Tuesday, July 15, 2008

3-Reel Online Slot Machines from Microgaming

Microgaming is the leading software provider for the online gambling industry. Over the past three years, Microgaming has launched over 100 new slot machine games, including a number of classic 3-reel slot machines. Each of these 3-reel slots has its own unique theme, ranging from oceanic fishing to witchcraft to adventure. Classic 3-reel slots are perfect casino games for the beginning player, because of their easy and straightforward format. This article reviews 5 of these new 3-reel slots, including Bar Bar Black Sheep, Bulls Eye, Frost Bite, Jingle Bells, and Jungle 7's.

Bar Bar Black Sheep is a 3-reel, single pay-line slot machine based on the popular children's nursery rhyme. The coin range is 20 cents to $1.00. There are 27 winning combinations of symbols, and the Bar Bar Black Sheep symbol is the most important one of all. One or more Bar Bar Black Sheep symbols on the pay-line create winning combinations. One symbol pays out $500, two symbols pay out $1,000, and all three Bar Bar Black Sheep symbols pay out $1,600.

Bulls Eye is a 3-reel, single pay-line slot machine based on the game of darts. The only coin size available is a $1.00 coin. There are 24 winning combinations of symbols, and the Dart Man symbol is the most important one of all. For example, if you play 1 coin and hit 3 Dart Man symbols on the pay-line, you will win $1,000. If you play 3 coins and hit 3 Dart Man symbols on the pay-line, you will win the maximum of payout of $5,000.

Frost Bite is a 3-reel, single pay-line slot machine with an Arctic theme. Frost Bite accepts coins from 25 cents to $5.00, and the maximum number of coins that you can play per spin is 2. One Frost Bite symbol doubles your payout and 2 Frost Bite symbols quadruple your payout. If you hit all three Frost Bite symbols on the pay-line, you will win the maximum jackpot of $1,600.

Jingle Bells is a 3-reel, 5 pay-line slot machine with a festive Christmas theme. The coin range is 25 cents to $5.00, and you can play up to 1 coin per pay-line per spin. With a maximum bet of $25.00 ($5.00 x 1 coin per pay-line x 5 pay-lines), you could win a possible jackpot of $30,000 (6,000 coins).

Embark on a treacherous adventure along the Inca trail. Jungle 7's is a 3-reel, single pay-line slot machine with an exploration and adventure theme. The coin range is 25 cents to $5.00 and you can bet up to 3 coins per pay-line per spin. With a maximum bet of $15.00, you could win a possible jackpot of $75,000 (15,000 coins).

So there you have it, five 3-reel slot machines from Microgaming. Whether you play slot machines online or blackjack in Vegas, remember to only gamble with the money that you can afford to lose. Don't exceed your spending limit should you lose, and never gamble when you are tired or irritable. By following these simple rules of gambling, your casino experience - online or at a land-based casino - will be more enjoyable.

Progressive Slot Machines: Microgaming's Online Progressive Jackpots

Slot machines are the most popular form of Internet casino entertainment. An online progressive slot machine accumulates deposits from its players from a number of online casinos to create jackpots that grow by the minute. Microgaming, the major software provider for the online gambling industry, has eight progressive slot games. Each of these slots accumulates deposits from nearly 100 online casinos. This article discusses Microgaming's eight progressive slot machines, including Major Millions, Cash Splash, Fruit Fiesta, King Cashalot, LotsaLoot, Treasure Nile, Tunzamunni, and Mega Moolah.

Major Millions, with a jackpot starting at $250,000, is by far the largest progressive slot on the Internet. Major Millions comes in both a 3-reel and a newer 5-reel version. Major Millions is the only progressive jackpot that has ever paid out jackpots exceeding $1,000,000. Three Major Millions symbols on the third payline pays out the progressive jackpot if you have played the maximum bet of $3.00.

Treasure Nile is a 5-reel, 9-payline, 9-coin progressive slot machine. You win the Treasure Nile jackpot by playing the maximum bet of $4.50 and by hitting 5 Pharaoh symbols on the 9th payline.

Cash Splash, the first online progressive jackpot, is a 3-reel, single payline, 3-coin progressive slot. You win the Cash Splash jackpot by playing the maximum bet of $3.00 and by hitting 3 Cash Splash symbols on the payline.

Fruit Fiesta is a 3-reel, 3-payline, 3-coin progressive slot machine. You win the Fruit Fiesta jackpot by playing the maximum bet of 75 cents and by hitting 3 Fruit Fiesta symbols on the third payline.

