Slot Terminology & Lingo

When you peruse the hundreds of fabulous slot games that we’ve curated for you here at Pink Casino, you’ll notice a bunch of words and phrases that are used to describe different aspects of these games.

If you’re playing these casino games for the first time, slot terminology can seem like trying to learn another language. But fear not because these words and phrases are easy to understand and, when you know what they mean, incredibly helpful for choosing the slots for you.

Avalanche

Avalanche slots use a different mechanic for moving the game’s symbols around. Traditional slot games use spinning reels to do this. With this mechanic, your aim is to match the symbols of the same type on the same payline.

With avalanche slots, the symbols drop down from the top, sort of how snow slides down a mountain during an avalanche. If you match any winning combinations when the symbols are all in place, they will explode and disappear from the screen, with the symbols above them falling down to take their place and new ones filling in the gaps at the top.

This process of exploding and falling repeats until all possible wins are completed in that spin.

Amazing Link

Amazing Link is a feature used in some slot games to offer you the opportunity to win various prizes and jackpots. Landing six or more of the special ‘Amazing’ symbols on the reels at the same time will trigger the Amazing Link feature.

This grants you three respins with any additional Amazing Coins than land locking into place, while also giving you extra respins. These coins carry different prizes, with some awarding a cash value and others triggering one of the four Amazing Link jackpots.

Base Game

Slot games are made up of a base game and bonus features. The base game is the standard slot-spinning mode that forms most of the game that you see in all games. In even games where a different mechanic is used, such as an avalanche, it is still referred to as the base game.

Bonus Features

Anything that triggers outside of a slot’s base game is considered a bonus feature. There is a wide variety of bonus features offered by slot games, but the most common ones are: Free spins Jackpots Respins Stacked wilds

Cascade

Cascading slots is another term for the avalanche mechanic.

Cluster

Traditional win mechanics paid out when you matched symbols on a payline. However, in cluster games, paylines are replaced requiring you to match symbols in groups. This works in a similar way to other games you might have come across, like Candy Crush Saga or Bejewelled.

Expanding Reels

Expanding reels is a type of bonus feature offered by some slot games. This adds additional reels to the standard ones used in the base game to increase your opportunities to win and/or the size of your payouts.

Expanding Wilds

Expanding wilds are a variation of the standard wild symbol (detailed below) that sees the symbol expand to cover more than one position. This means the wild can substitute for symbols across multiple paylines, rather than just one.

Free Spins

Free spins are one of the most commonly used online slot terms as this bonus feature can be found in almost every game. Because they’re so widely used, their implementation varies, including how they’re triggered, how many you receive, and how you win while using them.

Fixed Jackpots

Fixed jackpots are the traditional type of jackpot. They have a predetermined prize amount that does not change, even after it is won.

Fruit Machine

Fruit machine is a colloquial term for a slot machine. It comes from the fact that many traditional slots use fruit as their symbols.

Hold & Win

Hold & Win is a bonus feature found in some slot games that challenges you to match a certain number of special symbols on the reels. When they appear, these symbols will remain fixed on the screen while you try to land more.

Depending on the developer of the game, you may also see these referred to as names like Hold ‘N’ Win, Stick ‘N’ Win, or similar.

Jackpot

A jackpot is a larger prize offered above the standard wins that you can trigger in a slot game. They come in the form of fixed or progressive jackpots, which we’ve covered elsewhere.

Megaways

Megaways is a popular slot mechanic that increases the number of paylines from a more traditional number of around 20 to more than 100,000 by varying the size of the reels.

Paylines

Paylines are the lines you can make winning combinations of symbols to receive a payout. The original slot games had a single payline across the middle but modern ones can have upwards of 100,000.

Paytable

Every slot game has a paytable that lists all the symbols used in the game and how much they’re worth. You can find it inside the game itself in the menu or from the paytable button.

Progressive Jackpot

Progressive jackpots are a special type of jackpot that grows larger as you and others play. Each spin contributes a small amount to the size of the jackpot until it is finally triggered by one player. When it is won, the jackpot resets back to its base amount.

Providers

Slot games are created by independent software developers who then provide them to us here at Pink Casino. This can mean some games have a distinct feel or feature that you may enjoy over others.

If that’s the case, you can see the provider name listed under each game, so youcan choose games from your favourite developers.

Reels

Reels are the stacks of symbols that you see spinning in each game. This piece of slot terminology comes from the fact that the original mechanical slot games used cylinders that looked like fishing reels.

Return To Player (RTP)

Return to player (RTP) is a theoretic measure of how much you can expect to receive back from a game. For example, a slot with 98% RTP will, on average, pay out £98 for every £100 wagered.

However, the RTP isn’t a guarantee in a single playing session. It is measured over hundreds of thousands of spins, which means you can expect some variance in a typical playing session. This means you can win more or less than the RTP each time you play.

Scatter Symbols

Scatter symbols are used in the base game to provide an extra way to win. They don’t need to appear across a single payline, their appearance is enough. Land enough and you’ll win a prize.

Some slots also use scatters to trigger bonus features.

Stacked Wilds

Stacked wilds is another way to refer to expanding wilds.

Symbols

Symbols are the numbers, images, and other iconography that appear on the slot’s reels. Matching them unlocks prizes, with different symbols having different values.

Volatility

Volatility is a measure of how often a slot will pay out and how big the difference is in the sizes of the wins. Low volatility slots will pay out more frequently, but those wins will be smaller. In high volatility games, they may pay out less often but can offer much bigger prizes when they do.

Ways To Win

Ways to win is phrase used to describe paylines.

Wilds

Wilds are special symbols that can be used to substitute for another symbol in a winning combination. In some games, they may also be used to trigger bonus features and/or also carry a value of their own.