3 Reel Slot Games

Slots on slots on slots and more slots. The world of online casino is, realistically, dominated by the game. It’s the ease of use, the ubiquity, and now customisation that makes them so popular.

Here you’ll find the break down of 3 reel slots, looking at what makes them such a popular choice, especially within the retro casino gaming landscape given their roots in the more traditional side of the history of slot gaming.

History of 3 Reel Slots

When we talk about the history of 3 reel slot machines, we’re really discussing the origins of slots themselves. The very earliest examples of these mechanical gaming units used three reels, so we must go back to their inception to start to plot the trajectory of what we now see as something of a throwback and refer to as 3 reel slot games.

In the late 1800s, a mechanic in San Francisco took the five drum poker machines that had started to resemble something of a slot machine and simplified them by removing two of those drums. Now there were just three reels that would spin with five symbols that could appear. These were quite different to what you might see on more modern machines, and you would see diamonds, spades, hearts, horseshoes, and a Liberty Bell. In fact, that final one gave these early slots their name.

After that, these would become adopted by bartenders and venue owners across the United States, and later, the world. Their popularity would boom because of the ease of playing when comparing 3 reel slot machines to those with five drums. Players could much more easily see if they completed a winning combination. Since then, they’ve come to represent the past and when they finally made the jump to the internet, 3 reel slots became popular online as a throwback to a simpler time in the world of casino gaming.

3 Reels Slots vs 5 Reel Slots

Obviously, the main difference between 3 reel online slots and 5 reels is the number of reels. But many won’t know exactly how this difference in the number of reels impacts the gameplay. One way in which they will be different in particular is the number of paylines. In a game with three reels, there’s often only going to be one payline because of the restrictive number of symbols that can be displayed. On a five-reeler, you can have much more and there can even be more than 10. It’s also noticeable that three-reelers will usually have lower jackpots, too.

Another thing to note is that those with three reels will likely be much less complex graphically due to their nature. They are seen as a retro style of the game and the slightly limited space means that there is less room to play with when it comes to introducing visuals. That won’t necessarily always be the case and this is much more a cultural difference than anything but it is still something you may notice.

Symbols in 3 Reel Slots

You might have noticed by now that we keep mentioning that there is something a little retro about 3 reel slot machines. When you play them online, you will tend to see recurring symbols that largely stick with the previously mentioned card suits, horseshoes, and bells. However, there are some other symbols that are still common today.

Nowadays, you might see cherries, lemons, melons, and oranges, as well as the non-foody gold bars and 7s. You will be looking to match these symbols on a horizontal payline, and there will usually be 1, 3, or 5 available to you when you play 3 reel online slots depending on the size of the grid.

Themes of 3 Reel Slots

As you might expect, due to the perceived retro nature of these types of machines, you will often find that their themes will revolve around that. In many cases, they will lean into this throwback style. You’ll find that they look to replicate the one-arm bandit style of yesteryear or the pub-classic fruit machines we’ve come to know and love. However, that doesn’t mean that’s all there is.

The internet allowed developers to experiment with all different kinds of themes, even with these three-reel versions. Several titles take on the kinds of popular themes that you will see in other slot types, such as Chinese mythology, Irish iconography, and even dragons, tying them all together with the three-reel gameplay.

Top Slot Games With 3 Reels

You might think that there are not so many 3 reel slots online given that they’re sometimes seen as more of a retro oddity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. At Pink Casino, you can choose from a number of great titles that make use of three reels. Below are some of the top titles you can play at Pink Casino:

• 9 Lions by Wazdan
• Dragon Kingdom: Eyes of Fire by Pragmatic Play
• Irish Gold by Play’n GO