Slot Machine Features That Failed

Now you read this and many think “Hey, implementing skill-based mechanics could be a good thing”. And yes, on a surface level we also think it sounds nice, but this idea doesn’t really work when you execute it. You see, the thing with skill-based mechanics is that it was created to appeal to younger demographics and to add a so-called video game element to make the slot more thrilling. Basically, you play a regular slot but to get a bonus you need to be skilled to get it. For instance, it could be an additional level with special gameplay like in a shooter. The problem is that not only does this pull you away from the slot’s experience, breaking the immersion, but also creates a not very fair environment. It gives more skilled players an advantage and a higher chance to win, while the new players are discouraged that they don't have the same opportunity.

In case you didn’t know, the colossal reels are available both in the land-based casinos and online ones and have 2 sets: the one on the left has a 5x4 grid, and the one on the right has a 5x12 grid. When combined, they make up for 100 paylines, which admittedly does offer a better win potential and payoffs. So why are Colossal Reels not as popular? Simply, because they are far too confusing, even for the more experienced players. With how overwhelming it is to play on 2 sets of grids, you oftentimes can’t keep track of everything that is going on, which becomes very confusing.

This is another slot machine format that not many providers use nowadays. In synced reels, there are 2 or more reels with the same symbols. When you play the slot and spin the reels, the 2 reels will be synced, and then a symbol will fill both of these reels, thus allowing for bigger payoffs. Apparently, however, many players found these mechanics to be somewhat inconvenient, for nowadays only NetEnt implements Synced Reels mechanics into their games.

Speaking of NetEnt, they also introduced the so-called Spiral Win mechanics back in 2017, in their slot Finn and Swirly Spin. While the game is cute and appealed to many players, others didn’t really quite enjoy the mechanics NetEnt implemented – Spiral Win. In it, the symbols will land from the bottom left corner and will move around the outer rim of the reels and then to the center. Then the symbols will come out essentially creating the spiral pattern. This is interesting mechanics, admittedly, but just has not quite resonated with other people, as almost no one implements this mechanic nowadays, other than NetEnt.

720 Ways was created under the influence of the revolutionary mechanics from a very well-known provider – Microgaming. A little bit of history: in 2009 Microgaming introduced the 243 paylines system, which was groundbreaking. See, for the time, all the slot machines didn't have any paylines, so of course, seeing how 243 paylines provided a much bigger payoff, they have attracted a lot of players. So other providers looked at Microgaming’s success and considered that adding even more lines = success. But there is one thing one must always keep in mind – more does not equal better.

So the 720 line mechanics was introduced. It had 5x reels and a setup of 3-4-5-4-3. And yes, for that intended purpose it did provide a much bigger payoff than 243 paylines slots, but it didn't really resonate with other people. Why? Because of a very complex and confusing setup. People could easily get lost and didn't know what to do, or how to win and their heads started to hurt trying to understand this thing. So yeah, even though people got bigger payoffs in 720 slots, they were just much more complicated and all this payoff meant nothing if you didn't know how to navigate the slot.

The Betting Strategies system was introduced by ELK Studios, and in theory, it sounds like an interesting idea. In essence, instead of making random wagers, you turn on the betting strategies, which will increase your bet after every time you win and decreases after every loss. The problem with this was that added even more risk by increasing the stakes, and you don’t really need an additional risk, seeing how gambling is already a risky experience as it is. Plus, it meddled with a strategy some players may have developed themselves.

Trying new things and implementing new mechanics is always a risk – some may become groundbreaking, while others may flop and didn’t get the intended result. Nevertheless, the risk of failure should not stop anyone from trying out something new. Because only when providers come up with new mechanics and implement them can we truly reach progress and make the slots even better than they are now.