Online slots are amongst the most played gambling games in India. As the Indian online gambling industry opens further, and a greater array of casinos come online, it is no surprise to see a wealth of top online slots playable in the sub-continent. However, if you are new to the world of online casino games, you might find yourself asking what slots are and how they work?
How to Play Online Slots in India
There are many different types of slot machines you can play at Indian online casinos. Despite the surplus of diversity in the slot genre, most are played in the same way. Each slot consists of a series of reels, which spin, and those reels contain symbols. Spanning the reels are several paylines – pathways that can result in a payout when symbols appear on them. Ultimately, your objective is to match up three or more identical symbols across these paylines to win.
How to Start
Before playing a slot, a player must set up their bet. They do this by selecting the value of the coins they wish to play with, the number of coins they wish to bet per payline, and the number of paylines they want to play with. The more active paylines you have, the greater your chance of success. Some modern slots have fixed stakes, which means that you cannot alter the number of lines.
The standard paying symbols in a slot can often be thematic, loosely based on the overall theme of the game. However, some opt to go for a classic approach, consisting of fruit, bells, bars, and sevens, as well as high playing card icons. These can all cough up wins when they appear three or more times on a payline.
Know your Slots Symbols
To aid players with winning, several special symbols may also appear on the reels. Each slot may have some or all these icons available to players. These can include:
- Wild Symbols: These come in many shapes and forms, but all can substitute for standard paying symbols, in much the same way that jokers do in a deck of cards.
- Scatter Symbols: Scatter symbols get their name because they count no matter where they show up. They can appear scattered and can still payout small wins. Some even trigger bonuses when three or more appear in any position on the reels.
- Bonus Symbols: Bonus symbols seldom payout wins; however, they can trigger bonus rounds. These symbols typically need to appear on specific reels at once.
- Random Bonuses: Modern video slots often contain a series of random bonuses. These are triggered without anything specific needing to be done. They may include multipliers (which can boost what you can win), special wilds, extra paylines, reels and much more besides.
Some special symbols – such as bonus icons and scatters – can also be used to trigger bonus rounds. The most common types of bonus rounds in slots include the following…
- Free Spins: A free spins bonus will typically see players able to spin the reels of a slot for free for a predetermined number of spins. These rounds may contain added features.
- Re-Spins: A re-spin bonus works in a similar way to free spins, although successive re-spins are often only granted if players continue to fulfil objectives such as winning spins or landing specific icons.
- Click and Win Features: Another popular form of bonus is the click and win round. In this feature, players can expect to click on a series of symbols to pocket cash prizes. The specifics of these bonuses may change from game to game.
- Other Bonuses: A variety of other bonuses may also appear in slots. Indian players may be able to find wheel-based bonuses and a variety of other rounds. Again, these vary from slot to slot.
Winning, Prizes and Payouts
The amount you can win in slot games does vary. All standard gambling wins typically occur in the same way, in that players need to land matching icons on three or more reels. The amount you can win is based on the amount wagered, and the typical prize for symbol combinations as displayed in the slot’s pay table. The more you bet, the more you can win.
There are other ways to pocket wins, too. Sometimes, players can be on the receiving end of a randomly triggered win. The biggest wins come from jackpot prizes, though, and there are a few types of these that you can claim.
- Progressive Jackpot: A progressive jackpot is a top-paying prize which is not capped. It rises with each new bet made. The same jackpot is available for all players of the game at all casinos offering the slot, and when one player wins it, it resets to a base value. Progressive prizes may be won at random, via bonus rounds or paid out when players land five jackpot icons a payline.
- Non-Progressive Jackpot: By contrast, non-progressive jackpots are capped. The same prize can be won time and time again. In most cases, this prize is won by landing five identical jackpot symbols on a payline.
- Daily, Weekly Jackpots: This is a relatively new type of jackpot game. These are time-based jackpots (often progressive) where the prize must be won within a specific timeframe.
- Community Jackpots: By contrast, community jackpot games pay out their progressive prizes in a different way. Any player who has played recently (within specific timeframes) is entitled to a share of a jackpot, which is won by another player. The amount they will win is predetermined, based on their wagering habits.
Slot Variants
You will find a few different slot variants out there. Indian players will often have access to many of these following online slot machine games:
- MegaWays: A MegaWays slot is a game that uses many thousands, sometimes tens or hundreds of thousands of paylines. The number of lines you get varies on each spin at random.
- Cluster Pays: Cluster Pays slots do not require players to land winning symbols on paylines. Instead, they can pocket wins when clusters or groups of symbols appear together. In most cases, these symbols will then disappear, and new ones will drop down from above, giving Indian players several re-spins free of charge.
- Classic Slots: Classic slots are another name for 3-reel slots. Most online slots are video slots, which feature 5 reels. Classic slots are more primitive, based on an older generation of slots, often lack many paylines and scarcely offer special symbols or features.
- 3D Slots: 3D slot machines consist of any video slots that feature 3D symbols or animation on the reels.
- Mobile Slots: Mobile slots is also a name for a broad group of games. In short, these games are any that can be played via mobile phones and tablets.
Online Slots Strategies for Success
You are not going to get much change out of trying to use slot strategies. Slots are games of chance, and most games of chance do not respond well to strategies as there is truly little to predict or skill involved. However, there are things you can do to ensure that you have a better time playing slots online, such as…
- Variance and Volatility: Each slot has a variance or volatility level. Low variance slots payout frequently, but smaller sums of cash. Highly volatile games seldom payout, but when they do, the win tends to be sizeable. Highly volatile games require a large budget to play (to sustain periods of substantial losses), so keep that in mind.
- RTP Rates: The RTP rate is the theoretical rate at which a slot pays out. Aim for games that have RTP rates of 96% or higher.
- Number of Symbols: The number of symbols you will find in slot machines should be considered. The more symbols that appear in a slot, the less likely you are to win, as there is a good chance that useless symbols will get in the way of you landing a winning combo.
- Value for Money: Why play a 25-line slot for $0.25 per spin, when you can play a 256 ways to win slot machine for the same stake. It is always worth exploring whether you are getting value for money with your bets before wagering.
Where to Play Online Slots in India
You can expect to play online slots at virtually all major online casinos in India. You really will not have to look too hard to find such casinos. The best casino sites offering online slots will be those, which feature many hundreds of titles, but also those, which serve up games from a variety of top casino software providers. Fortunately, this means most Indian online casinos will fit the bill.