King Cashalot is a 5-reel, 9-payline, 10-coin progressive slot. You win the King Cashalot jackpot by playing the maximum bet of $2.25 and by hitting 5 King Cashalot symbols on the ninth payline.

LotsaLoot is a 3-reel, 5-payline, 5-coin progressive slot machine. You win the LotsaLoot jackpot by playing the maximum bet of $2.50 and by hitting 5 LotsaLoot symbols on the fifth payline.

Tunzamunni is a 3-reel, single-payline, 5-coin progressive slot. With the maximum bet of just 25 cents, Tunzamunni is more practical for many players. You win the Tunzamunni jackpot by playing the maximum bet of 25 cents and by hitting a White, Red, and Blue Seven (in that exact order) on the payline.

Mega Moolah is Microgaming's newest progressive slot. Mega Moolah is a 5-reel, 25 payline slot machine with an African wildlife theme. The Mega jackpot starts at $1,000,000, and you can spin the Jackpot Wheel for a chance to win one of four progressive jackpots. The coin range is 0.01 to 0.05, and you can bet up to 5 coins per payline. With a maximum bet of $6.25, you could win a possible payout of $11,250 with the Free Spins bonus feature.

So there you have it, eight online progressive slot machines from Microgaming. Remember to gamble with the money that you can afford to lose. Decide beforehand how much you wish to spend, and don't exceed your spending limit should you lose. Never gamble when you are tired or irritable. Finally, have fun and quit while you are ahead.

Slot Machines Inside Out

Crank and bank baby. That's one of the many slogans that you'll hear echoed throughout casinos in Vegas. Slot players tend to be a weird bunch. My favorite are the little old ladies that wear the "slot glove" on one hand, AKA Michael Jackson.

Okay, let's put aside the silly things we all do and get down to brass tacks. This article is about how slot machines actually work. By understanding some basics, we can dispel common myths and nonsense and have much more fun-heck, we may even hit a mega jackpot.

Rip apart the slot machine and you'll find the "money component" known as the RNG, which stands for Random Number Generator. The job of this little baby is to basically sit back sipping on Margaritas while cranking out numbers nonstop. Every millisecond a new number is generated. That's some hard work.

When you pull the lucky handle or smack the money button to play, the number that was generated by the RNG that millisecond is passed and this becomes your outcome. That number tells the system what to do. At the precise moment you did one of those actions, your fate for that spin was sealed. Now, the slot machine simply needs to play it out for you-and that's where the suspense and fun comes in.

Right next to the RNG is the memory chip that logs how much you've won or lost-no, no, I'm just kidding. If you look for this memory chip, you'd be hunting until the cows come home. There's no memory chip. That's right folks. The slot machine doesn't know if you just walked up and put in a $1.25 or if you've been there on an eight-day bender. It only operates one spin at a time and from spin to spin.

The "honestly" in the game comes from mathematics. Casinos don't need to know if it's "your' time to win or if you've won too much. The mathematics guarantee an outcome. Slot cycles can go on for eons, so never, ever think you're all set to win. It's just not so. Technically, a slot machine could hit three mega jackpots in a row or go without one for days, weeks, months or years depending on play and such.

The cycle is actually hundreds of thousands of spins. I don't know about you, but I'm not playing on machine that much at once just to make sure I get my bars lined up. Slot machines are fun to play-especially the new ones-but just remember that they are random machines.

Slots - Its History And Game Rules

In the early days of slot machines, the alias they went by was "One Armed Bandit". This moniker was put on these early machines since there was a lever on the side of each machine that the player pulled to play the wager that had been deposited. The wheels in the machine whirled and if the player was lucky, three cherries line up or some other payoff and the winnings were dropped in a tray at the base of the machine. The actual date of the first slot is about 1891. The five-wheel machine displayed possible poker hands elements and if they lined up the player collected from the machine owner. This antique was built by a New York firm called Pitt and Sittman. The next slot was the Fey machine built by Charles Fey. The Liberty Bell as his machine was called was a monstrosity of cast iron, which weighed in at over 100 lbs. This was a true slot as the player deposited coins and if the pull produced a winner, paid the huge sum of fifty cents. The wheels in this machine had stars, horseshoes and playing card suits like spades or hearts. The Liberty Bell Saloon in Reno, owned by grandchildren of Fey, has the first Liberty Bell on display.

