What are the types of Game online and how do they work?

Slots are one of the most common games found in both online and land-based casinos. With the simple gameplay of spinning the reels and wide variety of themes it’s no wonder that these games remain so popular.

One of the main features of a slot game is the jackpot – the highest potential payout for a winning combination. But there is actually more than just one type of jackpot when it comes to Slots, so it’s worth understanding how different jackpots work and what sets them apart from each other.

Fixed jackpots

The first type of jackpot is known as a fixed jackpot. As the name suggests, these jackpots are set at a predetermined value that remains the same over time. This is the more traditional type of jackpot, seen since some of the earliest mechanical slot machine designs.

With fixed jackpots, the amount will typically be shown on the physical slot machine cabinet design, as it isn’t subject to change. It’ll also be listed prominently on an online slot game’s information, along with the combination of symbols that it requires.

It varies from game to game whether players need to wager a maximum value in order to activate the possibility of a jackpot. In some cases, the jackpot will potentially trigger no matter what level of wager the player has made, so long as they land the necessary winning combination on their spin.

Fixed jackpots are generally of a smaller size compared to other jackpot types, but at the same time their winning combination carries higher odds of landing on the reels.

Progressive jackpots

The other major type of jackpot is the progressive jackpot. These were a newer addition to slot games, as the older mechanical models had no means of implementing this sort of cumulative feature.

How progressive jackpots work is simple, as each time a player makes a wager, a small fraction of that amount is added to the overall jackpot pool. This allows the total jackpot to climb over time as more players take a spin on the reels, having the potential to grow to higher numbers than you’d typically see in a game with a fixed jackpot.

There are a few subtypes of progressive jackpots, depending on the number of games that are linked to the same jackpot pool. In some cases, the jackpot is only tied to a single game – a standalone progressive – while in others there are groups of machines all linked to one jackpot total, or even different games under the same banner.

In some games only players who stake the maximum wager are eligible for the jackpot, where in others every player who takes a spin has the same chance of hitting the winning combination. But progressive jackpot games generally have lower odds of hitting the jackpot combination than a game with a fixed jackpot, allowing the total pot to continue growing for longer.

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Progressive jackpots have a greater degree of variability to them, as two players who land the jackpot combination could end up with very different payouts depending on the size of the current pool.

But whichever type of jackpot better suits your personal preferences, there are plenty of options for slot games out there that feature either of these styles of jackpot.