What are Slot Paylines? Slot Paylines Explained
Although you rarely see them, paylines in online slot games are one of the essential features of your favorite titles.
In this Slots Strategy guide article, we’ll explore in more detail how slot paylines work, the different types of paylines you’ll have to work with, as well as the types of bonuses they help to unlock.
Introduction to Slot Paylines
If you’ve never played an online slot game before, paylines are the glue that holds the gameplay of slots together. Without them, you’d have no direction or way of knowing how to win on the reels of your favorite slots.
Paylines in slot games come in various shapes and sizes, as we’ll discuss further in this article. It all started in the offline casino world of old-school fruit machines, which had a center payline to land or nudge matching symbols together. Online slot game developers have simply taken it up a notch (or three) to turbocharge your gameplay!
How Do Slot Paylines Work?
Paylines are designed to sit in the background of your slot gameplay and only come into effect when you land matching symbols on them in the same spin. In some ways, paylines are a framework of rules, governing how you need to land symbols to win a payout.
A quick glance at the paytable of your chosen online slot and you should come across a layout of the slot paylines, showing the patterns or lines needed to line up matching symbols.
The paytable is also your friend to show the maximum number of paylines at your disposal on each slot game. You can then decide how many you wish to play with, providing it’s a slot with adjustable paylines. Some slots now have a penchant for fixed paylines, which means all paylines are permanently active and all you have to do is decide how much you want to risk per spin.
Types of Slot Paylines
One of the main features which set slots apart from one another is their paylines. In 2023, they are now designed to come in various shapes and sizes, giving you more to look out for as the symbols begin to land on the reels.
Horizontal Paylines
Horizontal paylines are the bread and butter of the online slot world. Inspired by old-school fruit machine paylines – some of which only had a single horizontal payline in the middle of the reels – you’ll usually find a horizontal payline running along each row. On a slot with a 5x5 reel grid, you can expect five horizontal paylines.
Vertical Paylines
Yes, it has been known for some online slots to have paylines which run from the top of a reel to the bottom. Essentially, you need to land three or more matching symbols vertically on a reel rather than horizontally.
Diagonal Paylines
It’s true that paylines on online slots can run diagonally from corner to corner on a reel grid. We’re talking from the top left-hand corner of the reel grid down to the bottom right-hand corner.
Zigzag Paylines
Zigzag paylines run from left to right, usually creating V-shape or W-shape patterns overlaid on the reels of your chosen slot. You can find exactly how the zigzag paylines run by heading over to the paytable of your slot game and the shapes will be overlaid on the screen.
Maximising Wins with Slot Paylines
It goes without saying that if you want to maximize potential payouts on your chosen slot, it’s always best to play with all available paylines. In many ways, it’s better to play fewer spins with all available paylines than more spins with only half of all available paylines in play.
We’re not talking about the amount you plan to risk per spin, just ensuring the maximum number of paylines are in play. The number of credits you wager has no bearing on the RTP percentage and general volatility of the slot. However, by having all available paylines active, there’s always a winning opportunity lurking around the corner with each spin.
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Read morePayline Bonuses and Special Features
Paylines are sometimes used to trigger special features in online slot games. For example, a free spins bonus may only be activated when a player lands at least three or more scatters on a certain payline. In another scenario, some slots may also pay out bigger multipliers if you land a wild symbol on a payline with a winning symbol combination.
If you’re someone who prefers the vintage fruit machine or penny slot games with a single middle payline, the payline is your golden ticket for bonuses as well as symbol combinations.
Paylines have been upgraded through the years to bring a new dimension to slot gameplay. Some slots now have ‘Pay Both Ways’ functionality. This means that matching symbols can land from left to right or right to left on a payline. Essentially, you’ll have two bites at the cherry to win per active payline.
There’s also the ‘Cluster Pays’ game mechanic, which allows you to build symbol combinations in clusters rather than paylines. Effectively, traditional paylines don’t exist in these slot games, in the same manner as the Megaways slots, which have fluctuating reels on each reel per spin and focus on symbol clusters on adjacent reels. To experience the full array of Megaways slots, 888casino has a slot library bursting with titles powered by the Megaways game mechanic.
Payline Volatility and Return to Player (RTP)
You’ll often read about the ‘volatility’ of online slot games. High-volatility games are designed to pay out less frequently but with the potential for bigger prizes when they do. Low-volatility games are programmed to pay out regularly but for smaller returns.
Some get confused and believe the more paylines a slot has, the more volatile it will be. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, neither fixed nor adjustable paylines influence the volatility of an online slot. It’s more about the win probability of each payline in play.
It’s possible to play a slot with just three paylines which has a win probability of 10% per payline (30% per spin). On the flip side, you could play some jackpot slots with 20 paylines with a win probability of 1.5% per payline (30% per spin).
The amount of paylines on an online slot doesn’t impact the Return to Player (RTP) percentage either. It’s just as common to find a slot game with hundreds or even thousands of paylines with a below-average RTP percentage as it is to find a slot with ten paylines and an above-average RTP percentage. RTP relates to how much of your bet per spin is returned to you as a long-term average. This is determined by the win probabilities or hit frequency of paylines, not the volume of paylines.
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Slot Paylines FAQs
How do slot paylines work?
In a conventional online slot with fixed or adjustable paylines, you’ll usually be deemed a winner if you can match three or more base game symbols on a payline. The payline runs from left to right, from the first reel to the last – usually the third or fifth. However, some slots will also have paylines that pay both ways, so combinations can start from the furthest right-hand reel to the first reel.
What is the purpose of paylines in slot machines?
In many ways, paylines are the most important element of an online slot game. Without paylines, you’d never be able to make winning symbol combinations. Paylines are invisible as the reels spin, but when the symbols land on each row, the paylines will overlay on the screen if there’s a successful combo.
Are paylines the same across all slot games?
Not at all. In fact, the versatility of paylines is one of the main reasons why slot games can look and play so differently from one another.
Can I choose the number of paylines in a slot game?
If you opt to play an online slot with adjustable paylines you’ll have the flexibility to pick how many paylines you want active per spin. Slots with fixed paylines will have all in play every spin. Meanwhile, Megaways slots set how many ways to win at random before every spin, so it’s something of a surprise.
What is the difference between fixed and adjustable paylines?
A slot with fixed paylines means all paylines will be active for every spin, regardless of how much you wager. A slot with adjustable paylines allows you to tweak how many paylines you wish to play with depending on your budget.
How many paylines can a slot game have?
As a general rule, most fixed payline slots will have between 10 and 50 paylines. If you’re wondering if there’s another way to get more paylines, consider playing some of the slots powered by the Megaways game mechanic. This removes the conventional payline framework and instead focuses on symbol clusters with up to 117,649 ways to win.
Do paylines only run horizontally?
Absolutely not. In fact, it’s common for slot paylines to move vertically from top to bottom and even zigzag diagonally across multiple reels. Although you can find vintage slots with simple horizontal paylines, the majority of today’s video slots have a variety of paylines to work with.