While slots have cemented themselves as the most popular form of gambling in both online and land-based casinos, this hasn’t stopped slots from expanding even more. From the original 3 spinning reel machines slots have branched out into hundreds of different variations.

While most can fall under specific categories, there will still be a type of slots available for everybody to enjoy. Below we cover the most frequently used types of slots and what sets them apart from one another.

3 Reel Slots

Based on the classic 3-reel machines, while many updates have been made internally, the core of the game remains the same. Spin the slots and match the symbols on each of the reel. This is by far the simplest form of slots.

5 Reel Slots

Similar to 3-reel, 5 reels only adds more action to your spinning. More reels mean more potential paylines and a generally higher payout for a successful outcome. Most physical and online slots are based on 5-reel machines, only adding new features to alter the game play.

5 reels are generally considered the sweet spot for slots, enough reels to keep the game exciting and payouts higher, while not too many reels to decrease the odds of winning too much. If you are new to slots, 5 reels is a great place to start before branching out to find the exact type of slots best suited for you.

Mega Spin Slots

While sharing similarities to 3- and 5-reel slots, it is essentially traditional slots at hyper-speed. Mega spins slots allow players to play up to 9 simultaneous spins on individual 3- or 5-reel slots. Meaning that at any given time a player could have while in excess of 40 reels spinning. While this is usually a more involved exercise, it greatly increases a player’s chance of winning. Think of it like playing nine hours’ worth of 5-reel slots in one hour. This is the perfect form of slots for anybody on a tighter schedule.

Progressive Jackpot

Progressive jackpot slots are a slot machine with an added benefit. Every spin a player makes, the jackpot increases. While this can vary from a set of machines sharing a jackpot pool, to machines around the globe sharing a jackpot pool. This will always result in much higher jackpots. The bigger the pool of machines in the progressive jackpot, the bigger the jackpots tend to be. These jackpots at times can climb into truly eye watering numbers, usually dwarfing the payouts of other types of slots.

Multi-payline slots

Similar to traditional 5-reel slots, only adding a huge benefit in the form of more paylines. With multi-payline slots players will be given much more opportunity to win by not just having straight paylines on the machines. These will usually vary greatly and depend on the particular machine played. Be sure to check out multi-payline slots to ensure great chances of winning.

While many other forms of slots do exist, these will generally be the most common found in online and physical location casinos.