New slots are being released almost on a regular basis, with new features which can be getting more sophisticated and improved (as we speak!), which empowers a number of you, dear iGaming enthusiasts, to enhance your gameplay.
Although slots are becoming more and more advanced, they are still more or less based on the same forms of slot machine symbols which all makes things easier for many newbies available Pg , especially in regards to understanding slots better.
However, it’s vital that you acknowledge that there are numerous forms of slot machine icons and, in this blog, we’ll talk about various kinds of symbols that you’re most likely to encounter. All things considered, we’re all interested in what goes on when certain reel symbols spin in, right? Now let’s learn more!
What Is the Oldest Slot Machine Symbol?
Learning about how slot machines work could be pointless without mentioning the oldest slot machine symbols.
These very often include card symbols in 3 suits – diamonds, spades and hearts – mainly from 10-card through the Ace: ten (10), Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K), and Ace (A). Now, apart from these high-paying card symbols, you’ll very often encounter the lucky number seven on the reels, but we’ll speak about a bit later.
Then, there exists a traditional lucky symbol – horseshoe which seems to be among the oldest and somewhat admired superstition icons, especially in regards to playing online slots.
And there’s Liberty Bell, of course. If you participate in the experienced players, you’ll realize that the first ever slot’s name was Liberty Bell, so that’s probably exactly why it became among the evergreen symbols frequently appearing in slot machines.
Fruit Machine Symbols, Bar Symbol, Number 7 and Bubble Gums
Knowing there are millions of different slots available, what strikes us probably the most is that they all feature more or less exactly the same reel symbols appearing on most of them.
Like, you’ll often find fruit machine symbols such as for example cherries, melons, oranges, lemons and grapes appearing on 3-reel slot machines, no matter what slot title you choose to play. Some sources say the Industry Novelty Company, run by O.D Jennings, was the first one to use fruit symbols.
Fruit Machine slot symbols
After having a long-term ban in the early 1900s, slot machine producers came back with brand-new symbols in the proper execution of colorful fruits and bubble gums. Fun fact: In the period when slot machines were forbidden by law in the US, in order to avoid these anti-gambling restrictions, some machines paid out chewing gum as a reward.
One of the leading slot manufacturers, Bell-Fruit Gum Company, even added its logo as the symbol appearing on the reels. Because it sorta looked like a club of gum, the logo slowly became the slot machine bar symbol – the one that we’re used to seeing today, who’d have believed it produced from the company’s logo?
Just one more popular symbol, the lucky number 7, found its place on the reels of slot machines. It’s no wonder it became an all natural fit, as the amount 7 is a synonym for pleasure and prosperity, all around the world. And of course, it features a very special connotation in regards to online gambling, mostly when playing online slots.
So, that’s why it’s the playing card of preference on many machines.
How Many Symbols Are on a Slot Machine Reel?
Now you must be wondering how many symbols actually exist on a position machine reel. With classic 3-reel slot machines, it’s easy – usually that’s 20 symbols per reel, which means it’s a total of 60 symbols (20x20x20), meaning that’s significantly more than 8000 combinations to score a jackpot.
Things are a little more complicated in regards to modern electronic games, however. The reel composition is no longer established by your exact odds of winning. Instead, it’s all up to a complex RNG hidden deep inside every machine.
Types of Slot Symbols
We’re all alert to the fact that there exists a deep ocean of slot symbols, but there are also various kinds of slot symbols, with 3 essentials – standard symbols, wilds, and scatters.
It’s important to learn the difference between them, because landing certain combinations of the slot symbols (when combined with standard symbols) may cause activation of numerous different features that will raise your payout, each time it happens.
Cherry slot symbol
Now, what’s typical for standard symbols is that they don’t have any special function but to pay out a certain amount of money if they can be found in a row, on a dynamic payline.
Quite simply, in the event that you have the ability to land at the very least three matching symbols on a dynamic payline, you’ll hit a successful combo and receive a corresponding prize. If you’ve been wondering which “special” symbols usually appear on an on the web slot machine (or a land-based one), stick with us as we’re planning to reveal some more details.
Wild Symbols
Ok, wild symbols are among the main ones, as they can act instead for any symbol in a slot. Just as the Joker card does. So, after you land them on the reels, they’ll act as an alternative for any symbol, with the exception of the scatter and bonus symbols, as the wild card cannot behave like their substitute.
You’ll easily spot Expanding Wild symbols because they are those that can usually occur on any reel position and, when they do, they can expand upwards and downwards and occasionally from sideways, sometimes even diagonally. What they do is help you form more winning combinations, turning any adjacent reel positioned icon next in their mind in to the Wild one.
When Sticky Wild symbols appear, they get stuck on the reels and usually give you another spin, while Stacked Wild symbols are stacked along with each other.
As you’ve probably noticed, none of the wild symbols are completely exactly the same, they all however have something in keeping – they occur randomly, replacing regular casino symbols to help you score better results.
Furthermore, you will find Soaring Wild symbols, Random Wild symbols or Floating Wild symbols and they’ll mostly be randomly attached to at least one (or more) reels, with respect to the games’rules. Just make sure to read the paytable and you’ll figure out how they work.
Scatter Symbols
One of our favourites – scatter symbols – are very unique for their primary function is always to activate Free Spins or a Bonus Game feature, each time you land the needed amount of scatters on a dynamic payline. Usually, a certain amount of scatters must occur on a single spin to unlock an interactive feature.
In certain slots, these features will require landing at the very least 3 scatters, whilst others may only require 2. In either case, they’ll initiate Free Spin rounds (usually between 5 and 15) which is often highly profitable for you.
Here’s a good example – in the event that you land 3 scatters simultaneously – you’ll trigger 5 Free Spins. Landing 4 of them will initiate 10 Free Spin rounds, whereas landing 5 scatters will activate 15 Free Spins. As every slot game works differently though, you will discover all the info about scatters (and other symbols) by simply clicking a paytable.
As for another advantage of the scatter symbol – they can also offer payouts on the own. Obviously, not all scatter symbol slots offer that possibility, so again do make sure to check the paytable to avoid any kind of disappointment. Sometimes scatter symbols trigger free spins that feature a multiplier, but we’ll get to that particular in a sec.
Bonus Symbols
As their name suggests, bonus symbols are placed on activate various bonus games. In ways, they are like Scatter symbols, as you often need to land at the very least three of them on the reels simultaneously before they trigger the bonus round. This usually means you should have to land them on consecutive reels and, needless to say, they’ve to occur on a dynamic payline only.
Multiplier Symbols
And last, however not least on our list are multiplier symbols. Now, multipliers do precisely what their name implies – they multiply your wins. They are able to land on the reel in the proper execution of special symbols (with a supplementary icon indicating the worthiness of the multiplier bonus), but what they usually do is increase how big your payouts, usually up to 6x times.
However, the more valuable multipliers may also be wild cards, or appear included in the Free Spin feature, brought about by the scatters.
Over to You
As always, we’d love to know your opinion on the topic, so join us at our forum and let’s know that which you think. And don’t forget, our database of online slot machines reaches your disposal – give your favourite releases a try, take a look at those symbols we discussed and let’s know how it went.