Paylines may not make the world go round, but they certainly ensure that slots cough up the prizes. These integral slot features are your pathway to success across the reels of your favourite online slots. What are slot paylines, though? If you want to learn how paylines work and how they can impact your favourite games, you’ve come to the right place. Allow Betnero UK to explain.
What Are Paylines in Online Slots?
If you’ve played slots before, you’ll know well enough what to expect here. If not, then allow us to explain. Slot paylines are a series of “ways to win” or “lines” that straddle the reels of the slot, upon which you can hope to land slot payouts. Here’s how it works:
- Definition of Paylines: Imagine a line (or rather, a series of lines) that travels in all sorts of shapes, zig-zagging across the reels. It is upon these lines that you’ll need to land identical symbols to win prizes. The more identical symbols you can land on those paylines (and there may be any number of them), the bigger your prize.
Types of Paylines
Slot payouts require identical symbols to appear on paylines unless we’re talking about scatter symbols. There are several paylines in slot games, and how they work can vary. Here’s a quick look at three of the more common types you’ll find:
- Fixed Paylines: These paylines get their name because you cannot change them. If there are twenty-five lines, you must play with them all.
- Adjustable Paylines: Adjustable paylines allow you to choose how many of the lines you want to have active on each spin. The smallest numbers may be one line, five, ten, or so on. It may be possible to play with up to 100 of these.
- Multi-Directional Paylines: Normally, symbols need to land on paylines from the leftmost slot reel to the rightmost to land prizes. However, some slots have paylines that “pay both ways”. In short, they pay from right to left, as well as left to right.
Payout Systems in Slots
Of course, the amount you can win on online slot paylines in the UK doesn’t just depend on landing identical symbols on paylines. It may also depend on the value of the symbols you land, your stake, and the volatility/variance of the game. Megaways slots payouts, for instance, tend to be quite rich because they are highly volatile. However, big wins don’t come as often as they would in a low-variance game, which has lower cash prizes but wins that come more frequently.
Let’s touch on some of the different payout systems in UK slots at Betnero and explain how they work and differ from one another.
Paylines VS Ways to Win
Once you go beyond 100 paylines, you start to enter “Ways to Win” territory. In short, there are so many paylines to win that they can’t be visualised. You don’t need to worry about paylines in games with 243 ways to win and 1,024 ways to win or higher. Instead, it’s normally enough for identical symbols to land adjacent reels to land wins.
Payout Multipliers
Ordinarily, each symbol combo will pay out based on your stake and the number of symbols you land. In most cases, prizes will be shown by a value, followed by “X”. For instance, if you see a winning combo that pays 5x, this means that it pays five times your stake or bet per line. You’ll want to check the slot’s paytable to find out which. Normally, it is multiplied against your stake.
Innovations in Slot Payout Systems
When comparing paylines vs ways to win, it is important to consider the advances and innovations that we’ve seen in the online slot world and slot payout systems over the last decade or so. Let’s explain this in more detail next.
1 – Megaways Slots
Developed by Big Time Gaming (BTG) and leased to virtually every software provider around, Megaways slots feature a random number of theoretical ways to win on each spin. These may be as few as a couple of hundred or as many as 117,649 ways to win, sometimes more.
2 – Cluster Pays
Cluster Pays games were created by NetEnt and work a bit differently from conventional lines. To win in these games, you need clusters of symbols or groups of symbols to appear adjacent to one another on the reels. There are no conventional paylines here. Just group together as many identical symbols as you can. Those symbols then disappear, and new symbols drop down, effectively allowing you to try to win again without placing a new bet. A progressive multiplier may or may not be added.
3 – Infinity Reels and Expanding Paylines
Lastly, let’s touch on Infinity Reels and slots with expanding paylines. In these games, there will be various triggers that can see extra reels added (often to the right of the screen). Others may increase the number of rows (and thus, paylines or ways to win) in games. They get their name as they will continually expand (infinitely) with each win, only resetting when you lose.
Top 5 Slots with Innovative Paylines and Payouts at Betnero
Want to see these features in action? Let’s introduce you to five of our top slots with innovative slot paylines and payouts that you can play right here at Betnero UK. Our selection includes:
1. Starburst
Starburst is a classic example of a multi-directional, “pays both ways” slot. Despite being simple, this is a rewarding NetEnt game. It pays regularly as a low-variance game. Highlights here include sticky wilds and up to three re-spins with wild reels.
2. Gonzo’s Quest Megaways
Gonzo’s Quest was one of the most popular Rolling Reels types of slots from NetEnt, with cascading reels and multipliers. Red Tiger Gaming’s makeover transformed it into a Megaways release. The cascading reels feature is still in play, and chaining together successive wins via this feature can yield multipliers.
3. Buffalo King Megaways
Pragmatic Play’s highly volatile Buffalo King Megaways doesn’t play by the rules. It doesn’t offer you up to 117,649 ways to win like normal Megaways games. It can dish out as many as 200,704 of them at random on each spin.
4. Reactoonz
NetEnt isn’t the only provider with Cluster Pays games. Reactoonz is NetEnt’s attempt at the mechanic. You can win over 4,750x your bet in this monster-inspired game, which features a 7×7 grid and comes sporting all sorts of added perks and modifiers, including implosions (with wilds), alterations (symbol swaps), demolition and incision features.
5. Book of Dead
This book slot, known by its full name of Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, is the jewel in Play’n Go’s crown. It may have ten fixed lines, but this highly volatile game features scatter wilds (that serve the function of both symbols) and has a bonus spin round where a symbol is chosen at random as an expanding icon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are paylines, and how do they work in slots?
Paylines are pathways or routes that straddle the reels of online slots. You’ll need to land identical symbols on these pathways to be succefull. You can view them by checking out the slot’s paytable.
What is the difference between paylines and ways to win?
Once you have Ways to Win payline systems, you only need to land symbols on adjacent reels to guarantee a prize, whereas, with conventional paylines, that may not necessarily be enough to land a win.
Do Megaways slots pay more than traditional slots?
Not necessarily. Megaways games tend to be highly volatile. This means that they pay out bigger prizes but less frequently than traditional slots.
How do Cluster Pays differ from regular paylines?
Cluster Pays slots don’t require you to land three or more identical symbols on a payline. They have no paylines. Instead, you need to group five or more (the exact figure varies) on the reels in a cluster. In many cases, they won’t need to be on the first reel, either.
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