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Earlier I mentioned a feature that is becoming increasingly more common on slots games, both on slots machines in casinos and on slots games in online casinos. I am talking about the Stop Spin feature.

What this little feature does is stop the spin once you have already started it. What a slots player sees is that when pushed, the reels will stop immediately rather than spinning out and to a stop on their own.

Casinos and game developers put this feature in their games because it has the potential to increase the casinos’ profits.

The way they want a slots player to think of the Stop Spin feature is that it is their ticket to having an influence on the outcome of a spin. But this is not true.

The reason for this is that the results of a spin of the reels is determined the moment Spin is pushed. As soon as a slots player hits Spin and sets the reels to spinning, that is when the Random Number Generator (RNG) chooses its results for that spin.

This means that a slots player is going to get the same results when they hit Stop Spin as they would if they let the reels spin to a stop on their own.

This is important to know because I am going to tell you what the Stop Spin feature does, and it does not help a player at all.

What the Stop Spin feature does is cause a slots player to play more spins per hour. In slots the player will, over time, lose more money than they win. But playing more spins per hour means that the slots player is losing more per hour and the casino is gaining more per hour.

By using the Stop Spin feature a slots player will lose their bankroll faster, which is what the casinos are hoping for. The sooner the money comes to them the better since it usually means the player will play more spins before stopping.

What a slots player needs to do is to avoid using this feature. It does not have in impact on the outcome of a spin so there is no benefit to using it. It is best to simply not use it and hang on to your bankroll longer.

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Every now and then I am asked what a slots player can do to influence their odds.

The truth is that there really is not a whole lot that a slots player can do. And it does not matter whether you play slots online or in a casino. It is the nature of slots as a game of chance that makes them what they are as a game and as a form of entertainment. It is also their nature that makes them unsusceptible to any sort of strategy to alter the player’s odds of winning.

Slots games are basically a lottery type game. You put your money in. You push a button—or click it. And then the computer inside of the game randomly picks a result. You may win or you may not.

Some slots players question whether the outcome of a spin of the reels is truly random. After all the results are determined by the computer that runs the game, and a computer program can be altered. Naturally slots players feel that the casinos have altered the program to favor the house.

But this is not true. The result of a spin of the reels comes from the Random Number Generator (RNG). When a slots game is created all possible results are programmed into the RNG. As soon as the Spin button activates the game the RNG randomly picks a resulting combination.

I make mention that the results are chosen as soon as the Spin button is pushed because that is the moment when the results are chosen. Pushing Stop Spin will not affect the outcome—it will be the same if you let the reels spin out or if you hit Stop Spin. But I will discuss the Stop Spin feature found on slots games in another post.

The point is that because of the RNG there is nothing a slots player can do to influence the outcome of a spin.

The randomness of a slots game is tested by an independent outside testing company, usually TST, and verified for randomness. Another independent body, eCogra, will only certify that an online casino is fair if their games pass test for randomness.

By making sure that you are playing at an eCogra certified online casino you can be sure that the games have not been tampered with.

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As I am sure we have all experienced in our time playing slots, not all slots were created equal. And while I can understand that from a business stand point, it is a shame for the games.

The last two games I have reviewed, Rainbow’s End and Celtic Cross (both from Microgaming), are prime examples of the shame of some slots games.

I am not saying that these are bad games or that it is their fault that they are probably not widely played. It is true what I have written about them—it is very difficult to trigger any high payouts or bonus games. And slots players look forward to these features. They are happy when they trigger them.

And slots players need these higher payouts to stay in the game. And when they do not win they become discouraged and leave the game.

The shame in this is that graphics and game designers had to create this game. And their work is not being well thought of because the slots game is being judged based on its payout ability…or lack thereof.

But treatment of a graphic artist’s work or a designer’s creation aside, what does a slots game with a bad payout do to the casino it is being played at?

For one thing it does not reflect well. Players already have the view point that the casino is after their money. Smart slots players are also aware that slots are nine times out of ten a losing game of chance—meaning that they will lose their money over time and in the long run.

But if a slots player encounters a low paying slots game they are less likely to continue playing at that casino.

What a slots player needs to do to play smart is to play for fun and try out a new slots game before playing it for themselves. A slots game could have a really great bonus game but it does not mean much if that bonus game is hard to trigger.

