Why play slots?
- Slots are easy and fun to play
- You can play slots on your desktop or on the move on your phone
- You can trial slots for free without depositing money
- New games are hitting the market every week
The best online slots have innovative graphics and are great fun to play. The designs are nearly endless; it can be based on your favourite band, TV show or movie. Most games are loaded with features like Wilds and Scatters, which will give you
free spins and unlock bonus games and multipliers to increases your chance of winning.
Try online slots for free
Yes, you can really try these games without depositing money! All you have to do is click on the slot you want to try and start playing. There are video slots, real slots, penny slots, fruit slots, mega spins slots, among other choices.
If you are new to online slots and casinos, try these free games before you deposit to have confidence in what games you want to wager on. All popular software developers and providers offer free versions of their online slots. However, progressive jackpot slots cannot be played for free because they can't let the jackpot to be influenced by the free gameplay.
Play online slots for real money
Of course, you can play online slots for real money where you can access real money slots, progressive slots and tournaments, unlike in the free play versions. These slots have massive game collections for full entertainment, multiple game developers involved. By playing online slots for real money, you will get excellent customer support, generous bonuses and regular promotions.
When you play slots, you want to choose the games with the best returns.
You should always select one of the
Canadian casinos that provides a regulated, safe and secure platform for your gameplay. Don't forget the importance of security; as a new customer, you need to provide your personal documentation and bank details as well. Always read the terms and conditions when opening a new account or depositing with a new online casino.
When playing online slots for real money, you get the best deals and the best gaming experience. It is worth to remember that online slots reward aggressive gameplay and higher risks. Simply put, the more you risk, the more you can win. But online slots have high winning chances even if you play on the lower stakes. Playing slots contribute towards loyalty points or bonus wagerings requirements much quicker than table games. This is why slots offer a variety that helps you earn reward points quicker than other
casino games. You usually also get more generous
casino bonus offers on slots than on other games.
How do slot machines work?
In a land-based casino, the player would insert a coin to the slot machine; then, the reels start spinning, hitting spinning out symbols. The position of the symbols determines the amount you win. The sound produced by the machine when winning attracts other players who will then be tempted to trial the game. Of amazing how the sound produced by the slot machine attracts other players.
There are different types of slot machine games. These include classic slot machines that are the oldest, video slot machines and the most popular ones, the progressive online slot machines that offer high returns and massive jackpots. There is a wide range of themed slot games, and having a progressive jackpot or other features just added features to an already exciting game.
Slot feature symbols and how they work
Every online slot tries to be at least a little different in terms of theme, presentation and format, but there are some feature symbols that you will come across again and again. It, therefore, makes sense to have a basic understanding of what the most common feature symbols are and how they work.
Wild Symbols
A Wild symbol is one that can substitute for any regular symbol on the reels. This can make it easier for you to achieve a winning line of symbols or even to improve an existing win.
For example, if you have two cherry symbols and a Wild on a payline, the Wil
d would substitute for a cherry and give you a winning line of three. Similarly, if you have three cherry symbols and a Wild in a line, you would already have a winning line of three, but the Wild would make it a line of four.
It is worth noting that Wild symbols cannot normally substitute for Scatters or other special symbols.
Mystery Symbols
These are symbols that have no fixed value of their own, but will transform into a randomly selected regular symbol when they land. A Mystery symbol might therefore transform into a cherry at one time, but into a watermelon the next time it appears. You won’t know what it will be, hence the mystery!
In some games, the appearance of more than one Mystery symbol on the reels at the same time will result in them all transforming into the same regular symbol. This can improve your chances of winning quite considerably.
Scatter Symbols
Scatter symbols are ones that have the power to trigger a special event or bonus round (such as Free Spins) when you land a certain number of them on the reels at the same time. The most common number of scatters needed to trigger a feature is three or more, but some games will trigger a feature with just one or two scatters.
Multiplier Symbols
As their name suggests, Multiplier symbols will multiply the prize paid for any winning combination they are involved in. They usually appear as regular symbols with a multiplier value attached, such as x2, x3 and so on. If three cherry symbols pay $1 then you would win $3 if one of the cherry symbols had a x3 multiplier value attached.
Stacked Symbols
Some games will tell you that one or more of its symbols are stacked on one or more reels. This simply means that the symbol will appear in two or more adjacent spaces on the same vertical reel. The advantage of stacked symbols is that they can help you to land multiple winning lines in a single spin. This is especially the case with ‘stacked wilds’ which are, as you might have guessed, stacks of Wild symbols.
