Over the course of the last year and a half, many people have turned to online casinos and slots games to pass the time during the self-imposed quarantine periods caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic itself is very tragic and unfortunate, the fact that millions of people were forced to stay at home has led to a massive surge of interest in video slots and online gaming machines.
The Most Popular Slot Games in 2022
Over the course of the last year and a half, many people have turned to online casinos and slots games to pass the time during the self-imposed quarantine periods caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the pandemic itself is very tragic and unfortunate, the fact that millions of people were forced to stay at home has led to a massive surge of interest in video slots and online gaming machines. According to most observers of the online gambling industry, this trend is most likely going to continue its upward climb even after the pandemic is over. After all, the online slot scene is not what it used to be a couple of years ago. Nowadays, people can carry their favorite slots in their pockets at all times, with most digital casinos offering a mobile app allowing players to enjoy their games on their iOS and Android devices on the go!
The Abundance of Slot Games
With thousands, if not dozens of thousands of slot games at your disposal, choosing the best title to play as a beginner may get very overwhelming, very quickly. The truth is that the vast majority of slot games will look exactly the same in a rookie’s eyes. After all, most of them operate in a very similar manner, but as with most things in life, in the world of slot games, the devil lies in the details, too. The tiny details and mechanics components of each slot make up the gaming experience, and you should familiarize yourself with them before you start playing so that you don’t end up wasting your money on a slot machine that did not meet your expectations.
Just like with regular video games, there are genres and varieties to slot games, and not every gambler will enjoy each one of the titles that have gained stellar reviews. Once you develop your taste more and know what you’re looking for in slots games, it’ll become much clearer what kind of machines you should steer clear of, and which ones you can expect to be your cup of tea. In this article, we’ll briefly go over the types of the most popular online slot machines, introducing you to some of the most important mechanics and game components. Finally, you’ll get acquainted with the hottest slot games of 2022 so far, so that you have a place to start.
Types of Slot Games
One of the first things that astonish new slot game players is the sheer amount of video slots they can try out upon logging into their preferred online casino. The choice truly is overwhelming, and it’s easy for rookies to unnecessarily lose lots of money just because they’re unfamiliar with the rules and specific mechanics of all of the different slot machines.
The key thing to keep in mind when choosing the best slots games for yourself is the different types of these games. Playing a progressive jackpot title will result in a completely different experience than trying your luck at a 5-reel slot. Instead of the trial-and-error approach that might end up in you losing a lot of money, go through this guide to the different types of slot games to find out which of them would strike your fancy the most.
3-Reel Slots
Three-reel slots are the precursor to every single other slot machine that came after. The very first slot games ever created were 3-reel games. These machines have been deeply engrained in our society as the basic idea of slot games. When thinking about slots, many people will have the image of spinning reels with images of fruit that align themselves along the middle, resulting in a jackpot payout. This concept reaches back to the early 20th century and mechanical lever-based machines introduced to brick-and-mortar casinos around that time.
3-reel slots are perfect for players who want a simple, streamlined experience. The majority of such games don’t rely on bonus features, complicated symbols, or fancy graphics to attract users. Instead, they present them with a clear set of rules and easy gameplay mechanics.
5-Reel Slots
5-reel slots, popularized in the latter decades of the 20th century, were meant to improve upon every single aspect of their older counterparts. The addition of two new reels forced the need to include more paylines in the games, and the digitalization of slots has enabled game creators to include increasingly complex symbols, mechanics, and bonus rounds. Following the trend kickstarted by arcade gaming machines, the gambling industry has effectively replaced the vast majority of the “one-armed bandits” with digital machines, allowing for more creativity in the space of slot games.
Playing on machines with five reels is best suited for players who want to get out more of their gaming experience than just the basic joy and thrill of gambling. The vast majority of 5-reel slots come with a theme and specialized symbols, allowing you to pick the game that best corresponds with your other hobbies and interests. Before choosing a five-reel game, it is always a good idea to double-check with objective, honest review sites to determine whether or not a given game has fair mechanics and player-friendly rules and interface.
Mobile Slots
These are slot games that are optimized for your mobile phone. Nowadays, most online slots games can be characterized as mobile slots, since most of them are HTML5-based and can easily be opened and played on Android and iOS devices. However, there are games that are specifically designed around smartphones and tablets, meant to provide a satisfying experience to the mobile user first and foremost. From bigger icons and effortless touch controls, to optimized mobile data usage, mobile slots are those that provide a native experience on portable devices.
Multi Payline Slots
Simply put, multi-payline slots are games that present you with more than one way of winning the jackpot. Most three-reel slots only offer one payline (because it would be too easy for the player to win otherwise), whereas the vast majority of 5-reel slots games are multi-payline, meaning that they allow for multiple different symbol combinations to result in a payout.
Progressive Slots
You may have heard of progressive slots back when Jon Heywood won a staggering $20 million dollars playing Mega Moolah, a 5-reel, progressive jackpot slot title. How did he manage to win this mind-boggling amount? The secret lies in the progressive mechanic of Mega Moolah. Progressive jackpots are increased every time the game is played, but the jackpot is not won. This means that each player who does not hit the jackpot contributes to its rise until a lucky winner gets to claim everything. Give progressive slots a try if you enjoy the excitement that comes with the possibility of winning millions by simply playing a slot game.
