Bonus games on the second screen are fast becoming an essential feature in online slots. Online slots with such games are preferred because they add variety to the gaming. Most of these bonus games involve selecting an object or a number of objects. Whereas this does create a difference, selecting objects is not exciting. Therefore some online slot games incorporate somewhat more complex games.

One type of bonus game involves matching symbols in a way very similar to that of scratch cards. A bonus game of this type is available in the Microgaming online slot game Kings of Cash. When the game is triggered, 12 cards lie face down in a 4 x 3 grid formation. Outside this main grid in the four corners are the four Kings from a deck of cards. Each has a credit value displayed below it. The player clicks one card at a time to turn it face up. The player can click cards randomly or follow any sequence he chooses to do so. Once three Kings of the same suit are displayed the bonus game is over and the player wins the number of credits displayed below the King of that suit. To make the game visually appealing the image of a King outside the grid gets animated once two corresponding cards are revealed in the grid.

Another Microgaming online slot uses a different mechanism for matching symbols and adds an interesting but risqué twist. This is Sneak A Peek Doctor Doctor. In the bonus game one of the female medics is portrayed next to a 3 x 5 grid. Twelve of the squares conceal items of the medic’s clothing. There are three numbers each of four items of clothing. The remaining three squares are designated Booby. Players can reveal a maximum of twelve squares by clicking on them. Each time three items of the same clothing are revealed the player is awarded a multiplier. At the same time that item of clothing disappears from the medic’s displayed image. Nothing happens if the Booby is revealed. The multipliers earned are totaled up and multiplied by the total bet of the spin to determine the payout. Despite the risqué nature of the bonus game the limits of decency are not crossed and the modesty of the medic is preserved. And the lady players at Microgaming can have sweet revenge by wagering on Sneak A Peak Hunky Heroes which places men in the same precarious position.

The line bet in online slots is the amount wagered per payline. Since most players would be activating all paylines the line bet is usually arrived at by dividing the total bet per spin by the number of paylines.

Players who wager in a responsible manner go about determining this in a systematic way. They decide their bankroll for the session and the session time. They know approximately how many spins they can get in during that time. From this they can work out the average total bet per spin and based on the number of paylines they can get a value for the line bet. The question that is often asked is whether they should wager this line bet consistently throughout the session or they can keep varying the line bet every spin in a manner that the average is maintained?

In order to answer that question one needs to examine the possible reasons for varying the line bet. Playing online slots is an extremely repetitive activity and boredom can easily set in. Varying the line bet can to some extent alleviate that boredom. Instead of a line bet of $2 every time the player can wager in a continuous sequence of $1, $2 and $3. But this will entail making changes to the betting options after every spin and that can be more irksome than the boredom. It also prevents the player from setting up the slot game in the Auto Play mode. There are no advantages, real or perceived, in the expected winning by following such a sequence. On the whole varying the line bet in this manner does not seem to be a very good idea but it is a personal choice and every player has to make his call.

There is another situation in which players consider varying the line bet. Many players believe that lucky and unlucky spins come in streaks. That is to say that there will be a set of spins with good payouts followed by a set of losing spins. There is no logic in this reasoning. In fact the mathematically correct position is that each spin is independent of whatever has happened previously. But so strong is this belief in many players that they base their strategy on it.

What players generally do is increase the line bet after every spin that pays out and reduce the wager after every spin that does not pay out. There is a problem with this strategy. If the player wins five or six spins in a row the next spin can have a large line bet and when the player eventually loses he loses a large amount in a single bet. Therefore this strategy needs to be adapted with a modification. There needs to be a limit on the highest wager.

It is often said that the Internet has killed the habit of reading books in the printed form and has created a generation that is ignorant of classical literature. However, sometimes the reverse is true. Online gaming software developers have developed a number of slot games based on classical novels. If players try to see beyond the betting parameters and the payouts these slots can spark interest in reading the novels.

One of the best online slots based on a classical novel was released for the Christmas of 2009. It was Scrooge from the Microgaming stable. Scrooge is based on Charles Dickens’ famous work A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is a grouchy miser. Before Christmas he is visited by the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley tells Scrooge that he is being punished for his greed and request Scrooge to change. Then Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom; the Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. These visitations lead to Scrooge mending his ways and displaying the festive spirit of giving. All these characters are created realistically on the reels. The change in Scrooge is reflected in the free spins round when the Scrooge symbol is depicted as generous and friendly instead of mean and grouchy as in the main game.

