Online casinos are jam-packed with games of every genre. As seasoned casino players, we aren’t phased at all by the variety that casinos are starting to offer in order to remain competitive. However, new players can’t help but find themselves swamped by all the categories of game that they’re suddenly running into.
After all, the casino is a very diverse place and there’s very little that a slot and live casino have in common, other than they’re both just a click away at your casino. In this guide, we’ll take a basic overview at all the different kinds of games you’ll run into at your casino and how to play them properly.
Online And Mobile Slots
Let’s start nice and simple and take a look at the humble slot game. Slot games are a classic and fundamental presence at every online casino that you’ll ever visit. Slots are a simple concept, that numerous creative and innovative developers have continued to add onto in recent years, making them one of the more experimental and ever changing game types at the casino.
At its base, slot games are comprised of different symbols which sit on spinning reels. The aim of the game is for players to spin the reels and then land symbols of the same kind adjacent to each other. Different symbols have differing values, with symbols with higher values appearing infrequently on the reels and symbols of low value appearing more frequently on the reels.
Players have an element of control over the game since they can choose when to spin the reels and when to stop the reels spinning, although they will stop spinning by themselves. Players can also choose how much they want to bet on the slot, with they bet increasing the amount they win as symbols pay out multipliers of whatever the initial bet was.
Slots also come with bonus gam
es that can be activated by spinning certain special symbols, known as scatter symbols. Bonus games can offer players free spins, where they get to spin the reels without placing a wager and then taking home any winnings they make. Bonus games can also come in the form of random handouts, where the player will randomly receive cash bonuses. All in all, bonus games can pretty much be anything and are usually the areas of the game where developers choose to innovate.
All in all, slots come in many different forms, but once you understand the basics and read any of the slot’s provided information to get a better insight into the game, you’ll get the hang of each game you play quick enough.
Progressive Jackpot Slots
Progressive jackpot slots function exactly the same as regular slots, but they allow players to earn bigger cash prizes. Progressive jackpot slots come with an additional progressive jackpot, which is a prize fund which increases in value as more players play the slot.
Progressive jackpot slots are networked, which means that every player is tracked and their wins and losses are all tallied up. Every time a player loses money on the slot, a small percentage of that lost cash goes into a shared jackpot of money, instead of all going to the casino as it usually would.
The more players that play the slot, the more players will end up losing from time to time, and therefore, the larger the jackpot becomes. Players will have to spin certain rare symbols, known as jackpot symbols, in order to win the progressive jackpot and take home the cash, at which point, the jackpot begins to increase once again.
The longer a jackpot goes unclaimed, the higher it becomes, with some jackpots regularly reaching into the tens of millions. A single win on a progressive jackpot can be a life changer, but there are usually tiers of jackpot on each slot, so there’s more regular small jackpots to won, as well as the rare multi million pound jackpots.
Casino Table Games
Think of all the classic games that you see at a casino and those are pretty much what comprise table games. Any game that is traditionally played on a table and features cards, dice or balls is considered a table game.
Table games are extremely diverse, so it’s hard to sum them up quickly, but usually the game involves players betting against a dealer on an outcome. If they win, the dealer pays them a multiplier of their bet and if they lose, then their cash goes to the dealer.
Common table games include roulette, blackjack, baccarat, poker and craps, but number of casino table games out there reaches well into the hundreds. There are tonnes of unique games like Punto Banco and Pai Gow, but even numerous variants of the regular games.
Online casinos can offer casino table games like low bet blackjack, high bet roulette, single deck blackjack, multi deck blackjack and even roulette with a slot game attached. Online casinos are slowly starting to innovate on the classic table games of old, so you’ll be more than spoiled for choice if you’re a table game fan at an online casino.
Live Casino Games
Live casino games are table games which you play online, but they’re played with real dealers in real time to create a far more immersive casino experience. Whereas, online table games are played on a computer rendered version of the table, with no dealer or other players visible, live casino games are played over live stream.
Much like a real version of a table game, you and several other players will interact with a real dealer who plays on a real table. Players can chat to each other over instant messaging and chat to the dealer, but only the dealer is visible and audible to the players.
As in a real table game, the dealer will set up the game, call for bets and then carry out the game and declare the winners at the end. Players use the instant messaging system to inform the dealer of their bets and what moves they’d like to make.
Live dealer casino games are usually the same price to play as table games, but offer you a true to life casino experience, all in clear high quality, with genuine dealers to take your bets.
Sports Betting
Sports betting and sports books are one of the newer additions to mobile casinos, but they are slowly starting to gain traction as more people are choosing to avoid the betting shop and instead make instant bets on their favourite sports with the convenience that a mobile phone offers.
Like traditional sports betting, players can place bets on the outcome of sporting events. These sports can include football, tennis and rugby, but some casino go so far as to allow players to bet on e-sports, table tennis and even darts. Players are able to bet before matches, or because of the convenience and speed of online sports betting, they can place bets during the match with different odds to reflect the higher chances of them winning.
Casinos that offer sports book allow you to head straight from your slot games and start betting on real world sports games in major or local tournaments. Some casinos even let you stream the match, so you can watch the game, place your bets and even grab a few sneaky spins on a slot all from a single site.