Important Mechanics and Components of Slots Games
Now that you’re acquainted with the different types and genres of slot games, you should try to understand the mechanics and aspects that govern nearly every single slot game that’s available at online casinos. They may differ in scope, cosmetics, as well as things like maximum and minimum bets, but for the most part, the vast majority of slots tend to incorporate simple, yet infinitely modifiable mechanics across the board. Knowing the most important ones and how they affect gameplay (and your chances of winning) is essential to get the best e-gambling experience.
Symbols
They lay at the core of every single slot machine. Symbols are located on the reels, and their alignment after the spin comes to a half determines whether or not the player has won or lost their bet. Most slot games contain a wide variety of symbols, with each one having a different value assigned to it. In modern digital slots, there are also plenty of unusual, special symbols that will pop up on your screen much more rarely, but yield better rewards. Below, you’ll find the most common types of extra symbols and what they mean.
Wild
The wild symbol has the power to step in for any other symbol that you’re missing to get a win. In other words, a wild symbol can complete any payline that would otherwise have failed, provided that the remaining symbols fall in the right places.
Scatter
The scatter is any slot player’s best friend. Regardless of its spot along any of the possible paylines, it results in a sizable win for the gambler. Some games change the scatter symbol’s function up a little bit. For example, a common practice is to include more than one scatter in a game. If two or more scatters appear on the reels, the reward will exponentially get higher.
Multipliers
Not all online slot developers include multipliers in their games. After all, they can randomly double or triple the money that needs to be handed over to the player! Usually stylized as simple “2x”, “3x” or “10x”, if a multiplier ends up on the reels after a spin that yielded a winning payline, the payout is multiplied by whatever the number on the symbol dictates.
Sticky
Their function is to “stick” to the reels and remain in place for a number of consecutive spins. Usually, stickies are wild symbols, or “sticky wilds”. They’re quite rare, and you should consider yourself very lucky if you land one. Every single spin with the sticky symbol guarantees a reward presented on that symbol (usually equivalent to the Wild)
RTP (Return-to-Player)
Return-to-player is a ratio used by slot reviewers and developers to determine the percentage of the cash players have put into the machine that will actually get back to them over time. For example, a slot with a 90% RTP would mean that for every hundred one-dollar spins, $90 will be paid out back to the player. RTPs are fairly reliable, but you shouldn’t take them as a guarantee of getting a decent percentage of your money back every time you play. After all, slots are games of chance, and a big win or a particularly unlucky spin can derail the RTP calculations.
Paylines
In the simplest of terms, paylines are the predetermined combinations of symbol alignments on the reels that trigger a payout. Most 3-reel slots have just one payline (along the middle row), but once you start playing on 5-reel machines, you’ll soon realize that the possibilities are endless. Many games have dozens of paylines, and some titles even let players determine their own winning combinations!
Paylines are key elements of slots games design, and their numbers, as well as the likelihood of ending up on the reels, should all be factored into your choice of which online slot to play next.
Most-Played Slot Games of 2022 (So Far)
With the overwhelming amount of ways to play slots games, as well as the sheer number of available titles, it may be difficult to find something that strikes your fancy. There are, however, multiple machines that have performed a whole lot better than others this year. If you’re at a loss when it comes to what you should play next, and you just want to find a tested, reliable slot game, you’ve come to the right place! Below, you’ll find seven of the most played slot titles of 2022.
Mega Moolah
This game tops the most popular slot charts almost every single year since its release in 2006. With an incredibly simple interface and reel layout, it’s incredibly easy to get into the game. Of course, its main draw is the progressive jackpot feature that grants players the chance to win millions of dollars with a single lucky spin.
Book of Ra
Mythology-themed online slots tend to be incredibly popular with veterans and newcomers alike. Heavily influenced by the Indiana Jones franchise, Book of Ra is filled with references to Egyptian mythology with old-school, yet eye-catching graphics and a simple, fair payline system. Its simplicity is the main reason why this slot constantly gets recommended to people who are still only testing the waters when it comes to online gambling.
Gonzo’s Quest
NetEnt’s popular five-reel slot was one of the first slot games to fully embrace 3D graphics and animations. While the gameplay and RTP may not be much different from similar titles, it has managed to win players over by the pretty animations and an interesting back story. This slot follows Gonzo, a conquistador who embarks on a lonely journey to find the famed golden city, El Dorado.
Immortal Romance
With a fantasy setting and bonus features that grant gamblers the opportunity to hit a jackpot worth over 12,000x their stake, Immortal Romance didn’t really need much else to establish a healthy, active fanbase. Microgaming went a step further by attaching named characters to the wild and scatter symbols, increasing players’ immersion in the game’s world, which is a very difficult feat in a genre of games that revolve around spinning numbers and hoping for a big cash out.
Thunderstruck 2
Unlike the Book of Ra, which approaches the concept of mythology from a modern-day explorer’s perspective, Thunderstruck 2 takes players directly to the world of Norse gods and mythical heroes. It’s a five-reel slot with a staggering 243 paylines and plenty of free spin opportunities. It provides a great bang for your buck, as it will keep you playing on a single stake for longer than most other slots.
Starburst
With the continued popularity of games like Candy Crush Saga, it is really unsurprising that Starburst has found its way onto this list. As a low volatility slot, it provides players with a lot of smaller wins, incentivizing further play, and lowering the risk usually associated with online slots. On top of that, it incorporates graphical elements and animations known from Candy Crush, appealing to an audience outside of the crowd of average slot enjoyers.
Goblin’s Cave
Playtech’s brainchild is as close as an online slot can get to a full-blown video game. With three different game modes and a very favorable, 99.32% RTP, it’s hard to believe that on the surface, it’s just a 3-reel slot with only 3 paylines!