Video Slot Machines

Video slots are a great variety of the traditional casino slots genre. With their addition of impressive graphics and sound, as well as more reels, multiple lines of play and bonus games, Video Slots have secured their seat in casino gamer’s hearts around the world.

Video Slots were invented in 1975 by Walt Fraley and while they genre didn’t receive much acclaim in the beginning due to skeptics take on video screen machines as opposed to the traditional spinning reel machines, Video Slots popularity began to take of in 1979 due to the invention of Video Poker.  With this wave of Video Poker machines, a second of Video Slots quickly followed and shared the same enthusiastic fan base.

Differences

More recently extras have been added to the game to make them more attractive in the casino setting. Some of these additions include progressive jackpots, bonus skill-based rounds between spins and linked jackpots between multiple machines. One would be hard pressed to find a video slots room or machine that doesn’t offer bonuses like these in some form or another.

How to play

The premise of Video Slots is essentially the same as their spinning reel cousins except for a few key differences. Video Slots offer more reels than their counterparts, who sport the traditional three reels. Video Slots often boast up to five reels and allow player to make wagers not only on the horizontal middle but diagonals, verticals, and other combinations of line shapes possible on the video reels. Also, the addition of a stop button added a small element of skill to the game; giving players the feeling they are that much more in control of their spin’s outcome.

Not much is required to play in terms of skill because the games are run by a computer; always ensuring that over a long time frame the house will always win. However, Slots offer great opportunity for the player to come up on big money in the short term. Playing can be as cheap as $0.01 or as expensive as $10.00 per spin. Depending on your bet, the rewards scale to meet the wager. While penny Video Slots may get you a jackpot in the tens of thousands, more expensive wagers and tournament play can land players a jackpot in the millions. Progressive jackpots and linked machines in particular will offer the highest rewards.

Fair Play and Incentive

Slot and Video Slot machines are routinely audited by reputable third party organizations to ensure their fairness. RNG (random number generator) software ensures a truly random outcome when playing. Many casinos know that the Video Slot genre takes the odds a bit out of the player’s hands, when compared to games like poker and roulette. So, many times added bonuses are applied to Slots and Video Slots games when playing at online casinos. Shop around and try to find the best deals.