Reel Slots - 5 Reel & 3 Reel Slot Machines

Reel Slots vs. Video Slots

Casinos are full of different types of slot machines. The most common categorizations for slot games are reel slots and video slots. We've written this page to explain the differences between reel slot games and video slot machines.

How reel slot machines work

Reel slots, or mechanical slot machines, have wheels, often referred to as reels, that have symbols and usually blank spaces on them. The most common ones have three or five reels. They have symbols based on the theme of the slot machine. An example is a reel slot machine that has cherries, oranges, bananas and mixed fruit. Reel slots also will have a mixture of other symbols like single bars, double bars and triple bars.

For example, let's say there are ten symbols on each reel and ten blank spaces. Whenever three of the same symbol lines up on the payline, which is a line across the center of the screen, you win a prize, based on the pay table. Of course some reel slot machines are more complicated than our example, but they are all based on the same concept.

Some reel slots have three paylines instead of one, or even more. Usually you have to play more coins per spin in order to activate the additional paylines. Some of the 5 reel slot machines have as many as 9 paylines, so you must wager at least nine coins to activate them all.

How video slots work

Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because a game appears to have reels it is a reel slot machine. Many of the video slot machines look like they have reels, but they don't. They just have pictures, or video, of reels. Since these reels are just a computerized simulation of actual mechanical reels, the number of possible combinations becomes much greater, which enables the casino to pay higher jackpots and more bonus wins.

All online slot machine games are video slots, by default, because your computer obviously doesn't have mechanical reels. Many of the video slot games online simulate traditional reel slots very closely though, with three reels (the most common type of mechanical slot game) and one payline. They often use traditional slot machine symbols for these games as well, especially fruit and bars.

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