How Slot Machines Work

Slot machines have a number of reels with symbols that are spun when a slot machine game is played.
A classic slot machine has three ( 3 ) reels with symbols and atleast one payline.
The slot machine payline is shown with a line from the first reel to the last reel.
* Slot Machines can have more than three reels and more than one payline.
If a slot machine has more than three reels, the paylines are shown from the first reel to the last reel as it would be with a three reel slot machine.
Some slot machines have a huge amount of paylines, and have these shown on the game rules page instead of showing them on the slot machine area with the game reels.



Slot machines are played with coins that are wagered on one or more of the slot machine paylines.
At online casinos, coins are added to the slot machine automatically when you have a casino balance that allows you to place a slot machine bet.
Your casino funds are not used on the slot machine before you start the slot machine !

Basic Slot Machine Win Example


This image shows a basic slot machine win, on a 3 reel slot machine with 1 payline.
The reels stopped with three blue shields in a row where the slot machine payline appears.

It is the combination of a slot machine payline, and the number of identical slot machine symbols on it that generate a slot machine win.

Basic loosing slot machine example

This image shows our slot machine with the same symbols as the previous image.
We even have 3 blue shields in a row....
But the shields do not appear on the payline, from left to right and do not result in a slot machine win.

Multiple Paylines
If a slot machine has more than one payline, you can enable them from the slot machine menu.
Adding or removing slot machine paylines is often done by clicking on arrows that point up and down close to a "lines" title.

Your slot machine bet equals the amount of coins you selected times the amount of paylines you activate.
Each payline is a chance to win but also a bet.

Example: Slot machine with three paylines

When you play on a slot machine with more than one payline, you can chose to bet bet on slot machine combinations that occur other places than in the middle of the slot machine. The image above shows a slot machine with three paylines each starting at a number and ending at the same number on the other side of the slot machine game reels.
In this case, the slot machine generated a win on the 2nd payline, Three presents appear from left to right on the 2nd payline ( starting from the number #2 and ending at the number #2 ).

If this spin was played with one payline, you would not have won anything.

More active paylines equals more chances to win on each slot machine spin.
On the other hand, more active paylines also equal a greater wager per spin, this is because you place a bet on each payline you activate.

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How slot machines work

Related pages:
What is a slot machine
What is a video slot machine
What is a bonus slot machine