A slot machine that usually has 5 reels that are arranged one after the other in a row is called a video slot. More than 90% of online video slots have this format. A payline is a special arrangement of reel symbols that can result in a payout or a win. An example of a payline would be the symbol in the first row on the first reel, the second symbol on the second row of the second reel.
The symbol in the third row on the third reel, the symbol on the second row of the fourth reel and the symbol on the first row of the fifth reel. A simpler example of a payline would be that all symbols are or are arranged on the second row on all five reels. A payline only allows a payout if a winning combination appears on the line according to the payout table and the payline has of course been activated beforehand by the player.
Video slots belong to the largest category of online casino games. The number of paylines ranges from just 5 to 1,024. What influence do paylines have on the outcome or outcome of a video slot? One thing is certain – the greater the number of paylines, the more often a winning combination can appear. The most important question, however, is whether or not this will result in more and more frequent payouts for the player.
To shed light on the concept of paylines and the situation, let’s take a video slot with 15 paylines as an illustrative example. If we increase the number of paylines to 25 without regulating or changing the payout table, then the average payout to the player will swell upwards. The fact is that the payout can even be more than 100%. Of course, this does not mean that every 25-payline video slot will pay out more than a 15-payline slot each time.
The number of paylines is just one of the factors that affect the payout of a win to the player. Other factors would be the payouts in the paytable, the type of bonus game that offers payouts, and the relative frequency of winning combinations appearing. If a video slot should have a large number of pay lines, the other factors are of course adjusted so that the payout rate for the player is on average as with other slots around 95%.
For this reason, the strategy of only playing video slots that offer more paylines is not a good idea. If this were correct, then why are so many paylines offered in the game in the first place? The reason for this is simple – online casino game developers try that their slots are fundamentally different from others and try to make the slots more attractive for the players with the help of more or different paylines.
Most video slots have 9 to 50 paylines. Microgaming, for example, has taken the lead in the online slot machines with the most paylines. The developer released the game Cashapillar, the first video slot with 100 paylines. Players were introduced to the Burning Desire slot with 243 profit lines. With this slot, however, it is the case that the concept of win lines no longer requires the line-up of reel symbols for 243 winning combinations.
The software manufacturer Cryptologic even recently released a video slot with 99 paylines – Striker Fortune (theme background – football). Which is rather unusual with this slot; the paylines are made up of symbols on consecutive reels that are horizontally on the same level or diagonally one level away. If the entire pay line is occupied by footballers from the same team, this results in an animation of a footballer who scores a pass and goal.