WagerWorks has released a slot game called The War of the Worlds based on H.G. Wells’ science fiction classic of the same name. The novel is based on an invasion of the earth by Martians and this gives considerable scope for audio visual effects in the slot game. The main fighting machine of the Martians is a tripod with 100 feet legs and armed with a heat ray that can destroy anything. This is the bonus symbol in the slot game. In the novel the Martians land on Horsell Common, take over London and also engage in a sea battle with HMS Thunder Child, which is ultimately destroyed. All these battles are replicated in the bonus games. The heat ray, the tripod, London burning and Horsell Common are other symbols on the reels. Fortunately the slot game does not act the spoiler and does not tell how the earth was rid of the Martians.

Over the last two years branded slots have become entrenched in online casinos as a genre. The slots developer would have to pay a fee to use the brand but these slot games draw so much more traffic that the fees are easily recovered. It would be interesting to speculate on what possible brands slots developers can use in the future. The question that needs to be answered first is what are the qualities needed in a brand that would make it suitable for a slot game. The brand has to be powerful with high recall value across the globe. Also the brand should be such that it could be used in the contemporary features of slot games, like animations and bonus games.

Going by the success of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter would make a perfect branded slot game. The books were a sell out and so were the movies based on the books. The Harry Potter brand has been estimated at $15 billion and that speaks for the power of the brand. Rowling has taken great care to inject an international flavor into the books by having students from different countries of the world study at the school. And this will go a long way in creating a global brand for the slot game. There is no shortage of content for the symbols on the reels. The characters, the magical creatures and the places can be used. There are several slot games based on witches and wizards and are popular because of special effects in animations. Harry Potter will provide much more of this. The Harry Potter series has seven books and this could translate into a seven level bonus game.

Bonus games on the second screen with booby traps are fairly common in online slot games. In these games players usually are asked to keep selecting from the given objects till such time they reveal an icon that has been classified as a “booby”. Then the players cannot make any further selections but have to collect their awards and end the game. Different variations to this scheme can be found in online slot games. However, free spins bonus games are usually the opposite. If the specified combination of symbols appears on the reels during the free spins more free spins are awards. But on rare occasions online gaming software providers have been known to devise slot games with free spins rounds that get aborted before the allotted free spins are completed. And this is done through very innovative booby trap mechanisms, which adds excitement to the online slot game.

One recently released online slot game where free spins could be aborted was Wipeout. This game was developed by WagerWorks, which is the online gaming wing of IGT, and is live at casinos like Virgin Casino. In Wipeout the free spins bonus round is triggered when three, four or five free spins symbols appear scattered on the reels. In the normal course players can enjoy a maximum of 50 free spins. However to enjoy the full 50 free spins players have to ensure that they do not lose all their lives. Players start the free spins with 3 lives. Every time an Extra Life symbol appears on the reels a life is added to the players’ tally. Unfortunately this can only be done thrice. The more critical is the Wipeout symbol, which has given the slot game its name. Wipeout refers to falling of the board while surfing. Every time a Wipeout symbol appears on the reels the players lose a life. Once all lives have been lost the free spins bonus round ends even if 50 free spins have not been completed.

Paris is one of the most attractive cities on the globe. Every tourist will find something to his liking. There are historical monuments and an entertaining night life. There are street side cafes and exclusive restaurants. There are crowded shopping malls and designer boutiques. Two online slot games bring alive the spirit of Paris on the reels.

The online slot game that was released quite some time back is Paris Beauty from the portfolio of Realtime Gaming. Paris Beauty can be played at Realtime Gaming powered online casinos like Cherry Red, Slots Oasis, Club World and Aladdin’s Gold. One of the sub themes of Paris Beauty is art, which is integrally associated with Paris, whether through the Louvre Museum or sidewalk painters at Montmartre. Many of the symbols on the reels have the artist’s canvas as the background. The high value card symbols appear as painted images on this canvas. There are other symbols that support the artist theme. One is the artist and the other is the palette.

