How To Play 5 Reel Slots
For almost 100 years the 3 reel slot was king. This isn't to say that 5 reel slots didn't exist. Big Irish Luck for example was a massive slot machine that held residence at Barney?s Casino in Nevada, Las Vegas long before online gambling took off. However ot wasn't until the evolution of online slots that the move towards the 5 reel game happened. The big question is why? Well 5 reels offer more possibilities in terms of paylines, jackpots and features compared to their 3 reel counterparts.
Features such as wilds, scatters, cascades, progressives and bonus rounds help maintain player interest. If you consider a typical 3 reel game you're lucky to multiple paylines and a bonus round. On the old fruit machines you may even get a few nudges occasionally. In short they tend to be very limited in keeping you spending your money. The more glamourous 5 reelers can offer a more exciting gambling experience, have more symbols and they seem to fit just nicely on mobiles!
Beginner's Guide
Most online slots will follow the same format when it comes to playing. Put simply you set your wager and then hit the button to start the reels. However online slots, especially those with multiple paylines do have some complexity. Some games may allow you to set the number of paylines you wish to play. When you select your wager you may be determining the amount you're playing per line rather than per spin. For example a 25 payline slot at 10p a line means a £2.50 wager. Higher payline games tend not to allow you to change the number of paylines so your wager covers all.
Dig deep into a slot and you'll find it may have other options. Autoplay is self-explanatory and simply allows you to sit back and let the game run itself for 10 to 100 spins. Some Autoplay options come with other functions such as stopping the spins after a win, losing x amount or after a feature. These give you extra control of your play. But which games should you start with? Our advice is choose a popular title - e.g. Starburst - and if possible play in demo mode first. Jackpotjoy allow this, although you need to be logged in first. By playing in demo mode you will get a feel for a slot before spending your money.
Featured 5 Reel Slots
If we were to list every available 5 reel game here then there would be literally 100s of titles. However we can highlight some of the most popular slots such as Starburst, Rainbow Riches, Monopoly, Cleopatra, Fluffy Favourites and Wheel Of Fortune. Over the years many TV shows and movies have been used as themes for games. For a time Marvel brands featured on Playtech casinos but when Disney bought Marvel these titles were dropped. This sparked the arrival of slots such as Batman, Superman and Justice League - all from the DC stable.
The beauty of the 5 reel slot is that it gives developers many possibilities. Rather than just stick to 20 or 25 paylines slot developers began to devise clever ways to increase the paylines. By using extra rows, paying our left to right and right to left or even adding bonus wheels the paylines available have continued to rise, even more so with the arrival of Megaways. One of the biggest advantages of 5 reel slots though is for progressives. As can be seen with the likes of Mega Moolah and other progressives - the prize money can seriously build up with the 5 reel progressives.
Where To Play
Asking where to play 5 reel slots isn't really a question because they're on every online slots site, casino and bingo brand. For the most part you will find that all sites tend to have the same games. This is because slot providers such as Net Entertainment, Slingo and Eyecon Games work with multiple platforms. You can find exclusives - although these tend to be network related. For example Playtech sites will host slots from the Age Of The Gods and Kingdom's Rise series.