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So after checking out Rainbow’s End yesterday I decided to take a look at the other Irish game offered up by Microgaming: Celtic Crown.

Celtic Crown is a five reel online slots game with twenty five paylines. Like Rainbow’s End, this slots game also has the traditional symbols of 9-Ace; these symbols are more decorative though, resembling the Old English lettering. Other symbols include a Prince, a Shield, a Ring and a Rose.

The Magic Harp is the Scatter. Thankfully it pays out no matter where it lands on the reels. Unlike the Scatter found in Rainbow’s End, this Scatter actually pays out fairly decently; landing only two will double your total bet, whereas the Rainbow’s End Scatter only pays the equivalent of the total bet. Already Celtic Crown has a better standing than Rainbow’s End.

The Magic Harp also triggers the Free Spins bonus game. At least three Magic Harps have to be landed. Each Harp will reveal a number; adding those numbers together will give the number of free spins. All winnings on a free spin are doubled.

The Celtic Princess is the Wild and will substitute for all symbols except for the Magic Harp. But landing her anywhere on reels two, three and four will trigger the Princess bonus game. Six knights will appear on the screen and you are allowed to choose three of them, which then reveal the bonus amount.

Now about game play. It is rather difficult to trigger either of the bonus games. Payouts are unfortunately on the small side. The Celtic Princess helps with the winning combinations, but with how hard it is to land any winning combination of substantial size or trigger a bonus game ( playing for ninety minutes without triggering either bonus game) I am going to have to say that this is an online slots game meant for fun play rather than serious play.

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Since I seem all about St. Patty’s Day today we are going to take a look at an online slots game with leprechauns in it. Yes, there is a pot of gold too.

Rainbow’s End hails from Microgaming. It is a five reel online slots game with twenty five paylines. The graphics are simple in nature when compared to games like the Cash Cruise and the Halloweenies. Actually Rainbow’s End is refreshing after Halloweenies. The colors are bright but feel fresh rather than loud. Game play is smooth—the reels are not too fast or too slow.

As for symbols, there are the traditional 9-K, but then the Irish can lean on the traditional side. Fun symbols include the Pot of Gold, the Rainbow, the Leprechaun, a Four Leaf Clover, a Lucky Horseshoe and Mushrooms. No, I do not know why there are Mushrooms.

The Rainbow is the highest paying symbol. Landing five of them will award you with 5,000 coins in this online slots game.

That wily little Leprechaun is the Scatter which is appropriate in that they supposedly pop up anywhere in real life—so they should payout no matter where they land, and so he does. The Leprechaun is also the trigger for the free spins feature. Online slots players must land three of him in order to trigger the fifteen free spins. But those fifteen free spins have a 2x multiplier on them and can be retriggered.

However, while it seems relatively easy to land two Leprechauns, landing three or more seems a lot harder to accomplish. At the time of this writing I have not been able to trigger it.

The Wild is the Pot of Gold. It can only be found on this slots game’s reels two and four so do not look elsewhere for it. But it will expand to cover the whole reel win you can find one, which helps to complete any potential winning combinations. It will also substitute for any symbol other than the Leprechaun—after all a leprechaun is not his own pot of gold.

This online slots game does offer a gamble feature. It is a standard gamble feature in which you can try to guess the color of the card or its suit, but you can only guess one of the other. As long as you guess right the amount you can win will go up. But if you guess wrong you will lose it all.

While this is a beautiful looking slots game, it is unfortunately one that pays out little over time. And even though the Pot of Gold is an expanding Wild, it does not payout itself. Another downside is that the Scatter does not pay as high as in other games. Typically landing only two of the Scatter will give you at least double the amount of your total bet. In Rainbow’s End two Scatters will only payout the same amount of your total bet.

These are downsides because slots players tend to rely on the nice payouts from special symbols to get their bankroll back up. And there is no bonus game to trigger here either.

On the whole bring your luck of the Irish with you when you play Rainbow’s End. Or only play for fun as this Leprechaun at Rainbow’s End seems quite content to hand on to his gold.

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For slots players who love slots and St. Patrick’s’ Day now is the time to put their luck of the Irish to the test.

The luck of the Irish. That happy luck that gives us all that we want, makes things happen the way we want. Right now is the time of year that we celebrate such luck. And for a slots player, it is the best time to be playing.