A broader view of Paris is also presented in the Paris Beauty online slot game. One of the symbols is the croissant, which is the staple supplement to coffee. The two most enduring images of Paris are the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower and both appear as symbols on the reels. To cap them all is the Paris Beauty, the attractive and flirtatious lady. The lady symbol is the wild symbol and appears only on reels 1 and 5. She not only winks when she assists in making winning combinations but also triples the payouts. The Eiffel Tower is the scatter symbol and in its animation it gets lit up with fireworks displayed in the background. This symbol offers scatter payments and triggers the free spins bonus round.

Gems have fascinated humankind from time immemorial. There are few things more attractive than a collection of dazzling gems displayed together. Some of the most popular online slot games have been built around the theme of gems. These online portray gem stones of different bright colors and different shapes as symbols. Some of these games include innovative features not found in the common slot games.

The software provider Cryptologic has a series of slot games called Casual Slots, of which one is aptly titled Bejeweled. This is differently structured from the usual slot game. It is played on a five by five grid with paylines occurring horizontally and vertically. The symbols are gem stones of different shapes and colors. The Bejeweled logo is the wild symbol. The symbols do not have to appear from left to right on enabled paylines but only have to be next to each other. After a winning combination is formed, the symbols in that combination vanish and the ones above drop down in their place. If new winning combinations are created as a result then additional payouts will be awarded in the same spin. This process is repeated till no winning combinations are formed. A jackpot payout of 8,000 times the line bet is offered for five matching symbols on payline 5 and five matching symbols on any other payline from 6 to 10. A super jackpot of 20,000 times the line bet is awarded for five Bejeweled logo symbols on line 10. Bejeweled can be played at Cryptologic online casinos like InterCasino and VIP Casino.

The software provider WagerWorks offers a gem themed online slot game titled Da Vinci Diamonds Dual Play. It is an enhancement of an earlier slot game Da Vinci Diamonds. The earlier slot game had gems as symbols along with some masterpieces of Leonardo Da Vinci. The same feature of symbols vanishing from winning combinations to be replaced by new ones is there in Da Vinci Diamonds, but is called Tumbling Reels. The new Dual Play feature has 40 paylines spread over six rows across the reels. The first 20 paylines are confined to the top three rows and the next 20 paylines are confined to the bottom three rows thus creating two independent games. The Tumbling Reels feature is replaced by a new Tumble Thru feature, in which symbols from the top set of paylines tumble down to replace symbols in the bottom set of paylines. If the Extra Paylines Free Spins are activated players get free spins with 20 additional paylines added. Da Vinci Diamonds can be played at WagerWorks online casinos like Virgin Casino.

When one thinks of ancient civilizations the names that first come to mind are those around the Mediterranean such as Greece, Rome and Egypt. These were fascinating periods of history and online slots developers regularly produce games on these themes. There probably are more slots on ancient Egypt than on any other theme. But there were vibrant ancient civilizations across the Atlantic in the Americas as well. The online slots developer Realtime Gaming has games based on these civilizations.

The Aztec civilization flourished in the northern part of Mexico. Realtime Gaming offers three online slots on this civilization. The graphics are essentially the same but the features differ. Aztec’s Treasures is the most popular of these. The slot game depicts the wealth that the Aztecs had accumulated through appropriate symbols. The golden idol is the scatter symbol. It offers scatter payouts and triggers up to 25 free spins. During the free spins the golden idol is even more indulgent in awarding scatter payouts and additional free spins. The Aztec king is the wild symbol. It appears stacked on the reels and therefore can pay out a lot. The Aztec lady depicts the elegance of the Aztec culture. It offers the highest line payout of 5,000 coins. The other thematic symbols in the Aztec’s Treasures slot game are jaguar, witch doctor, ensign and pearl necklace. The defining innovation in this slot game is the Feature Guarantee. If the free spins are not triggered in the normal course for 150 spins, then the Feature Guarantee will automatically award the free spins.

