As every casino player will know, slot games have become a staple of just about every online establishment. There’s several different variations of such games, and while the original models that graced land-based casinos all featured three reels, it’s very much commonplace now for the dominant slot products to feature 5 reels instead.

Many players will consider 3-reel games to be too old-fashioned, and have instead turned to the 5-reel options for a more modern and updated gaming experience. And it’s fairly true to say that the fives do outdo the threes on a lot of frontiers, advancing beyond the classic products with a single pay line, and turning into thrilling games with story lines, bonus features and themes. Such additions to these games are what have placed the 5-reel offerings at the head of the pack, as people get to experience often times wonderful graphics with a plethora of intriguing extra features.

Advantages to 5-Reel Slots

So, what makes a slot with five reels better than one that includes three? Well, the fact that there’s two extra reels is one part of it. Extra reels means extra symbols, and extra symbols gives the strong possibility of creating extra winning combinations. Not only that, but you’ll generally find that the amount of pay lines that are incorporated into 5-reel offerings far exceed those that the 3-reel products have to offer. And, once again, the more paylines there are, the stronger your chances of forming a win.

These games also tend to provide players with a bigger choice of wagering options, allowing not only the opportunity to change the coin value between vast parameters, but also the bet level as well, resulting in the chance to place higher wagers per spin. While the lower levels of bets on 3-reel products may appeal to newbies, the flexibility of the wager amounts from products with five reels caters to both beginners and advanced users, therefore appealing to a larger audience group.

And that’s only the start of the advantages, because as many gamers already know, 5-reel slots also tend to incorporate a plentiful selection of added extras to make them more exciting to play. Which leads us to…

Special Features of 5-Reel Slots!

For those players who enjoy a well-rounded game, you can’t go far wrong with a slot product of this nature. Often featuring an extensive amount of added extras, the games are frequently a lot more compelling and intriguing than their smaller reeled counterparts.

While playing a game with five reels, you’ll often have the opportunity to access features like freespin rounds, offering up several re-spins of the reels without needing to place wagers before each one. There’s also the possibility of a game including one or more bonus rounds, which are usually relative to the theme of the game. So, for example, Microgaming’s ‘Hot as Hades’ provides players with the opportunity to access the ‘Quest for the Crystal Helm’ bonus round, which offers up five levels of a pick-bonus trail game with other gods like Poseidon and Zeus featured. Or Netent’s ‘Pacific Attack’, which takes gamers back to World War II, and provides a bonus game of the popular product, Battleship.

Not only that, but you’ll also find 5-reel games that feature such standard icons as scatters and wilds, and in addition to these, stacked wilds, cascading reels, expanding wilds, mega symbols and much much more to make the experience as pleasurable as possible.

Advanced Graphics and Capabilities

There’s also another reason that these particular variations of slot games have worked their way to the top of the pile, and that’s because generally speaking, they feature high quality graphics and sometimes, video packages to accompany them. Due to such integrations, the whole interface tends to be a lot more intriguing, as does the actual game play. Products that utilise popular culture as their theme, such as the Megadeth game from Leander Games, or Netent’s ‘Aliens’, will incorporate actual sounds and animations relating to the subject they’re created from.

Putting it simply, 5-reel slots tend to have more capabilities when it comes to their creation than what 3-reel games usually offer. And because of the higher amount of reels, merged with the possibilities for bigger wagers and customisation, they tend to feature more consistent payouts and a bigger inclusion of ways to win.

Some of the online gaming world’s biggest and most popular 5-reel slot games include ‘Starburst’ and ‘Gonzo’s Quest’ from Netent, featuring extra rich graphics and user-friendly game play, ‘Immortal Romance‘ and ‘Avalon II’ from Microgaming, providing intriguing story lines and reel sets, and ‘Captain America’ and ‘Gladiator’ from Playtech, taking those aforementioned pop-culture TV and film creations and turning them into likeable games.

Finding your way around a 5-reel slot may look quite daunting upon first glance, especially if you’re only used to playing products with three reels. However, once you’ve browsed around the interface for a couple of minutes, they’re usually exceptionally easy to get the hang of, and they’ll keep you entertained from the get go in the most part.