How Online Slots Work

We all love online casino slots games, but a lot of us see the inner workings of them to be a bit of a mystery. Sometimes the mystery of the slots can be appealing, but the more curious of us may be keen to find out a little more about how online slots work.

So, today, we’re giving you a brief overview of them. While it will be impossible to cover all the bases in such a short period of time, we’re confident that we can reveal some exciting secrets.

Developing an online slot game

In the very background of how online slots work is the development itself. Online slot game developers will be made up of big teams, and a lot of those team members will be software developers who are responsible for making the game work on a technological level.

The process of developing an online slot game includes making sure that all the maths work (including the implementation of the reels, the paylines, the bonus features etc.) as well as building the graphics that represent the themes.

Online slots contain some of the craziest themes in the whole online casino world, and the attention to detail when it comes to graphic design has to be second-to-none. Nowadays, slot game graphics are nearly as good as proper video game graphics!

Paylines and ways to win

Alongside the development of the slot graphics is the maths side of things. A huge amount of numbers go into slots. First and foremost is the Random Number Generator (RNG), which is a complex, controlled machine which decides whether or not a spin loses or wins.

The RNG has to implement all sorts of complex figures when a slot game is born, including each of the following:

•   The RTP: the Return to Player rate of a slot refers to how much of a player’s stake they can expect to receive back over 1,000,000 spins on average.

•   The hit rate: the number of spins that a player can expect to win from, on average.

•   The volatility: the level to which wins are rare but high in value.

•   The max win: the most that the slot can pay out from a single spin, which can either be a fixed amount or a variable jackpot of some variety.

•   The values of the symbols: how much each symbol on the pay table pays out when landed in combination.

•   & many, many more!

The challenge of the RNG gets even more complicated when bonus features are thrown into the mix. Now, the maths has to calculate way more numbers! The people who work on these maths really have their work cut out in the likes of Megaways slots and slots with free spins or pick-me bonus rounds, for example.

Conclusion on how online slots work

Let’s put it this way: we would not want to be the mathematicians that have to calculate the numbers in a slot game! However, it’s a very impressive thing to be able to do.

Photo by Marcus Aurelius from Pexels

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