
With classic online slot machines, players just need to choose their bet size and press the spin button. This process can very quickly get a bit dreary. Game developers, therefore, constantly come up with innovative new slot features to improve the entertainment value of their creations. Wilds, cascading reels, and free spins rounds are some of the most popular slot features in modern slots. Leading casino software providers will always try new things, so slot machines stay relevant. The best thing is that you can try all of these new features in demo mode, to get a taste of each game.
