Main terms of online software gaming platforms

The online slots industry possesses a huge variety of games for every taste and risk manner. When building your own casino, it is important to create a diversified gaming set to let players what they want. To do this, you need to know the main industry terms for types of games and their characteristics (metrics). So, let’s start with finding out what kind of slots casino gaming platforms offer on the market.

Classic slots are the ones originating from land based casinos. A standard example is 3-Reel – a game with 3 reels in addition to 3 rows of symbols. Just to make sure we’re on the same page: reels are vertical positions on the grid. Rows are horizontal lines that consist of symbols aligned on the reels, side by side. By matching the appropriate symbols on the reels, players can win money.

Video slots imply much more sophisticated gaming mechanics. Most up-to-date technologies, including latest graphics and voice-acting trends, limited only by developers’ fantasy, are used in video slots. Usually they have 5 reels and plenty of winning combinations. There are many ways how winning combinations can be reached and calculated. Let's check out these rules.

A payline, also known as a betting line or a winning line, is a combination of symbols that results in a win. Originally slots used to have only one payline which could be achieved in case 3 matching symbols created a horizontal line. Nowadays paylines can be of absolutely different forms, for example, a zigzag. The number of paylines today is also variable and can be 25-30 per slot or even more.

Bet ways win when matching symbols appear anywhere on adjacent reels, not necessarily with a must to contact. Due to this rule and depending on the slot configuration, a huge number of combinations (up to thousands!) can be offered to players.

Recently online casino software platforms have noticed increase in interest to cluster slots. These are not ordinary games: a winning combination here is reached when a symbol is horizontally or vertically adjacent to the same symbol. Thus, multiple combinations can meet anywhere in the grid.

Progressive slots have a jackpot that continues to grow with every action of every player until it is won.

Multiplier slots are online slots that give players an opportunity to win higher amounts based on their skills and luck.

Mega spin slots are the ones where software gaming platform shows several screens as if a player spins several slots at the same time.

Besides, there are games with a fixed jackpot which is set by the gaming platform once and which doesn’t change during the game.

Freeplay is a special game mode during which a player doesn’t risk any money as he plays it just for pleasure. It is a must in a casino gaming platform’s offer because sometimes people want to have fun with no risk involved. But, of course, most players will be there for real gambling, so make sure you have everything they’re used to – from classic variants to up-to-date trendy games.

Be aware of the fact that nowadays players are worldly-wise. They have tried all of the above and they prefer platforms where games of different mechanics and with different rules for obtaining winning combinations are present. So make sure you don’t miss a thing.

One more important issue is connected with how gamblers are used to playing nowadays. Many of them are in favour of playing on the go or when waiting, so make sure your gaming set includes mobile slots - games optimised for mobile phones and tablet devices.

Apart from knowing popular types of games, you need to be acquainted with the standard gaming metrics. Here are the main ones:

Volatility – this metric refers to the frequency and size of payouts and can be High, Low and Medium. In slots with high volatility players can expect significant winnings, but rarely. Or they can get rewarded with small amounts, but frequently in slots with low volatility.

RTP (return to player) is the percentage of all the money a slot machine will pay back to players over time. The higher number – the better for a player: if he makes 100 bets as of 1 dollar on a slot machine with 90% RTP, he might expect to get back about $90 in wins.

Hit rate defines how frequently a slot machine will stop on a winning combination. In case a slot has a 50% hit rate, it will pay out 50% of the time.

Hit frequency indicates how often a particular game pays out on average. The lower the number – the better for a player: a game with a hit frequency of three will make payouts on average one out of three spins.

Hold percentage is the amount of gambled money a gaming platform keeps. If the hold is 8%, for example, it means that 92% of the money goes back to player (which is called the payback percentage).

Keep this in mind when deciding which games to include in your gaming set or simply contact your trusted casino gaming platform Mascot Gaming and we’ll help you around!