Nat Sauteed
Slot games have been around for a long while and existed in saloons across the States in the early 1900s. At the time, they were primitive, handle-operated machines, but they were hugely popular because people could win money on them. They have remained as one of the best-loved gambling games throughout their history, and for this reason, they have evolved as technology has progressed. Like it did for so many things, the Internet enhanced slots massively, and pushed them rapidly forward in their progression. Nowadays, you can find the best slot machines at top Canadian casinos which allow you to enjoy seamless gaming and benefit. Developments are now coming thick and fast. There’s no telling what these enduring games could look like 20 years from now.
Some Things Never Change
The slot games of today still have a lot of the elements that made their early ancestors so popular. They continue to feature reels with symbols on, and players have to spin them and try to match these symbols. Certain symbols have a higher value than others, and on some games players can still hold the reels. Players still have to spin the reels each time, but on modern games they press a button rather than pull a lever.
Developers have taken the core elements and enhanced them over the years. Nowadays, instead of having three reels, most online games have five. The middle payline still exists, but now there are various other paylines across the reels which give players more ways to win.
Fierce Competition Between Online Casinos Led to Faster Innovations
The internet helped push the development of slots along at a much faster rate than before the online days. With the rise of online casinos, there was fierce competition between developers to create the most innovative games. As soon as one developer came up with an idea that players liked, others would jump on it and try to make it even better.
Companies like Microgaming and Playtech have had to make sure their games are always of high quality, because online casinos actually use their slot games as a selling point for their sites. To entice players in, sites even offer free ways of playing the games initially. Some of the top casinos for free slots include Royal Vegas, Jackpot City, and Spin Palace. They use famous titles like Gladiator, Mega Moolah, and Immortal Romance to bring players to their sites.
Some of the innovations that have come about thanks to the internet include the fact that nearly all games come with side features, themes, music, and animations. Microgaming has been at the forefront of pushing the evolution forward, and was responsible for the first game with parallax scrolling effects, on the Jurassic Park slot game.
Slots Likely to Evolve Even More
Net Entertainment could be the company to watch out for in the coming years for slot game advances. The company is putting a lot of focus on creating virtual reality slot games like Gonzo’s Quest VR and Jack’s World VR. If VR becomes as big as expected, then by the year 2023, nearly all slot games could be fully immersive. This is because the projected revenues of the technology are expected to spike to $160 billion in that year. This suggests that VR will be mainstream at that point.
The internet gambling market has had a huge influence on slot games, and pushed them much further ahead in their evolution. It has allowed ideas to spread more freely, and the competition means that developers constantly need to innovate in order to stay ahead.
