While there is a small (sub-1%) percentage of slots that make no use of them, paylines appear in almost every slot game found online. What are paylines in slots? Surprisingly, not everyone understands how they work. Paylines might seem confusing at first, and many players don’t pay attention to them; instead, they simply rely on the win counter to tell them if they’ve won or not. Paylines aren’t difficult to understand, though, and getting a handle on them can help readers hone their skills and become better players. Unsurprisingly, that’s the topic up for discussion today.
Slot Machine Paylines – What Are They For?
As even newbies will be aware, online slots pay prizes when identical symbols appear alongside one another on the reels (or drums if it’s a physical game in the real world) of slots. While they need to run from the leftmost reel to the rightmost, and players often need three or more symbols to denote a win, there is more to it than that.
To work out what sort of combination players have landed and whether it is valid, symbols need to appear on paylines. These are pathways across the reels or paylines. Symbols must appear on these paylines or routes across the reels for players to land a prize. Here’s an example of how it works:
- Imagine a slot of just three reels. Let’s say it has three paylines. Now, imagine there is a line running from the top of the leftmost reel through the middle of a second reel and ending up on the bottom of the third reel. That would be one payline. Then, for example, a second line may run right through the middle of all the reels. Let’s call that the second payline. Finally, a third could start at the bottom of the first reel and run diagonally to the top of the third reel. That would be the third paylines. To win, three identical symbols must appear on one of those paylines.
One to 100 Paylines – The Basics
Now that we’ve grasped that concept, let’s expand it. Imagine a five-reel game, like most video slots feature. This time, imagine twenty-five paylines crisscrossing all over the place, from the leftmost reel to the rightmost. That’s how most paylines in video slots work. There is an opportunity to see any payline in action in slots by hovering over the coloured number (next to the reels) to see where the payline runs.
This same concept can be used for most video slots with up to 100 paylines in place. In some games, the number of lines played can be altered, with players wagering the same coin value for each line. For instance, if a coin value is set to $0.01, and all seventeen or a possible twenty-five lines are to be used, then the stake will be $0.17 a spin. In some games, the number of lines is fixed, which means the bet will also be fixed at $0.25, making use of all possible paylines.
Introducing Many More Ways to Win
Not all slots feature a hundred lines or less. In fact, it is now increasingly common for slots to feature hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands of lines. Of course, there’s no way anyone can adjust these or even see them. It’d just be a mess of squiggles. Therefore, we don’t really call them paylines when 101+ are involved. Instead, we call them “ways to win”, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as explained below.
- 243 Ways to Win: These games take their titles from the number of lines they feature. To bag a win on these slots, identical symbols need to be lined up on adjacent reels – that’s it.
- 1,024 Ways to Win: Slots with this many lines may feature reels of different sizes to ensure that all the possible ways to win feature in the game.
- Both Ways Pay: Some slots with fifty lines or less may also feature a Win Both Ways mechanic. This means that symbol combos can run from right to left, as well as the customary left-to-right formation.
- Megaways: A huge hit with slot players, Megaways games can feature up to an epic 117,649 ways to win (completely at random) on each spin. They feature symbols of varying sizes to ensure that this happens, and most have collapsing reels woven into their design with increasing multipliers.
- Cluster Pays: Cluster Pays games don’t feature paylines at all. Instead, winning combos are formed by grouping together clusters of symbols. The exact number varies, so it’s worth checking the paytable beforehand. In most games, a winning cluster will pop or explode and be replaced with new symbols from above, potentially allowing for multiple wins with a single stake/spin.
Where Slot Paylines Become Creative
Paylines can result in wins, and whether a stake is constructed by adjusting those lines varies from game to game. However, paylines can also do other things, even feature in slot mechanics in other ways. Here’s a quick look at some of the more creative ways they’ve been incorporated into online slots.
Expanding Reels/Paylines
Slot machine paylines may end up being a part of an expanding reel feature. If the reels expand (vertically) or increase in number (horizontally), the number of paylines will naturally expand, too, to accommodate them. This increases the chances of a win being landed. Some online slots may feature blockers (symbols) that need destroying to expand the number of reels or paylines in play. It’s also possible to see an increase in paylines in the free spin features of many top slots.
Multi-Reels and Transferable Symbols
Not every slot game tasks players with having a crack at a set of reels and paylines. In some cases, games may offer their bettors several sets of reels and paylines to bet on. In effect, this is the same as wagering on two, three or four slots at once, with a stake to match that reality. However, in some games, what happens on one set of reels may directly impact what occurs on others. For instance, transferable symbols, such as wilds, may spread to other reels, potentially magnifying the potential for a top win.
Jackpots on Specific Paylines
Most modern progressive jackpot slots now feature randomly triggered or bonus-driven jackpot prizes. Older games didn’t do that, though. Instead, these jackpot slots require players to land a very specific set of symbols on a specific payline. Landing those icons on any other payline would result in a consolation prize paid out, which may be fixed or a percentage of the jackpot, but not the jackpot itself. Thankfully, this practice isn’t common anymore, but there are still new progressive jackpot slots that work it into its design, even if these are few and far between.
Paylines Vs Slot RTP and Volatility
Paylines are unquestionably an important factor to consider before playing, but there are others. It’s also worth considering slot RTP and volatility. Slot RTP is explained as the theoretical amount of each stake a casino puts back into a pot for all players to win. The higher the RTP rate, the less of each stake a casino takes in pure profit, so the fairer the slot.
Volatility reveals how often a slot pays and how much. If it’s too volatile (high), then it’ll pay epic wins but very irregularly. If a slot has too low variance (not volatile), then it’ll pay frequently, but with smaller wins in most cases.
Some believe that if they play a Megaways game and have up to 117,649 ways to win in play, their chances of landing a big win regularly would be far in excess of what’s available in a 25-line slot. That’s not necessarily the case, though. If a 25-line slot has a high RTP rate and low volatility, it may be a more attractive option than a Megaways game with infinitely more paylines but high volatility gameplay and a low RTP rate. The trick is finding the balance between the three.
Go Spin’s Super Six Tips for Perfect Payline Gameplay
Our experts want to offer a few final tips before they set off to put out other fires and tackle other subjects. Here are our six top tips on everything worth knowing about slot paylines:
- #1 How Much Per Line: Work out the value in a game. Twenty-five lines at $0.25 per spin may sound more advantageous than 243 ways to win at $0.30 a spin, but RTP and volatility may make it the opposite.
- #2 More Lines, More Volatility: The general rule (at least when it comes to Megaways slots) is that the more paylines or ways to win a slot has, the more volatile it is likely to be.
- #3 Avoid Jackpots on Single Lines: Try to avoid playing jackpot slots that offer up their prizes on a single payline. Landing a five-of-a-kind is tricky enough without it having to appear on a specific payline.
- #4 Play for Free: Always test how paylines work and any features associated with them by playing slot games for free as demos ahead of time.
- #5 Per Reel or Per Line: Games that allow players to win with symbols on adjacent reels are ideal, and it is easier than landing them on a line. However, if the symbols are stacked, there is less chance of landing matching symbols on adjacent reels.
- #6 Watch Out for Junk Symbols: There isn’t much real estate on the reels of a slot. Players don’t want precious spots on paylines occupied by junk or useless symbols. Therefore, try to choose slots that feature fewer symbols than their counterparts or that combine special icons into one, such as scatter wilds. This will leave more space for the symbols that are needed on the reels.
