Slot Machine Reels

For most beginners, the term slot machine reels may seem confusing. In this guide, we will reveal everything that you need to know about this feature.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• What are the reels on a slot
• The most popular slot reels type
• Myths and misconceptions about reels
• The difference between land-based and online casino reels 

Without further ado, let’s dive right in!

What Are the Reels on a Slot Machine?

First of all, every slot machine is made out of several reels, which are one of the most important features. 

A slot reel is the column positioned on the grid of the slot machine, which is spun every time a player places a wager. After every spin, different symbols will appear on each column.

So, spinning the slot reels is the whole point of the game, as the only way you will win some money is by forming winning combinations.

How Many Reels Are in a Slot Machine?

Regardless if you are wagering at a land-based or online casino, you will notice that there is a wide variety of slot machine reels.

The number of reels available in the slot machines varies from one game to another. You will find slots featuring:

• Three reels
• Five reels
• Six reels
• Seven reels
• Ten reels.

To make things simpler, we will reveal and analyze all of them below.

3-Reel Slots

As the name indicates, these are slot machines that have three reels.

Every time a 3-reel slot is mentioned, players always think of the retro slot machines that were featured at the first land-based casinos, having a fixed number of mechanical reels. 

One important thing about these reel slots is that many online 3-reel slots feature only one payline to imitate the simplicity of the retro slot machines. 

Still, their RNG algorithms can provide you with better payouts than the mechanical slot machines.

5-Reel Slots

The 5-reel slots are the most common casino games. It is quite likely that the first slot game that you play in the casino will be a 5-reel slot.

Although there are hundreds of 5-reel slot games in the casinos, the software providers always find a way to make each slot game more outstanding and unique. 

They are always competing against each other in terms of including better graphics and all kind of new slot features in their games.

The bonus features that are part of the 5-reel slots are the most interesting part of the game. This feature attracts many players to wager on the slot, as they provide quite generous payouts. 

The most common bonus features in the 5-reel slots are the free spins and the bet multipliers.

One of the most popular 5-reel slots available for free on our site is Tales of Dr. Dolittle by Quickspin.

7-Reel Slots

The slot games with 7 reels are breaking the industry norms with their additional reels. 

Most of the 7-reels casino slots are following the same layout as the 5-reel slots, but they feature a 7x3 game board. 

Also, in many of these slots, the rows will expand, thanks to a special bonus feature.

Having two additional reels will make the slot game more entertaining if you are looking to form the longest possible winning combos. 

You can also find 7-reel slots that go the extra mile and provide you with a unique layout that features additional reels. 

With more reels, you will have better odds of landing on 3 or more Scatter symbols required for triggering the Free Spins feature.

If you want to learn more about scatter symbols or any other slot machine symbols, check out our guide. It's easy to read and you'll learn everything you need to know in no time.

10-Reel Slots

Slots that feature 10 reels offer the player a unique gaming experience with a large number of paylines and winning combinations. 

This is why many players tend to play these slot games just by spinning the reels and waiting to land on a winning combination, without even bothering to check the paytable. 

The 10-reel slots are super fun but also hard to strategize as it is very difficult to pay attention to every symbol on the slot matrix.

Cascade Reels

The cascading or tumbling reels are a modern slot mechanic that breaks away from traditional slot machines. 

Every matching symbol on the reels will be removed from the game board to make room for new ones to drop.

Usually, every time you hit a winning combination, you will earn a multiplier of x2, x3, and x5 for every consecutive winning combination. 

This can provide you with some big payouts, which is why these types of slot machine reels are increasing in popularity.

Gonzo’s Quest from NetEnt is a great example of cascading reels.

Slot Reels Myths and Misconceptions

As slot machines and online video slots became more popular, so did the myths and misconceptions about them. 

These are mostly spread by players that don't know how the slot machines work:

There is a virtual reel that determines the payout

One of the most common myths about slot machine reels is the saying that a virtual reel is spinning behind the reels, which determines the outcome of every spin.

This idea pops into the player's head every time a near-miss occurs on the reels, where the slot game stops in a way that one symbol is one position away from giving the players a payout.

You should know that there are no actual reels spinning behind the reels. 

Everything that you see on the screen is nothing more than visual graphics, and it does not affect your chances of winning.

The outcome of the coin is determined the moment you press the "Spin" button and the visual appearance is just there for pure entertainment. It takes a fraction of a second for the Random Number Generator systems to generate a random outcome.

The reel-spinning is manipulated by the casino

Another common misconception is that casino operators can control and manipulate the slot reels on every spin. 

This is wrong, though. The casino operators cannot reprogram and generate the outcome manually. That’s because the software providers are the ones that program the game and it is always using an RNG.

The Differences Between Land-Based and Online Slot Reels

When the first slot machines appeared in the land-based casino, they only had three mechanical reels that would spin every time a player pulled a lever. 

The mechanical reels had fixed symbols and they needed to be physically spun by the players.

Each slot machine used to have 10 symbols on each of the three reels, which means that there were 10,000 different combinations in the game. 

Over the next few years, the slot machines started to become slightly more interesting and complex, but with the same mechanics.

Nowadays, slot reels are more popular, but they are also much different from classic ones.

On the other hand, the video slots don't have mechanical reels and a lever, as the whole game is being conducted via a microprocessor.

This new way of organizing the slot games meant that the reels didn’t have to feature pre-assigned symbols on them, as they did back in the day. 

Basically, this software is programmed in the core of the game and it determines the outcome of every spin randomly. If you want to learn more about slots, we recommend you to check out our complete slots guide collection.

Final Thoughts

By now, you probably understand that slot machine reels are one of the most important features in slot gaming. 

There are numerous types of slot reels and every player has the freedom to choose one that suits their preferences.

We hope that our guide was helpful. With this fresh information in mind, you are all set to try out your luck on any slot game that you fancy. Chipy offers an ever-growing selection of up to 99,000 exclusive bonuses that can help you get started.