The Mayan civilization was the oldest of the American civilizations. It was located in the southern part of Mexico. The Realtime Gaming slot game based on the Mayan civilization is Mayan Queen. The Mayan Queen is the wild symbol. It appears only on the central reel, but it expands to a full length figure across all rows. It also doubles the payouts when it substitutes in a winning combination. Mayan Queen does not use high value card symbols and therefore is better able to depict the Mayan civilization. The symbols of wealth include emerald, gold artifacts, bracelets and jeweled daggers. The ancient American civilizations also built pyramids. But these were places of worship and not burial homes of kings. The pyramid in Mayan Queen can pay out as much as 30,000 coins in a single spin. The other features of this Realtime Gaming slot game are a free spins round and a randomly triggered progressive jackpot.

One can never forget the lure of the circus. With so many contemporary forms of entertainment the importance of the circus has diminished in children’s lives. However, online casino software providers have kept the tradition of circuses alive through thematic slots games. Microgaming has the largest collection of online slots on offer and has three circus themed slots games. Some other software providers also have circus themed slots games.

The first of the Microgaming circus themed slot games is Big Top. It is a simple 9 payline video slot with a fixed wager of 1 coin per payline. The symbols on the reels are the different circus events like Ringmaster, Clown, Elephant and Seal. The Big Top logo has the highest payout of 5,000 coins. The Wild Clown symbol is the wild symbol and the Monkey is the scatter symbol. The Monkey symbol offers scatter payouts. There are no free spins or bonus games.

Flying Circus is the next Microgaming circus themed online slot. Despite the name, there are no trapeze artists on the reels. The thematic symbols are Girl, Lion, Elephant and Big Top. The Ringmaster is the wild symbol and the Clown is the scatter symbol. Flying Circus is a 20 payline slot game with the Ringmaster symbol offering the largest fixed jackpot. There is free spins bonus that awards 25 free spins with all payouts doubled.

The Grand Circus is also a 20 payline video slot but is richer in features. All the symbols are thematic symbols and hence there is a better recreation of the circus. The symbols include Ringmaster, Clown in Cannon, Elephant, Bear on Bike, Lion, Donkey, Juggler, Clown Car, Cage and Refreshments. There are no wild symbols but three scatter symbols. 20 free spins are awarded in the free spins bonus. The payouts may be subject to a random multiplier decided for each spin. In the bonus game on the second screen six bears are displayed walking on a tightrope. Players have to select three of them to win bonus prizes.

5 Reel Circus is the Rival Gaming Circus themed online slot game. It has some interesting symbols on the reels that are not there in other circus themed slots. They are Contortionist, Break Dancer and Bearded Woman. The regular circus symbols are Clown, Seal, Cannon, Ringmaster, Lion and Tiger. The free spins round awards 10 free spins. The Break Dancer is the multiplier symbol.

Outer space is a very popular theme for online slots. These slot games usually display planets, spaceships and astronauts as symbols on the reels. But there is another entity from outer space that is equally fascinating, and this is the alien. Writers, artists and other creative people have imagined the alien in many different forms. The most popular of them was ET of Spielberg fame. Online slots developers have also put aliens into their games. This article describes two of the best alien themed online slots.

Alien Hunter is the video slot game from the software provider Playtech. It features four unusual looking aliens on the reels, but they are not the repulsive kind. One of them is the wild symbol and offers a fixed jackpot payout of 10,000 coins. All the alien symbols start paying when two are aligned from left to right on active paylines. Alien Hunter slot game has three special symbols leading to bonus games. The hunter spaceship rewards players with up to 25 free spins when three or more appear anywhere on the reels. When the alien egg symbol appears scattered on reels 1 and 5 the bonus game is activated. Players can collect eggs to multiply the payouts or find the super egg to double all subsequent wins. If players manage to pick up all eggs then they can win up to 720 coins. One of the eggs contains an evil alien and finding this egg will abort the bonus game. Three alien hunter symbols on an active payline trigger another bonus game. It gives players 15 seconds to catch up to six aliens. The red aliens are worth the most, followed by the blue ones and then the green ones. Players who lack sharp shooting skills may try the software controlled game that awards random prizes. The features do not end here in Alien Hunter. This slot game incorporates the standard Playtech Dollar Ball Game. Alien Hunter can be played at all Playtech online casinos like Omni Casino, Casino Tropez and Golden Palace Casino.