Online Slots
I’ve divided this page up into two sections: online slots for “slot newbies” and those for experienced players. The former section is designed to help players who are looking for a good place to start while the latter highlights a few slots that may have been overlooked by the “pro” and are well worth a visit. All the online casinos on this site accept US players, although players from Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin are restricted to a subset of casinos, most notably the RTG casinos listed at the bottom of the online casino page here.
Online Slots For Newbies
There’s one thing you need to be aware of before you start: a little word called “variance” that makes all the difference to how you play. Variance equates to risk: high variance = high risk and I’ll be mentioning slot variance as I go through this article. If you play for fun and are looking to make your bankroll last, go “low variance” or at worst “medium variance”. If you don’t mind long lean streaks and the occasional monster hit, you might find high variance slots more suitable. But you’ll need wither a bigger bankroll or to bet very low.
There really is only one online slot to start you off. It’s the grand-daddy of “free spins” slots and it’s called “Thunderstruck”. It’s a bonus slot where 3 scatters (symbols that can appear anywhere in view) triggers a free spins feature where you get 15 free spins and all wins in those 15 spins are trebled. It’s become something of a template for online slots and while it’s medium variance, it’s incredibly addictive and even to this day, 4 years since I started playing online, it remains my first port of call. It’s available at all of the Microgaming casinos listed in the margin to the right.
Once you have that Microgaming casino installed, there are getting on for 200 slots as I write. You will find plenty of the slots emulate Thunderstruck with small variations such as the number of spins awarded and the multipliers therein. You might also want to check out the very popular “Tombraider” (medium variance) or the sequel, “Tombraider 2 - Secret Of The Sword” (low variance). Again, both offer free spins and multipliers coupled with extra bonus rounds. The latter slot, Tombraider 2, is not available in the Flash version of the casinos by the way - only the download versions.
If you are from one of the 11 US States mentioned above, you will probably be playing on an “RTG casino” (again, see the list of RTG casinos to the right). Online slots at different types of casino have different features but bear a lot of similarities. There are several RTG slots that are not a million miles from Thunderstruck - you want to be downloading the RTG software and heading for the “Real Series Slots”. My favourites here would have to be “Cleopatra’s Gold” (medium variance, 15 free spins, all wins trebled), “Ronin” (low/medium variance, various amounts of free spins and multipliers), “Goldbeard” (see pic - medium variance, up to 20 free spins), or “Prince Of Sherwood” (low variance, 10-25 free spins with different multipliers).
Online Slots For Experienced Slot Players
No doubt you are already familiar with Thunderstruck and are looking for something a little different. A few slots have crept in recently that may have been overlooked by many slots players but are entertaining. One of my favourites is a high variance slot called Isis on the Microgaming platform (see list of Microgaming casinos, right). The 3 scatters award 20 free spins at 6x, 4 = 25 at 6x and all 5 = 30 at 6x. A great slot but wow it’s majorly streaky so be watned. But every now and again you hit an absolute monster!
Another newer slot is “Cashapilla” (reviewed in full here), a 100 payline slot with stacked wilds and free spins (15, all wins trebled). I love this slot even though it is low/medium variance. It’s the only slot I know with stacked wilds outside of “Wolf Run” at Wagerworks casinos (which US players cannot play) or one or two of the Real Series slots on the RTG casinos listed to the right. Actually, I lie: “Hitman” on Microgaming has stacked wilds but only on reels 2,3 and 4. I quite like Hitman, it’s high variance, but a little slow because the graphics are so rich. Definately worth a play as slots go, but whether it will stick - hmmm, not so sure.
Another Microgaming slot that slipped through in late 2007 and many missed, or played briefly and didn’t stick with, is “Dragon’s Loot”. Another free spins slot but this time you choose the spins/multipleir randomly and it awards up to 75 free spins at 2x, although it doesn’t retrigger. It’s another of my favourites so no surprise it’s high variance and prone to lean streaks, but again it can produce the occasional big win.