Like other forms of entertainment, slot games are constantly evolving, and this has helped to keep the gambling public interested in playing these games. Most of the new concepts that have been introduced have been embraced by gamers, such as the Megaways format and cascading reel slots. This has created a balance of games between those that still use the traditional slot format of 5 spinning reels and the newer games that utilize the latest innovations in gaming – click here to play.
There are critics of these new games however and the consensus is that Megaways and other new gaming mechanisms such as Multiway slots, overcomplicate what should be a simple form of entertainment. Furthermore, some professional slot players or general connoisseurs of these games feel that most new slot concepts make it harder than it already is, to profit from slot gaming.
Multiway Slots: A Closer Look
Traditional modern video slots are played out on a 5-reel 3-row platform with fixed pay lines. These can be decreased to just one pay line in games such as Book of Ra or Book of Dead, but for the most part, these pay lines are fixed. Winning sequences are created by land matching symbols in winning patterns from left to right. These can be horizontal across the reels or diagonally across the gaming platform.
Multiway slots have so-called ways, instead of pay lines, and here you need matching symbols to land from left to right in any pattern. A standard 5-reel 3-row slot can produce 243 ways, this means that normal winning line concepts do not apply to such games.
Even More Multiways
If you think that a 5-reel 3-row slot produces more than enough multiways, then adding another row can produce 1024 ways. Leagues of Fortune by Microgaming is one such game that has done exactly that. Siberian Storm from IGT plays on this concept further but delivers a game that is presented on an unorthodox 3x4x5x4x3 reel platform that produces 720 ways
Extreme Multiway Gaming
Big Time Gaming has created the monster of the multiway, thanks to a possible maximum of 117649 ways being produced by some games, that utilize a 7x7x7x7x7x7 6-reeler slot platform. But this setup pushes slots away from multiway gaming and more into the realms of the Megaways mechanism. Megaways slots offer the largest amounts of active pay lines and have their own lobbies at online casinos because there are so many of them.
Other Multiway Offerings
Some slots are not multiway games in the traditional sense, but a bonus round can open up an extra row only for the duration of the special bonus feature, and this helps to temporarily add extra ways to the game. Despite these added ways, punters still need a lot of luck to win on these games. The extra ways do not offer gamblers a guarantee that they will win, and it can be misleading to the public, if these games are marketed in this particular fashion, at online casinos.