The next version also by Charles Fey had the famous fruit images and ever since, the three cherries became a symbol for slots. One of the novel machines built by Fey dispensed gum on every pull to defeat the prohibition against slots.
The selling of gum was supposed to make it a dispenser and not a gambling device.

The modern age of slots was begun when the slots went electric and then the microchip, which were really put in play to defeat the cheaters who knew how to beat the mechanical slots. The computer board machines also eliminated the lever and the one armed bandit had lost its arm. This progression into the modern age of slots started in the 1960s. Now the slots are so sophisticated and have so many bells and whistles, the early developers would be flabbergasted to see a modern progressive slot. The Internet slots are another advancement that uses a random wheel generator and computer boards instead of wheels and the other elements that are still found in the old slots. Every week or so there is a new slot brought out for the player's entertainment.

Slot Play

Playing a modern slot takes luck for the most part and very little skill unless the slot is a Video Poker machine. The only decision a player makes on a regular slot is the coin value and how many lines to play per game. The progressive slots demand a max coin value on all lines played in order to get the massive payoffs some of these slots reward to a winning line. The progressive slots and the mega slots are set up to build a huge pot for players to shoot at and try to win. In some cases the slot is tied into a bank of slots that are actually in play in different casinos. These multi-site slots build up the progressive pot much quicker and are therefore attractive to the thousands of players who try their luck.

Single line slots are still found online and in live casinos, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. The public seems to like the multi-line slots as they get more action per game. Most players will automatically play the five-coin max in order to have a shot at the bigger payouts.

The Video Poker craze is a continuing phenomenon. The players like the decision making part of the game as well as being able to set the size of the coins and the number of lines to play per game. The payouts on these games can be rather high and the jackpots are sizeable in many of the VP slots. The games are very popular as the player gets to pick and choose the poker hand they are trying for. Many a Royal Flush is made due to the selection of the cards that were available when the game is first started. Some players will only play for the Royals and will keep any cards that are part of a Royal Flush. Others will only play parts of sure wins and hope to get the entire Royal in one fell swoop.

Solid poker players that play video poker have an advantage when first learning to play video poker as they have a better feel for the game. This advantage is quickly put to rest when the player learns that reasonable poker draws are often not the way to play if you want to take a shot at the jackpots.

Conclusions

Continuous growth of the number of variants to this poker game and the rapidly gaining popularity are high marks that Video Poker is setting in the casino world.

The early popularity has done nothing but continue over the last few years with all of the new games and wild card games that have been brought out for play. The additional bet after a winning hand has allowed the player to have even more gamble per game. Auto hold and analyzers have helped players make better drawing decisions.

Mega slots and multi-casino slot banks have helped to grow larger jackpots in less time. The size of the possible wins is attracting non-players to slots. This growth is one of the reasons that the slot providers keep adding to the game list for online casinos. The colorful games and many themes of the new slots have also helped to maintain slot game preferences. Out of all of the slot games that are now available online, there is one that will appeal to most players. The stick-em-up days of the one armed bandits has long ago been replaced by high tech games with multiple decisions to be made to come out a winner.

Comprehensive Slots Glossary

To sound like a pro it is important to learn some basic slot terminology. The following list will help you get started, and maybe teach you a thing or two!

Bet One - this is an option which is only found on slot machine online. It shows that the player only wants to wager a single credit for a spin.

Bonus Feature - this gives the player the chance to win more money through a bonus game. It is usually activated by a special combination which will be clearly displayed on the machine.

Carousel - this is the name given to a group of slot machines.

Cashout Button - the magic button which asks for your winnings; in online casinos it will send the amount to your bankroll.

Coin Size - this is an important part of playing the slot machine. If you bet too much you will lose lots of money quickly. The coin size is the amount wagered per spin.

Credit amount - this shows the player how many reel spins they still have left.

Credit Button - this button will transform your winnings into credits; how very convenient!

Five Reel Slots - online slots with five reels of symbols on which to get a winning combination.

Jackpot - the biggest possible payout for each slot machine.

Maximum Bet - press Bet Max to bet the largest amount possible on a single spin.

Minimum Bet - press Bet One to bet the minimum amount on a single spin.

Multi-line Slot - a common slot which has several payout lines.

Progressive Jackpot - a special bonus amount that increases as players bet into the pot. The amount shown is the amount won when the necessary combination is hit. Players must bet the maximum number of coins to secure the full jackpot amount.

