How Combining Gameplay Has Changed the Casino Landscape
Casino games have typically been clearly divided into different genres such as slots, table games, and card games in the past.
However, the introduction of online gambling games that mix gameplay from two or more games has changed the landscape by creating new ways to play that appeal to different groups of players. How do these combinations work, and what are the key features to look out for?
Slots with Bonus Rounds
When you look at the current list of gambling games online, casino slots stand out as being the biggest category on most sites. With categories like classic slots, seasonal slots, and Megaway games, this is becoming a bigger and more diverse collection of ways to gamble with each passing month.
New titles are added regularly, with providers including Blueprint, Barcrest, and Red Tiger each adding their latest efforts including features they believe will encourage more players to give them a try. This means there’s no longer such a thing as a typical slot.
Many slots have classic features like free spins and a wild symbol added to the basic gameplay. Others have introduced bonus rounds where you’re asked to pick a card or image to reveal prizes, although it tends to be simpler than picking from a full deck of cards, increasing the chance of getting it right. These rounds are triggered in a variety of ways and the prizes vary from instant cash wins to free spins or multipliers and so on.
As slots grow in popularity and the leading providers look for new ways to engage players, we can expect to see more bonus rounds with visually appealing features, some of which might seem familiar from other gambling games.
Slots will continue to be among the simplest gambling games, but these features add a unique flavor to each title, meaning that the category is becoming more diverse.
Live Game Shows with Slots and Bonus Rounds
Live game shows have brought players a new approach, with a human dealer on the screen who calls out the results and entertains players between rounds, similar to the way some of the greatest TV game shows work. These games are based on different ways of gambling, such as throwing dice or spinning a lucky wheel. However, many include a bonus round or qualifying round that covers a different sort of gameplay.
Treasure Island by Pragmatic Play has bonus rounds based on bingo and pachinko, that can be triggered if the wheel lands on the right spot. This means that it’s based on several of the world’s oldest and most popular games rolled up in one package.
Bingo has been popular across the planet for more than a century, while pachinko is the most popular gambling game in Japan after going mainstream in the 1930s. The wheel section in the main game is reminiscent of many lucky wheel games that have been popular in numerous cultures over the centuries.
Crazy Coin Flip by Evolution has a qualifying slot round where you need to get three scatter symbols on a slot machine to get into the main game and see where the coin lands in the right way to give you a win.
The idea of adding a slot machine element to a live dealer game has added a new edge to the growing game show genre, as it allows game creators to build a new game around a slot that already has a large fan base, providing the opportunity to broaden its appeal.
Slingo Mixes Bingo and Slots
Perhaps the best example of casino gameplay being combined to create something new comes from online Slingo. These games are a mixture of bingo and slots, with every spin bringing up a set of numbers or special symbols like wild and free spin scatters.
Those numbers that appear on your grid are crossed off, causing you to climb up the list of prizes. The top prize is awarded when all 12 potential winning lines have been completed.
The Slingo genre has grown as more themes and features have been added. Games based on sport, the Wild West, and Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations help to make it an extremely varied way of playing.
Simple gameplay means that fans of bingo and slots aren’t the only people who can start playing without any delay. It’s a game of chance, just like slots and bingo, so players only need to press the spin button and wait to see if they collect a win.
These games show us how the casino genre is evolving to create new ways of playing by combining familiar elements that work well together. Expect to see more interesting combinations of this type in the future, as different mash-ups are tried to allow the casino industry to expand its appeal and flourish.