play slots for play money

menu

Reel Slots Versus Video Slots

Inside the casino floor are hundreds of slot machines are lined up and they consist of the different kinds of slot machines. The most common kinds of slot machines are reel slots and video slots. Here, we will discuss the difference of reel slots from video slots.

What are reel slots and how do they work?

Reel slots are actually mechanical slot machines because they have wheels that are called reels. These reels have various symbols and also blank spaces in them. The common reel slots are the three-reel and five-reel slots. The symbols on each reel are based on the particular theme of the slot machine.

Reel slots usually have cherries, bananas, oranges, and mixed fruits in them. Other symbols used in reel slots are single bars, double bars, and triple bars or a mixture of them.

A simple example: Reel slots may have ten symbols on each reel and also ten blank spaces. After every spin, three symbols are lined up across the payline at the center of the slot machine screen. You can determine how you have won by referencing to the reel slot pay table. There are reel slots that are more complicated than this example but all of them are based on exactly the same philosophy.

There are reel slots that have more than one payline such as three paylines or more. In order to activate and play the additional paylines of reel slots, you need to play with more coins for every spin. Some reel slots have nine paylines and you need nine coins, at the least, to activate all the paylines.

What are video slots and how do they work?

Don't be deceived by thinking that because the slot machine appears to have some reels that it is a reel slot. They can be identified as video slots because lots of video slots have the look of having reels, but in reality, they don't have any reels on them. You just see the pictures and videos of spinning reels because they are computer simulations of real mechanical reels. With video slots, the number of potential combinations is much greater, enabling the casino operators to pay out larger jackpots and more bonuses.

All the slot machine games that you can see in online casinos are definitely video slots. Several video slots are online simulations of traditional reel slots that have three reels and a single payline. Even the traditional reel slot symbols like fruits and bars are even use in video slots.

Reel slots and video slots may have some differences but they are all the same in one thing: Reel slots and video slots are all rooted from the same gaming concept for slot machines.

free games