Free Spins Features in Online Slots

Free spins features have become an integral part of online slot games. Usually the free spins feature is triggered when a designated symbol appears in a specified manner on the reels. In most online slot games this designated symbol is the scatter symbol and the free spins feature is activated when three or more scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels. However two recently released online slot games have a different and innovative mechanism for triggering the free spins feature.

One of these games is Tribal Treasure. This game has a counter which tracks the number of times the Mask symbol appears on the reels. When the Mask symbol appears on the reels the value of the counter increases by 1. When the value of the counter reaches 10 the free spins feature gets triggered. This perhaps does not make any difference as to how often the free spins feature is triggered. The slots game software can be so devised that the average expected number of spins in order to get three or more scatter symbols anywhere on the reels is the same as the average expected number of spins to accumulate 10 Mask symbols. However, this new mechanism provides a visible change in the routine and this adds considerable interest in the slot game.

One of the parameters of the free spins feature is a number of free spins offered. In many slot games this number is fixed. In other slot games the number of free spins is determined by various methods. For example if three scatter symbols appear on the reels then the player gets a certain number of free spins. If four scatter symbols appear then the player gets a larger number of free spins and if five scatter symbols appear then the player gets the largest number of free spins. Sometimes the number of free spins is decided randomly through a mini game.

The Microgaming online slot game called Scrooge has combined the counter system for determining the number of free spins as well as when the free spins will be triggered. This is an innovative procedure and though slightly complex it is interesting. This slot game has two counters. One counter determines when the free spins feature will be triggered and the other counter determines the number of free spins. Whenever a winning combination appears in an enabled payline the player is required to click on any of the symbols in the combination. This process moves one of the two counters ahead. Either the counter tracking when the free spins will be triggered is moved ahead by one count or the counter that is tracking the number of free spins is moved ahead by one count. Which of the two counters will be activated is decided randomly. In Scrooge the free spins feature is triggered when the counter reaches 25. When this happens the player gets the number of free spins shown in the other counter.

The online slots games are extremely competitive products. Such innovations are needed not only to keep the player involved but also to differentiate the product of the software provider from that of others. In this counter mechanism once the value of the counter approaches the cut off value the excitement is really high because the player knows that the free spins feature is imminent. If the player is only a few counts from the free spins being triggered he would want to continue wagering and not give up the opportunity of receiving larger payouts in the free spins.

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