Expanding Symbols
An expanding symbol is one that will expand to a larger than normal size - often to fill the entire reel - whenever doing so would help you to win a prize.
For example, if you have expanding BAR symbols on the top row of the second and third reels and an expanding BAR on the bottom row of the first reel, all three would expand to fill the first three reels with BARs.
Expanding Wild symbols work in exactly the same way, and will fill the reel with Wilds if that would help you to land a win.
If no win would result from a symbol expanding then it usually won’t, as that would only slow down your gaming.
Nudge Symbols
Nudge symbols tend to be larger than normal, and are typically at least three rows high. When a nudge symbol appears partially on the reels, it can nudge itself up or down to show itself in its entirety. However, like Expanding symbols, it will only do this if a win would be landed as a result.
Mega Symbols
These are symbols that are always larger than regular symbols. A Mega symbol measuring 2x2 would be two rows high and two reels wide, but you will also come across Mega symbols that are 3x3, 4x4 or even bigger, depending on the game being played.
Not every online slot that you play will offer all of the feature symbols described here. It is far more common that a game will boast just two or three of them to spice things up a little.
Most popular video slots in Canada
- Starburst (Netent)
- Book of Dead (Play'n Go)
- Age of the Gods: Ruler of Dead (Playtech Vikings)
- Age of the Gods: King of Olympus(Playtech)
- Age of the Gods (Playtech)
- Age of the Gods: God od Storm (Playtech Vikings)
- Wolf God (Pragmatic Play)
- Wild Lava (Playtech Origins)
- Age of Gods Norse Book of Dwarves (Playtech Origins)
- Kingdoms Rise: Scorching Clouds(Sunfox games)
Slot Mechanics
Developers are always keen to bring something a little different to their games so that they stand apart from the rest. One of the ways they do this is by introducing creative slot mechanics, which make things more interesting for players.
Megaways from Big Time gaming is undoubtedly the most famous slot mechanic right now, but there are plenty of others that are worth looking out for. Here are some of the main ones that you are likely to come across:
Cluster Wins
It used to be the case that slot symbols had to fall on the same pay line and be adjacent to each other from left to right for a prize to be paid. Today, with many slots having more reels and rows than in years gone by, that isn’t always the case. The ‘cluster wins’ mechanic allows matching symbols to win prizes when they appear in clusters of a certain size.
A cluster is defined as a group of symbols which are horizontally, vertically or diagonally adjacent to each other. The number of symbols needed for a winning cluster varies from game to game. Some will pay for clusters of three or more symbols whilst others need clusters of five or more. The bigger the cluster, the more you will win for landing it.
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Cascades and Tumbles
This mechanic is known by several different names, and it is most often found in cluster games. Some developers call it a cascade, others call it a tumble, and still, others call it an avalanche. Whatever name you give it, the mechanic itself works in the same way. Symbols that form part of a winning cluster are removed from the screen. Any symbols above the winning cluster then cascade or tumble down to fill the newly created spaces. Finally, with free spaces now at the top of the reels, new symbols drop down into play.
One of the best things about this mechanic is that it gives players the chance to achieve another winning cluster. If that happens, that too will be removed for yet another cascade and another opportunity to win. That process can go on for some time, giving players a whole sequence of wins from a single spin.
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Splitz
The Splitz mechanic is exclusive to
Yggdrasil Gaming. It has a similar function to Megaways, which is to keep you guessing about how many ways to win you will have on any given spin. It does this with special symbols that can split into multiple identical symbols, effectively giving you many more ways to win than would be the case otherwise.
This is a great mechanic to look out for if you enjoy Megaways but would like something just a little different. There aren’t more than a handful of titles that feature Splitz right now, but we’re confident that Yggdrasil Gaming will add to the range in the not too distant future.
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Staxx
Yggdrasil Gaming might have Splitz, but
NetEnt has Staxx. The Staxx mechanic works by putting stacks of symbols on the reels. For example, in the Neon Rush Staxx game, one symbol is randomly selected at the beginning of each spin to occupy ready-made adjacent stacked positions on all five reels. That increases the chances of the stacked symbols lining up on your screen at the same time.
What we like about the Staxx mechanic is that NetEnt seems to tweak it slightly from game to game. This ensures that it fits the theme and personality of each new title, and it also means that the mechanic itself never gets old.
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