Go Casino, Online Vegas Casino and Crazy Slots are hosting a Countdown to St. Patty’s Day tournament. Slots players will love this one!

Their St. Patty’s Day tournament is a freeroll—there is no entry free to try your luck of the Irish here. And there’s $150,000 up for grabs. The Countdown to St. Patty’s Freeroll began on March 5th and will continue through March 17th, ending at 7:45pm. The tournament is being played out on the five reel Wheel of Chance. Players begin with 100 coins; if they run out of coins the rebuy is $12.99.

Now because three online casinos are all hosting a slots tournament with the same run time, name and prize pool do not think that these are three separate tournaments. This is the same tournament that is being hosted by all three online casinos. Players from all three sites will be competing in the same tournament. So you will not only be playing against others at the online casino that you entered through, but against players from all three online casinos.

Also hosting a St. Patty’s day slots tournament is Super Slots Casino. The week of St. Patty’s day, March 14th through the 21st, Super Slots will have a St. Patty’s Day Slottery. Players can buy in for $5 and play for The Pot. Super Slots has chosen The Reel Deal for this tournament.

If you are thinking of trying your own luck of the Irish drop by one of these four online casinos and see if the Irish is with you.

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The Mad Hatters slots game from Microgaming is quite mad. I am not joking. There are three little men running round in brightly colored clothing at a tea party. This is very much a takeoff of the Mad Tea Party from Alice and Wonderland—except that there are more desserts than tea accessories. So perhaps this should be a Mad Dessert Party.

This is a five reel, thirty payline online slots game from Microgaming with lots of bright colors and purple. Lots of purple. There a several dessert offerings that will make you wish you were at this dessert—I am sorry—tea party: Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream Sundaes and Cupcakes to name a few. There is of course a Tea Pot and Tea Cup, but no little Dormouse or March Hare.

This slots game has a rather intriguing Wild. The Wild is the infamous Mad Top Hat. And, yes, it will substitute for any symbol other than the Bunny and the Cuckoo Clock. But on the third reel—and only on the third reel—it will expand to cover all three rows, allowing for more winning combinations than if it only worked on one row of symbols.

I understand that Cuckoo clocks can be quite annoying, but like everything else when you’re mad, this is backwards too. You will love the Cuckoo Clocks in Mad Hatters. If you land three of them on adjacent reels you will trigger the Cuckoo Clock Bonus. This is simply a pick-a-prize bonus game in which you pick one of the Clocks that triggered the game. The Clock that you pick will reveal your prize.

Landing three Cuckoo Clocks allows you to pick one; four Clocks means two for picking; and five clocks means you can pick three clocks.

Now that Bunny. The Bunny is the Scatter. Landing three of him awards ten free spins; four Bunnies will award twenty five; and five will award fifty. All winnings have a 2x multiplier on them. But the unique feature of these free spins is that you can pick one of the Hatters to work as an extra Wild. So not only will the Mad Top Hat serve as a Wild, but so will your chosen Hatter.

All in all this game is rewarding to play. Its small term payouts can keep you afloat—or at least slow down the losses that come with slots games–while the bonus game and free spins are definitely rewarding. This is an offering from Microgaming that could be played for fun or for some paybacks. And it is enjoyable to play without the bright colors hurting your eyes.

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What do slots machines promise?

Casinos would like you to believe that these darling machines promise you riches fast. They want you to think that with one more spin of the reels your dreams of the easy life will be fulfilled. Just one more spin. And another. Okay, one more. And one more.

You get the idea.

Slot machines and slots games present just such an image—that the good life is almost within your grasp. And that it is easy to take a nickel and make thousands or millions.

And it is that image that casinos bank on. Literally.

Casinos will build up the idea that slots are the ticket to getting rich quick. Players who have this in mind are the most susceptible to planting themselves in front of a slot machine for hours at a time. They play with that ‘one more spin, one more spin’ dream in the front of their minds.

But what we all need to remember is that slots are just a form of entertainment. Every single slots game is a game of chance. There is no strategy that any of us can apply to these games to win.

But casinos are more than willing to allow us to think that there is something out there to encourage us to keep playing. Since more and more slots players are understanding that there is no strategy to slots, no matter how badly we would like one, they build up the get rich quick idea.

