All Ways Slots

1Paylines in Slots

Avid slot fans who spin the reels regularly understand the basic principle of paylines, but we’ll explain how they work for newcomers. The vast majority of slots award cash prizes when a player matches at least three identical symbols on a payline.

The payline is a pattern that the winning symbols must follow for the game to pay out. These patterns can be horizontal, diagonal, zigzagging, chevron-shaped, V-shaped, and so on. Typically, the winning combination must start on the leftmost (first) reel and continue to the rightmost (last) reel; otherwise, no payout is awarded.

Classic slots usually have one to five paylines, while more advanced titles feature multiple win lines – sometimes up to 50 or even more. Microgaming’s Cashapillar was among the first slots to offer as many as 100 win lines.

The player must cover each payline with a bet or it will not pay, even if a winning combination lands on it. For example, if you wager one coin worth $0.05 on a slot with 25 fixed lines, your cost per spin amounts to 25 credits or $1.25. However, this is not the case with All Ways games.

2How All Ways Slots Work?

This advanced breed of slots has no paylines whatsoever. Here, all symbols behave like scatters, meaning the matching icons must land on adjacent reels to pay. The exact position of the symbols on each reel is irrelevant.

More often than not, payouts are awarded provided the matches occur from left to right on the reels. As a general rule, you need at least three identical symbols on adjacent reels to collect a cash prize.

This feature increases the number of possible winning combinations. Here’s why. On a traditional slot, there are three reels with three symbol positions per reel, creating 27 possible ways to win because three to the third power equals 27.

Most modern slots use five reels with three visible symbols on each. This enables 243 possible winning combinations across the reels because three to the fifth power equals 243. This is exactly the case with All Ways slots that use the standard 5×3 grid. These games generally boast higher hit frequencies, with winning combinations appearing nearly every couple of spins or so.

3Bet Per Spin is a Flat Amount

Unlike conventional reel-based games, All Ways slots do not require players to pay for each winning opportunity individually. Instead, the bet per spin is a single flat amount. The cost of each round is evenly balanced to appeal to players with different bankrolls.

Nevertheless, you can increase or reduce your stake per round using the game controls. Some All Ways slots, such as those provided by Microgaming, even allow you to bet multiple coins of your chosen denomination on each spin.

1How Both Ways Pay Slots Work?

All Ways slots should not be confused with another category of games: the so-called Both Ways Pay slots. These titles typically use a standard grid of five reels with three symbols each, although layouts can vary between games.

Unlike All Ways slots, Both Ways Pay games award payouts when symbols align on one or more paylines. The alignment can occur in either direction – from left to right or from right to left. By contrast, most All Ways slots require the matching combination to start on the leftmost reel.

You must cover the paylines with one or more coins to activate them; otherwise, winning combinations will not yield any payouts. In some games of this type, players must place an additional bet to enable the Both Ways Pay feature. If they don’t, only wins from left to right are counted.

2An Example of Both Ways Pay Slot

This is the case with Microgaming’s Atomic 8s slot, where you must pay 3x your base bet to trigger the Power Spins mode. Another requirement is to activate the maximum number of paylines, which is nine in this game.

Doing so doubles your winning opportunities, but consistently placing the side bet can become costly over time. For this reason, we recommend you look for Both Ways Pay games that don’t charge extra for the feature. Some of the slots we suggest include NetEnt’s Fisticuffs, Playtech’s Captain’s Treasure, and The Catfather by Pragmatic Play.