Free video slots are available online. They are used as promotional tools or advertisements for online casinos. Video slots started as an upgrade to the old mechanical slots that used to dominate casino floors.
They can also be considered the precursor to modern online slots since they moved slot games from a mechanical structure to fully digital in nature. Free video slots are only found online and not on real casino floors.
The Rise of Video Slots
Video slots became an established part of the casino floor in the nineties when modern technology made the old mechanical style slot machines obsolete. Mechanical slots were quite limited in their displays and game mechanics and could be quite expensive to repair if any mechanical faults occurred. As such video slots became the norm since they simply consist of a display and a central processing unit to run the software.
The displays could also be a lot more colorful and contain a lot more reels. Where old fashioned mechanical slots could contain between 3 and 5 reels, video slot titles could contain as many as 3000 reels.
Due to their digital displays, video slot titles are extremely customizable with most developers creating their own unique machines that feature interchangeable hardware so that a casino easily upgrade their video slots with new software, hardware and games. Video Slots in the online setting specifically refer to online version of the real video slot machines. Since both the video slot and online games feature digital displays, the real video slot machines can easily be ported to an online setting.
The Functioning of Video Slots
First off, compared to mechanical slots, video slots vastly expanded how the in game bonus features work. Players could now easily trigger free spins or bonus multipliers since developers could easily implement these features without needing to take into account complex mechanical features.
Weighted reels where completely removed since the likelihood of hitting jackpots was now determined by a mathematical algorithm.
The randomness of the spins was now also determined by a random number algorithm. Video slots are also technically more secure since the software on the video slot machines are pre programmed at the factory and set to a specific value so casino owners could not tamper with the game odds.
The Big Names in Video Slots
One of the biggest and most well trusted names in video poker is Bally Gaming. This company started manufacturing mechanical slot machines in 1932. They were also one of the first companies to fully embrace the move to digital video slots.
Their titles are as popular online as they are on casino floors. Some of their biggest titles are Blazing Sevens and Texas Cash.WMS Gaming made a variety of casino and leisure games including pinball machines before they started including video slots in their manufacturing. They are also the owners of the progressive video slot, Jackpot Party that just like the Bally titles have found even more fame online.
IGT is a highly respected online slot developer that has started porting video slot machines to online casinos and have made a big name for themselves with their very popular Wheel Of Fortune online slot series. They are joined by Microgaming who also port many video slot games to online casino sites, but are most well known for their online slot titles like Tomb Raider and Thunderstruck.