All developers, without exception, try to make slots that don’t look like other games, to create modern online slots. That’s why the vast majority of providers come up with their own design, gameplay and features that are unlike any other. You may ask why, and why do they do it at all? The answer is right on the surface. The reason is to attract new players to the features they haven’t seen yet. After all, it’s the features that sometimes determine how much you win in this or that slot.
Therefore, it should be understood that features are created precisely for players who want to play and still be able to win large sums of money. But, which features are currently in use and how do they affect the winnings? Let’s try to understand this by looking at five of the most popular and sought-after prize features.
Buy bonus feature on modern online slots
If you’re a risk-taker or a regular player looking for new features, you can check out the Buy Bonus option. The main purpose of this option is that you don’t have to wait for the bonus feature to activate. There are currently a large number of slots in which you can buy some kind of extra option. All you have to do is pay a fixed amount and get free spins or go to the bonus round. In most cases, the cost of the bonus round is quite high and ironically the bonus round bought will not always return the money invested in it. More specifically, slots with Buy Bonus features allow you to trigger a bonus round in a few clicks. In part, this is even somewhat handy, because you won’t have to wait for a winning combination to activate the free spins or bonus round.
Slots with the Buy Bonus option appeal to players because they do not need to make a large number of spins of the reels in order to get the bonus round, but can buy it immediately for a fixed amount.
Avalanche reels feature on modern online slots
Avalanche Reels is one of the extra features in the slot machines that has been developed purely to diversify the gameplay and increase the chances of players getting a good payout. If you are already interested in trying out such slots, casino-howto provides a list of the best Avalanche reels games.
If Avalanche Feature is stated to be present in the slot, it does not require a separate connection. Avalanche combinations are automatically activated as soon as a winning combination appears on the screen. As soon as this happens, the player will see the following process: the symbols that have become winning disappear, leaving a line with empty cells. These empty spaces are filled by an avalanche of new symbols, which become participants in new combinations.
But this is not all. If the first avalanche formed a winning line, the process repeats: the same pictures disappear and new ones fall in their place, of which the combination is formed again. And so it will go on until the winning combinations are formed. Also, the process stops when the next avalanche is unsuccessful.
So one spin can bring several variations of combinations. This means that the winnings for the last avalanche will be much higher for the first one. It’s all thanks to the payout system that is implemented during avalanche combinations.
In each slot, winnings are accrued differently, that is, multiplied by a different multiplier. But the gist is this: the first avalanche is worth x2, the second x3 and so on can reach a multiplier of x10 or more.
Megaways feature
Megaways slots are games that are developed by Big Time Gaming. They are the ones who have patented this feature, which was developed and implemented in their games. In Megaways slots, as a rule, symbols on reels do not have a fixed size. This means that as a result of the spin on each of the reels can be one or more pictures. At the same time, there are no fixed cells and lines in the slots. And the bet is made immediately on the spin.
The number of potential combinations is calculated based on how many symbols were the result of the spin on the playing field. In Megaways slots there are combinations of 15,625, 46,656 or even 117,649 ways to win.
The basic principle of the Megaways feature is that in each new spin the RNG generates a random number of symbols for each reel. What is interesting, the number of pictures in each of the reels can be the same or different. Winning combinations are determined after several identical symbols appear on neighboring reels starting from the leftmost reel.
Re-spin feature
One of the most common features of modern online slots is the Re-spin feature. If given a definition of this phenomenon, it would sound like this is one or an unlimited number of spins that you get in addition to the number of other free spins or triggered separately from the prize round.
The re-spin feature is only available in online slots, and can also be used in more advanced modern slot machines, which are located in land-based casinos. In order to accurately differentiate re-spin from other features you should remember that:
- This is mostly a prize round during which the game conditions can be changed (as an example, there are additional multipliers, Wilds or change the number of winnings)
- Re-spins are quite similar to free spins, especially when it requires the appearance of Scatter symbols and activation of Moving Wild
- Only the actions of the player determine when the re-spin will be activated. Such activators can also be special symbols
- In some slots, the re-spin feature is triggered randomly in any of the regular spins.
Expanding reels feature
If you look at classic 3 reel slots as well as modern games, you’ll clearly see that creativity in the invention of features has become a defining factor in game development. When the imagination to create new features running on reels dried up, it was time to change the reels themselves. This resulted in Expanding reels, which became the epitome of new mechanics in modern slots.
What is Expanding reels? Basically, it is a feature that expands the playing field on which the symbols fall. This expansion gives users a higher chance of winning, as well as the ability to make unique combinations of 5 or more symbols at the same time, which usually leads to multipliers and other prize options. Expanding reels first began to be used in slots with themes of ancient cities and pyramids, where the 6 reels represented an extra room in the pyramid or sarcophagus. As a consequence, this feature became very popular and migrated to the modern themes of slots, where it is used to this day.