Progressive Slots -slot machines that share a progressive jackpot.

Pay Line - the winning combinations on any line on the reel of the slot machine.

Payout Percentage - details the amount of money paid out to players of that machine, written in percentage format.

Pay Table - this shows the information about winning combinations and how much they pay.

Random Number Generator - the cheat proof software used by online casinos to generate their results on all casino games, including slots.

Reels - the spinning wheels on the machine that displays symbols which make up the winning or losing combinations.

Seed - the predetermined starting amount of any progressive slot jackpot. Once the jackpot amount has been won, the amount returns to the seed.

Symbols - the pictures seen on the slot reels.

Wild - a symbol that is used to substitute any other symbol that will make the best possible combination.

Playing Classic Slots

Slots have been around for a long time and they have been immensely popular through the ages. Though the game has become more sophisticated over the years, the classic slot machine is still favorable to a great many. If you are new to slots and you hear the term classic slots you might wonder if you are missing out on something. If you have played slots on a three reel slot machine than you have played classic slots. The reason that this is considered the classic version is because this is the way the game started out, with just three reels. The original slot machine was the Liberty Bell and had the three reels, so today this is considered the classic style machine among many different varieties.

Many like the class slots because there are a lot less outcomes than there is on a five reel or seven reel machines. In addition, a class slot machine can provide the player with as many as five payout lines, which includes three horizontal combinations and 2 diagonal lines, all of which payout relatively well if you bet the maximum. Because there are far less outcomes, when the five reel slot machine was introduced in the 1970s it was not considered the best way to play the game. Unfortunately there were simply too many combinations and the players got tired of rarely winning, and when they did win they never won very big.

While odds are better with the classic or three reel slot machines, players should know that the odds are not better than those found on video slots. The reason for this is that the reels are weighted. If the reels were not weighted than players would constantly be paid because of the somewhat limited combinations and the casino would not make any money. With the weighted wheels chances of winning are good, but they aren't as good as they would be if the reels weren't weighted at all!

Many people find that classic slots are simply more fun to play than any of the other variations that are out there today. Video slots are very popular today, as are the five and seven reel slot machines that have multiple payout lines. If you enjoy these variations on the classic you aren't alone, but many people find that there truly is not anything quite like the classic slots. All slot games are a game of chance, but there is something about the three reel or classic slot machine that make a lot of people more excited about their chances of winning, even if they don't win millions.

Shopping Spree Slot Machine

The time has arrived to relax, to have fun and to aim for a shopping spree. If you love shopping, gather your purse and get ready to play.

Time for a Shopping Spree

At this fun slot game, you can enjoy shopping with a difference. Shopping Spree is a 5 reel, 9 payline slot game, powered by Real Time Gaming software. This exciting pursuit also features a progressive jackpot prize.

There are so many different slot games out there that the attraction is to find a theme that suits you. OK, girls, ready to shop until you drop? Perhaps you have been dreaming of a fancy shopping spree in New York? Well, this could be your big chance.

At the Shopping Spree game, if you manage to line up five diamond ring symbols on the same line, you may then choose between the jackpot prize and a $100,000 spending spree in New York. Sounds attractive? Well, prepare yourself for action and get ready to go shopping with this exciting slot game.

What you need to do at this game is to match up various shopping items on the same line. The symbols at Shopping Spree include make-up, perfume, classy shoes and dollar signs, to get you into the buying mood.

The Shopping Spree game features two possible bonus features. Obtaining three dollar sign symbols in any position will obtain you a scatter bonus. In this event, you may receive a shopping bonus of up to the amount of 350 credits.

Shopping Spree Bonus Game

Don't you just love bonuses? Shopping Spree also hosts a special bonus game. While you are shopping around, if you manage to spin three mystery grab bags, this triggers the Mystery Grab Bag bonus game. The bonus game reveals a separate screen in which you need to search behind the question marks to expose amounts of credits. These bonus credits are added to your credit amount until you uncover the X. This special bonus attraction presents you with the opportunity of winning up to 4,000 credits.

The current value of the progressive jackpot is shown constantly during the game in the center of the screen. Once the progressive jackpot has been won, the amount returns to $25,000 and then starts to increase again. Let's face it, even winning this beginning amount would enable rather an impressive shopping spree!

One thing I must tell you is that it is important to remember that you need to 'bet max' in order to be eligible to play for the progressive jackpot.

Remember shopping can be fun, especially when you have the opportunity to win your very own shopping spree!