Picking a Slot Machine

Choosing the right online slot machine can help you maximize your casino experience and optimize your potential winnings. It’s not hard to find a slot machine that’s compatible with your needs and expectations but there are some suggestions that may help you move towards a more rewarding and satisfying gaming adventure.

How do you find a slot that suits your betting range, your interests and your expectations for a fun-filled, entertaining and rewarding slots event?

Choose a few slot machines to review, check out each machine’s basic features, review the casino welcome bonus terms and then compare those elements with what you feel are the essentials for a good slots gaming experience.

Understanding Slots

Playing the slots is relatively easy. There are no strategies to learn or betting techniques to master. It is, however, important to understand the various types of slot machines that are available so that you can pick one that suits your needs.

Classic slot machine – a Classic Slot Machine is similar to the original “one-armed bandit” machine that was introduced over 100 years ago. Classic slots, sometimes called “three-reel slots” typically have three reels and three paylines. These machines are considered simple spin-and-win machines because they don’t offer a lot of special features, extra rounds or bonus gameplay.
Video Slot machine – a Video Slot machine is a more advanced type of machine. It generally features five reels and dozens of paylines. Many of today’s video slots include special features like multipliers, wild symbols, scatter symbols, bonus rounds, and a variety of interactive components and engaging themes.
Progressive Slot machine - Progressive slots are machines that are linked across multiple casinos, which means that everyone who plays that machine, from anywhere in the world, is part of the linked gameplay. The progressive machines have a growing jackpot that is comprised of progressive jackpot bets of all participating players. The player who hits the jackpot wins the entire accumulated prize.

By understanding the various types of slot machines, you can better narrow down your choices based on your preferences and budget.

Budget

Before you play any real money game you should set your budget. Setting a budget is a critical element of online casino gambling because it trains you to stay aware of the amount of money that you’ve set aside for your gambling entertainment. By budgeting your casino gaming expenses, you’ll train yourself to walk away when you’ve reached that limit. That’s a fundamental basic concept of responsible gaming.

Most machines offer you a betting range so you can make low-level budget bets, high-stakes VIP wagers or anything in between. Check the machine to make sure that you have that option so you’ll be able to play for real money at a level that suits your individual betting needs. Gambling responsibly means that you never bet money you can't afford to lose.

Paytable

Every slot machine has a paytable that displays the options that the player has to achieve wins, along with the symbols’ respective payouts. Each symbol has its own value and every slot machine has both high-value symbols and low-value symbols.

Obviously, your goal is to achieve matching combinations with the highest value symbols so you should remember which is which. Before you choose a machine, take a moment to study the paytable so that you understand each machine's potential for winning. In addition to the symbols’ values, look at the machine’s bonus features and options for jackpot wins to see what the machine has to offer.

Return to Player and Volatility

Check the machine’s return-to-player (RTP) percentage which indicates the percentage of deposits that return to players in winning payouts. Slot machines’ RTPs range from 95% to 97.5%, with machines featuring higher RTP offering better odds of delivering more wins.

Slot machines also have different volatility levels. Volatility levels determine the frequency and size of payouts. There are:

Low Volatility machines that offer frequent but smaller wins.
Medium Volatility machines that balance between frequent small wins and occasional larger payouts.
High Volatility machines that have bigger payouts but fewer wins.

Select a machine with volatility that aligns with your risk tolerance and entertainment preferences.

Bonus Features

Many modern slot machines include interactive bonus features such as free spins, multipliers, interactive mini-games and jackpots (many machines offer jackpot wins that are not connected to progressive jackpots). These bonus features can enhance your gaming experience significantly and deliver bigger winning payouts.

There are also special bonus features on the reels like wild symbols, scatter combinations, rolling reels, expanding wilds, Sticky Wilds , Buy Bonus, 243 Ways to Win and more. Machines with these types of elements are suitable for players who want a more immersive and high-energy gaming event.

Themes

There are dozens of slots themes ranging from slot machines with storylines of magic, mystery and romance to slots with storylines that center on suspense, intrigue, humor, the holidays, animals and other types of plots. You might be playing to achieve winning payouts but don’t neglect the element of entertainment. To experience a real slots adventure, opt for a machine that features a theme that meets your individual interests and fantasies so that it will add to your overall enjoyment.