All Ways Slots

1Paylines in Slots

Avid slot fans who spin the reels regularly understand the underlying principle behind paylines, but we shall explain how these work for the uninitiated. The vast majority of slots award cash prizes when the player matches at least three identical symbols on a payline.

The payline is a pattern the winning symbols must form for the game to pay out. These patterns can be horizontal, diagonal, zigzagging, chevron-shaped, V-shaped, and so on. Typically, the winning combination must occur starting from the leftmost (the first) reel to the rightmost (the last) reel or else no payout is awarded.

Classic slots normally have one to five paylines while the more advanced varieties feature multiple win lines, sometimes up to 50 or even more. Microgaming’s Cashapillar was among the first slots to offer as many as 100 win lines.

The player must cover each payline with a bet or else it would not pay even if a winning combination occurs on it. For example, if you are playing one coin with a denomination of $0.05 on a slot with 25 fixed lines, your cost per spin would amount to 25 credits or $1.25. This is not the case where All Ways games are concerned, however.

2How All Ways Slots Work?

This advanced breed of slots lacks any paylines whatsoever. Here all symbols behave like scatters. This means the matching icons must land on adjacent reels to pay. The exact position of the symbols is completely irrelevant in this case.

More often than not, payouts are awarded on condition the matches occur from left to right on the reels. The general rule of thumb is you need a minimum of three identical symbols on adjacent reels to collect a cash prize.

This peculiarity increases the number of possible winning combinations. Here is how. On a traditional slot, there are three reels with three symbol grids per reel which makes for 27 possible ways to win across the reels because 3 to the third power is 27.

Most modern slots utilize five reels with three visible symbols on each. This allows for 243 possible winning combinations across the reels because three to fifth power is 243. Such is the case with All Ways slots that use the standard 5×3 symbol grid. These games tend to boast higher hit frequencies, with winning combinations occurring nearly every couple of spins or so.

3Bet Per Spin is a Flat Amount

Unlike conventional reel-based games, All Ways slots do not require players to pay for each winning opportunity individually. Instead, your bet per spin is a flat amount. The cost of each round is evenly spread out to keep players with different bankrolls interested.

Nevertheless, you can increase or reduce your stake per round with the help of the gaming controls if you wish. Some All Ways slots, like those provided by Microgaming, give you the option to bet multiple coins of your chosen denomination on each spin.

1How Both Ways Pay Slots Work?

All Ways slots should not be confused with another category of games, the so-called Both Ways Pay slots. The latter typically play on a standard grid where you have five reels with three symbols although this may differ between games.

Unlike All Ways slots, Both Ways Pay games award payouts when the symbols align on one or more paylines. The alignment can occur in either direction, from left to right or from right to left. This is not the case with most All Ways slots where the matching combination typically must start from the leftmost reel.

You must cover the paylines with one or more coins to activate them or else the winning combinations will fail to yield any payouts. With some games of this type, the player must commit with additional bets to turn on the Both Ways Pay feature. Otherwise, only the wins from left to right would count.

2An Example of Both Ways Pay Slot

Such is the case with Microgaming’s Atomic 8s slot where you need to pay 3x your base bet to trigger the Power Spins mode. Another condition is to enable the maximum number of paylines, which is nine in this game.

You get double the winning opportunities this way but posting the side bet consistently can be rather costly over time. Because of this, we suggest you look for Both Way Pay games where you do not have to pay extra for the feature. Some of the slots we recommend you to try are NetEnt’s Fisticuffs, Playtech’s Captain’s Treasure, and The Catfather by Pragmatic Play.