Slot symbols come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. One of the most intricate parts of any slot, alongside its paylines and prizes, are its symbols. In this slot machine symbols guide, we’re going to touch on them, discuss the different types of symbols you can find in slot games, and explain how each of them works. We’ll also clue you in on some of the top slots you can play at Betnero UK that feature these symbols. If you’re new to slots and want to learn about symbols, here’s what you need to know:
Types of Slot Symbols
Most of you will be aware that if you line up identical slot symbols across the reels (on paylines in many cases), you’ll win prizes. There’s a lot more to them than that, though. Let’s explore each of the main options and explain what they offer:
1 – Standard Symbols
Standard symbols form the basis for every slot. Old-school one-armed bandits, classic slots, and fruit machines may feature icons such as fruit, bars, and bells. In some video slots, they may opt for high playing card symbols (10s through Aces). In some titles, they may be more thematic, featuring images related to the theme of the slot. Good examples of this include finding gemstones in NetEnt’s Starburst slot and fruit imagery in the Fruit Shop slot. These online slot symbols generally offer UK players cash prizes when they line up three or more on paylines or on adjacent reels. That is their primary purpose. Next, let’s look at special slot symbols.
2 – Wild Symbols
The bread and butter of most video slots, wild symbols will always substitute for all standard paying symbols. Think of these as jokers in a deck of cards – they’ll count for what you need to help land winning combos. Wilds can also come in various shapes and styles, including expanding wilds (that cover whole reels), sticky wilds (that remain for several spins), and stacked wilds (that can vary in size). Gonzo’s Quest Megaways is a great example of how wild symbols in slots can alter a game in other ways. In that release, they activate a cascading reel feature.
3 – Scatter Symbols
Scatter symbols boost UK players’ chances of landing features and thus winnings. They get their name because they count no matter where they land – they aren’t bound to paylines and are scattered across the reels. The principal feature of these symbols is to trigger slot bonus rounds, such as bonus spin features. One of the most famous games that utilises scatters is Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead.
4 – Bonus Symbols
Bonus symbols work in a similar way to scatters. While they aren’t tied to paylines, either, they often need to appear on specific reels to trigger bonus mechanics, such as money wheels or wheels of fortune (made popular in Games Global’s Mega Moolah progressive jackpot slot), multipliers, click and win mechanics, or a thematic bonus round. It isn’t uncommon to see those symbols required on the first and fifth reels or the first, third and fifth reels, for instance.
5 – Multiplier Symbols
Multiplier symbols are another of those special slot symbols that do what its name suggests. They will often have a multiplier slapped on them and visible to the player (2x means double your money, 5x means five times the amount, for instance). They can rise to 10x, 20, right up to 500x or higher in reality. It all depends on the game you play. They can appear in base games (usually on an extra reel) but are more commonly found in bonus rounds, as is the case in the Buffalo King Megaways slot at Betnero UK.
6 – Special Innovations
It isn’t uncommon to find special innovations woven into slots, too. For instance, cascading symbols disappear when they feature in a win, and new icons are allowed to drop down to replace them, as you’ll see in Reactoonz. Other games may contain colossal symbols. These cover many reel spots (2×2 up to 5×5, sometimes larger in size), accounting for significantly larger payouts. Gonzo’s Quest Megaways is a great example of colossal symbols in action.
Top Slots at Betnero Featuring Unique Symbols
As you’ve seen, there are definitely different types of online slot symbols for UK players to explore, and each impacts your game in a unique way. Next, let’s showcase five key slots and explore these features in more detail.
#1 Big Bass Splash
Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass Splash allows you to trigger spins when you land fishing rod scatters on the reels. During that spin bonus, fishermen will appear as wild symbols. When they pop up, they allow you to collect fish prizes, each of which has its own cash prizes.
#2 Temple Tumble Megaways
Relax Gaming’s Temple Tumble Megaways, as its name suggests, is a Megaways game. This means that you should expect to see up to 46,656 ways to win. It also means that you’ll get cascading symbols and exploding blocks.
#3 Fate of Fortune
Developed by ELK Studios, Fate of Fortune is played over a 5-3-1-3-5-reel slot. Highly volatile, it has a top prize worth 10,000x, and it uses mystery symbols and wild multipliers to boost your wins. Mystery symbols are similar to wilds, although instead of acting in place of any symbol, all instances of them transform into one specific symbol.
#4 Chocolates
Big Time Gaming’s Chocolates is unique in that it contains a 4×4 structure, which features an incredible 65,536 ways to win. Highly volatile, this tasty game gives you the chance to open wild boxes, and these can increase the default 256 ways to win in the game. Golden Ticket wilds can also add multipliers worth up to 216x.
#5 Fire in the Hole xBomb
No Limit City’s Fire in the Hole xBomb slot debuted in 2021 and is notable for featuring exploding (xBomb) symbols. When triggered, these will annihilate all manner of adjacent symbols. This naturally frees up the reels for new symbols to drop down.
Slot Symbol Payouts and Combinations
By now, you should have a good idea of what types of symbols there are in slots and how they work. Next, we need to touch on three key elements to slot symbols. Here is what you need to know:
High-Value VS Low-Value Symbols
- Firstly, every slot game will likely have two types of paying symbols. These are all standard symbols, but the prizes they can pay will either be high-value or low-value.
- Low-value symbols will often be shown as fruit or high playing card symbols (10s through Aces).
- The better-paying symbols will typically be thematic, featuring imagery associated with the slot’s theme. You can find out what each symbol pays by checking the paytable.
FAQs About Slot Machine Symbols
What are slot machine symbols?
Conventional slot machine symbols are images that appear on the reels of a slot. They may be thematic in nature or represent fruits, playing cards or anything else. Some are designed to pay out winnings (standard symbols), and others will trigger bonus rounds, multipliers, jackpots or other features.
What is the key difference between wild and scatter symbols?
Wild symbols substitute for another that you may need to win on a payline. Scatter symbols often trigger bonus rounds. You’ll typically find both symbols in a run-of-the-mill video slot. However, scatter wilds offer you the best of both types of symbols.
How do bonus symbols work?
Bonus symbols are often required to appear on specific reels. When they do, they will trigger a bonus mechanic or some kind. This may be a wheel of fortune, extra reels/paylines, an instant win mini-game, a click-and-win feature or another bonus.
Are there slots without paylines but innovative symbols?
Absolutely. Some slots feature no paylines at all. Any game that features a Cluster Pays format, for instance, dishes out wins when you group together “clusters” of symbols rather than them having to appear on paylines. Germinator and tumbling reel games may work in a similar way, with icons solely required to appear adjacent to one another to pay out a prize.
“Betting is strictly for players aged 18 and over. Please gamble responsibly. For support and more information, visit BeGambleAware.org.”