Slots players, for the sake of their bank accounts, need to banish the get rich quick gleam from their thoughts of slots games.

Slots are only forms of entertainment. They are not an easy means to getting rich. As long as we keep slots as a form of entertainment in our minds, the casinos are powerless to planting and keeping us in front of the banks of machines, pouring out all of our money.

Think of slots as a cheap way to have fun—you can play for hours on pennies and nickels—but leave it at that. Doing so will keep your money in your pocket and not the casinos’ pockets.

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Microgaming brings exotic world of the Orient to slots players in their Jewels of the Orient online slots game.

This five reel, nine payline game features beautiful graphics that illustrate not only the treasure of the Orient but the grace that lies with the women of the Orient as well. All five depictions of traditional costume are rich in their coloring but not in a bright flashy way. The visual design of this online slots game is one rich colors and quiet beauty.

Five of the symbols are five different women in five different types of Oriental dress. All though I must say that two of the women’s costumes look to be more from India than China or Japan. There is also Treasure Box and a Pot of Coins. But it is the Logo and the Temple that offer slots players the most opportunity.

The Jewels of the Orient is the Wild of this game. It will substitute for all five ladies and the two symbols representing monetary riches. Like any other Microgaming online slots game, the Wild also offers the highest payout: 2,500 coins.

The Temple is the Scatter that triggers the Free Spins Bonus game. Depending on the number of symbols landed to trigger the Free Spins Bonus Game, it will determine the number of the spins, the multiplier used and the multiplier on the total bet as follows:

3 Scatters = 10-15 free spins with a 1x-5x multiplier and a 5x-25x bonus amount
4 Scatters = 15-20 free spins with a 1x-5x multiplier and a 20x-100x bonus amount
5 Scatters = 20-40 free spins with a 1x-5x multiplier and a 50x-120x bonus amount

When the bonus game is triggered, players are first presented with the choice of one of three gifts presented by three men. This reveals the number of free spins. Then players are shown another three men and offered the choice of one of their three gifts. This one reveals the multiplier for the free spins. Finally three more men appear with three more gifts, from which players can choose one more of the gifts. This one reveals the bonus amount.

The Free Spins Bonus game is not as easy to trigger as other bonuses, and the Scatters can appear anywhere on the reels. Typically when a bonus can only be triggered with the Scatter or Bonus symbols appear on an active payline it is harder to trigger the bonus game; likewise it is generally easier when the symbols can land anywhere on the reels. But this bonus game seems to be as hard to trigger as an active payline bonus game.

In one bonus game, when wagering one coin per line, I won 180 coins—45 of which were the bonus amount. And unfortunately this online slots game does not payout small wins as often as other either.

So while this is a beautiful game graphically speaking—one of the best looking games to come from Microgaming in terms of visual appeal—it is probably best played for fun rather than for its payouts.

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Coming soon Go Casino will be hosting an online slots tournament with a larger than normal prize pool.

Typically Go’s prize pools have been around $15,000 to $25,000. But coming soon they will be having one in which $50,000 will be given away to players in the tournament.

Starting Friday, March 19th at 8pm and continuing to Tuesday, March 23rd at 8pm will be the 50K Guaranteed Weekend Madness.

Slots players can buy into this tournament for only $12.99, which when compared with the prize pool, is a low buy in amount. I have seen other tournaments in which the buy in is $15.99 or more and the prize pool is smaller. With that comparison in mind, this is not too bad of a tournament to enter.

For the $12.99 buy in the participants in this 50K Guaranteed Weekend Madness will be given 325 coins to play with. Participants will have to increase their amount of coins to rank on the tournament’s leader board. But should any participant run out of coins they can rebuy into the tournament for another $12.99

The $50,000 prize pool is made up of two parts. There is $30,000 in prize money and $20,000 in bonus bucks. This is similar to Go’s twenty four hour tournaments which feature a total prize pool of $8,888; $4,444 is in prize money and the other $4,444 is in bonus bucks. So slots players that have participated in those tournaments should be familiar with the two parts of the prize pool concept.

For this online slots tournament, Go has chosen the five reel, twenty payline Cleopatra’s Pyramid for tournament play. This slots game does offer a bonus game and fifteen free spins for players to play for.

To get in on this exciting slots tournament stop by Go Casino.

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