Slot games are becoming more sophisticated. With new popular mechanics, knowing how each one operates is essential. We discuss them in the article below.

Slot games have come a long way from the fruit and bar symbols of old one-arm bandits. Today, they are more akin to complex puzzle games. As mobile technology has improved, so have these titles. You will now find them with a host of bonus rounds, linked jackpots, and crucially, sophisticated mechanics. We break down which are the most popular ones you may encounter in the article below.

Hold and Spin/Link and Win

Hold and Spin features are found on titles by the veteran developer’s Pragmatic Play. The feature generally comes into play when you trigger a bonus. The symbols that set it off are held on the reels, which triggers a series of respins. This can cause you to rack up further wins. Should more bonus symbols appear, it resets the responses adding more to the amount you have.

Other companies will have similar variations on the theme. One of the most well-known is Microgaming, who call it their Link and Win feature. This is actually much easier to get to grips with. Whenever you have between 6 to 14 Link and Win symbols on a board, you activate a respin. These symbols stick, so the more you fill the board the more chance you have of reaching one of four bonuses.

You will find a range of Microgaming slots at Betway casinos. As they are one of the top operators and are known across the globe, you can rest assured that their games are safe and have great payouts. Link and Win and Hold and Spin feature games can be found with lots of different themes.

Megaways

When reading slot game guides and the information provided on slots, you may come across a total known as pay lines. This is essentially how many ways you have to win. In the very early days of slot games, you had to land a liberty bell on the reel and only had one pay line. As more symbols and reels were added, the paylines increased with an average game today providing around 8 to 12 paylines. However, modern slots with special mechanics push this number to the limit, and none do it as well as Megaways.

The first Megaways title was Dragonborn, which arrived in 2015. It came with an impressive 117,649 different ways to win. It works by having a six-reel grid, which changes with each spin. Every reel gets many different combinations, and when merged with other features can create huge volatile triggers of events. Now owned by the company Evolution, Megaways has been used on a wide variety of themed titles, from movie licenses to favorites like mythology. There is probably a Megaways title for everyone. However, it can be complex for beginners, so get used to easier slots before venturing in.

Cluster Pays

Cluster pays are a mechanic that has seeped in from the casual mobile gaming market. If you have played games like Candy Crush, where you have to line up symbols in groups and shapes, you will be familiar with it. The first slot game of this type was released in 2016, and it proved an immediate hit. The concept is not for everyone, but it is popular with a cult audience.

When you play these games, you don’t line up symbols on the reels in a row. Instead, you have to form groups. The bigger the cluster of matching symbols, the larger your payout becomes. Cluster pay games are found in titles by a range of different developers, so just check the games at your favorite online casino to see which have cluster pay mechanics.

Tumbling/Cascading Reels

There are lots of different names for this mechanic, but anything to do with falling will sum it up. Once you have a win on these games, the symbols that were part of that vanish from the screen. New symbols then drop down to take their place. This can often create another win and the process starts again until no more wins are on the board. If you manage to get on a roll with this, you can soon have a volatile game on your hands that really clocks up the wager.

Cascading reels are also often combined with other features. This is when games get crazy. One spin can send the reels completely out of your hands, with wins clocking up left, right, and center. You may see wilds, scatters, and free spins all appearing as the bonus takes hold.

If you want to try some of these out, consider using the free spin offers given by casino operators. They will let you try out the games for free, so you can decide which mechanics are for you. As you don’t need to sacrifice your bankroll, you can save your funds for when you have a better idea of how to play and increase your chances of winning.