The first slots that were invented in the 19th century were complex machines but the actual gaming experience was a simple one. Each spin was activated by a pull of a lever and the payouts were easily calculated.
Things were simple due to 3-reels and a limited number of symbols filling them. This simplicity gradually ebbed away as slots creators made machines more extravagant thanks to advances in technology. This complexity increased further with the introduction of the first electrical slot in the 1960s and the first video slots that were rolled out in the 1970s and 1980s.
By the time the digital revolution arrived in the 1990s, slot payouts were already complicated enough, but new digital technology that allowed gambling games to be played in a virtual setting, where about to send payouts into the stratosphere – play fruit spin slot today.
Virtual Digital Video Slots
It didn’t take long for video slots to really take off online. The accessibility of these games at online casinos meant that millions of people started to give them a spin. What these virtual digital platforms did was allow slots developers to get far more creative with their games.
More reels could be added and far more symbols could fill these reels. Animation and second screen bonus rounds accompanied the increasingly impressive computer graphics. With the creative floodgates opened, slots creators produced new symbols with values that had never before been experienced.
Modern Virtual Slots
Today slots have so many paylines that payouts are higher than ever. Some symbols can payout 500x your original bet, such as a line of explorers in Book Of Dead. Some slots even have bonuses that have the potential of paying out 50,000x your original stake.
Megaways slots have extra paylines because they do not follow the rules of conventional games. Your standard slot has a fixed number of reels and fixed paylines. This is not the case with Megaways slots, as most have 6 reels and some have an extra row across the top of the main reels.
In Megaways slots, the symbols are different sizes and this means that anything from 2 to 7 symbols can land on each reel. This obviously has a big effect on the paylines making them change with each spin.
Other Things To Consider
Digital slots have thrown other curve balls into the payout arena and many seasoned slots players will be familiar with the RTP or Return To Player percentage. This is basically a calculation made over thousands of spins that gives punters a rough guide of how much of their staking money will be returned to them over a large sequence of spins.
Games with high percentage scores are best and those with a high score that are also described as being low volatility are even better, as they are more generous than highly volatile slots with low RTP scores. Then there are jackpot slots and these come in all shapes and sizes. You can now even become a millionaire thanks to the jackpots on some slot games.
