One of the most common features on all slot machines, both new and old, is the free spins round. This comes in many different forms, but in essence a free spins feature gives the player a handful of free spins at the stake they paid to unlock the round in the first place. On the most basic of free spin rounds there are no additional features, but on modern slots you will find everything from additional multipliers and wilds, to Wild Reels, Stacked Wilds and more.
Free Spin Features
In most cases, free spin features are unlocked via the scatter symbol. This is a basic feature on all slots, and it’s very rare to find a slot that has at least 1 feature, but does not have a free spins round. Most free spin features will take place on the same reels as the base game, but this isn’t always the case.
It is common to get at least 10 free spins, but on slots where it is possible to trigger the feature with 3, 4 and 5 scatter symbols, there is often a low minimum and a high maximum. On some games you can unlock as many as 100 free spins, although you often need all 5 scatter symbols for that to happen.
Additional Features
Multipliers are often added to free spin features, as are Wild Reels and Stacked Wilds. It is also becoming common to introduce extra paylines, and in many cases the amount of paylines or “ways to win” will double as the free spins round is triggered.
One of the things to look out for on free spin features is whether or not the spins can be re-triggered. This means that if you land more scatter symbols during the round, then you will be given more free spins. If not, it limits your chances of a big score. And in some cases, it only takes one scatter symbol to unlock extra spins.
Best Free Spins Slots
The best free spin slots are not necessarily the ones that offer the most amount of free spins, but the ones that offer the highest chance of a big return. Variety is also important, which is why games like Playboy, Game of Thrones and Thunderstruck II are so popular. These games all have several options to choose from. In the case of Game of Thrones you will be asked which one of these you want to play every time you trigger the feature. You can opt for more free spins and a smaller multiplier, or a bigger multiplier and fewer free spins, and there are 4 options in total. On Playboy and Thunderstruck II, as is the case on many other slots, you can work you way up in the levels. Every time you trigger the feature you go one step closer to the next round, and as you advance in the levels you will get more free spins, better multipliers and bigger features.
Free spins are also very effective on games that have Cascading Reels, which is why Jack Hammer, Chain Reactors Super Trails and Football Star are so popular.
