If you ever entered a Las Vegas casino, you know their golden standard is slot machines. All their fascinating sounds such as the jangly music, the jittering fall of coins or the rumbling of reels spinning are the core of a casino’s ambience.
The first really well-known slot machine was the Liberty Bell, created in 1899 by Charles Fey. It consisted of three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols, one of them a Liberty Bell, a single pay line and a fully automated payout system.
Modern slot machines evolved from the beautiful Liberty Bell and became even more enchanting due to their video versions, multi-paylines and crazy jackpots. There are three main types: Regular, Jackpot and Megaways slots. This guide will help you understand their pros and cons so that you may become the new spinning wizard of Vegas slots and online casino slots.
Regular vs. Jackpot
Many people think that there are no differences between Regular and Jackpot slots. This is due to the fact that Regular slots can also have jackpots but there are two main differences between the two types.
For one, Jackpots in Regular slots are fixed whereas in Jackpot slots they are progressive, meaning that they vary. For example, in a Regular slot, if the jackpot is 100x the amount you bet, you’ll always get whatever your bet was, times 100. This feature is the reason why these slots are also referred to as Non-Progressive Jackpot slots.
Unlike Regular slots, Progressive Jackpot slots see the amount of their jackpots increase each time a bet is made and the prize isn’t won. These are the type of slots that allow you to have a big win since they give out huge amounts in jackpot prizes. We’re talking life-changing jackpot prizes. When the jackpot is won, the amount is set back to zero and the whole process starts over.
The other difference is that Regular slots usually have the same patterns to trigger jackpots and Jackpot slots can have many different ways of winning the prize. Some might require you to spin a bonus wheel or just be awarded randomly. 
Progressive slots can also be divided into two more subtypes. Jackpots can either be Network or Local jackpots. A Network Jackpot is one where the slot games may exist in other casinos and the jackpot is linked between them. Every bet a player makes on those slots is added to the same jackpot pool. If someone in another casino hits the jackpot it will then reset to zero.
A Local Jackpot game features slot games that might be available in multiple casinos but each machine has its own singular jackpot pool.
Both Regular and Jackpot slots have their pros and cons and the one that best suits your needs comes down to both your budget and risk appetite. If you want to win big time gaming on a slot game and have a comfortable budget, then spin all the Jackpot slots you can. If you’re more risk-averse and you want to try to win some money while being diligent with the amounts you bet, then Regular slots will be your sweet spot.
Megaways, The 2.0 Version of Slots
The world is always evolving, with new technology breakthroughs that make things better. The same happened with slots in 2017 when the Australian company Big Time Gaming developed the popular Megaways mechanic.
The way these video slots work is quite simple. Megaways games differ from Regular slots in two key points:
Unlike Regular slots that usually have fixed paylines, the Megaways mechanic enables a variable number of winning combinations, usually up to 117.659, on each spin. This is possible due to their unique mathematical model that triggers a random reel modifier.
In order to win when you play Megaways slots, you need to land identical symbols on adjacent reels from left to right. Typically, you need at least 3 reels and can go up to all 6.
Most of the games in a Megaways casino show the number of winning combinations at the top of the gaming screen. Calculating the number of paylines is also trivial. On every spin, you just need to multiply the number of symbols present in each reel, by the number of reels.
These types of slots have other unique characteristics which turn them into a 2.0 version of Regular slots. One of the coolest bonus features is the Cascading reels, which appear when you get a winning combination. They give you a higher probability of winning in a single spin by replacing symbols with new ones in a winning combination.
Another popular feature is the Bonus Buy, allowing players to buy their place in the free spins round or other bonus games. On average, in order to do so, players need to pay between 50x and 150x their stake. These are the two main bonus buy features but there are others such as Mystery Symbols and Horizontal Reels that leverage the stakes which allow you to score higher winning combinations.
With these characteristics, it’s fair to say that Megaways are somewhat a 2.0 version of Regular slots. Make the most out of them with what you learned from this guide. Practice your craft by playing online slots and then start winning right away!
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