Of the casino games, a game of slots can feel like it most suits the digital format lent to it by online casinos. That’s not to say that the other games don’t gain something through being accessed this way, but slots feel almost designed for such an intensely visual platform – as the physical machines you find are also emphasizing the flashing lights and rotating imagery.
So, it’s a natural transition. However, is there anything more than that? Do slot games gain anything from this shift that wasn’t possible before? If so, it’s also worth considering what might be lost.
Visual Variety
While slots are hardly known for being visually tame, they have always still been limited by the machines on which they were presented, and what was preinstalled. With what’s possible on a phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop, however, that limitation is basically entirely removed. In a lot of ways, you could think of this as allowing the game to appear as it was always meant to. Whereas games like blackjack and poker are mainly afforded global connectivity through online casinos, they function basically identically to how they would when played with physical cards.Slots, on the other hand, have the door opened by this shift. While there have always been multiple variations of the game, these are afforded more freedom to differentiate them from the core version thanks to this visual flexibility.
Immediacy
The best casino games online are the ones that you can pick up, play, and become engaged with for as long as you need to. Slots games are simple by design, but the amount of player input that does exist is instrumental to the whole experience, and that can make for a very engaging gameplay loop. Roulette might be an example that comes to mind as a point of comparison, but it’s a much more laidback affair, with the player generally making inputs that have less of an impact on the overall result. This can make it a less appealing candidate to resort to during a moment of free time than something that’s going to provide both a gameplay hook and a lot of visual stimuli.
This is something that’s furthered by the touch screen of some devices as well, removing the delay between the decision to stop the reel and the consequence of that choice.
Accessibility
In general, while slot machines are often widely available through restaurants, bars, or pubs, this might not put them on quite the same level as poker or blackjack – where all you need is a deck of cards, and some friends. Now that slot games are available through online casinos that can be accessed on smartphones, they have become much more convenient for those who are interested in playing them. Not having to interact with the machines in public spaces might make people more willing to do so – due to the lack of familiarity with that process compared to simply launching an app or site that you have available on your smartphone.
