Types of Slot Game Reel Symbols

Standard Reel Symbols

There are some reel symbols that are found on most slot games, you often find fruit based symbols such as Cherries, Oranges, Melons, Grapes and Lemons on many three reel slot games whilst the video slot games do tend to have playing card related symbols in play on their reels, with the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Ten symbols being the most commonly found ones.

playing card related symbols

fruit based symbols

These are of course the standard reel symbols attached to most slot games and in addition to those reel symbols mentioned above many slot games will have standard reel symbols which are based around the theme of the slot.

So for example when playing Pirate or Underwater themed slots it is not unusual to find Ship, Fish, Treasure Chest and Anchor symbols in play on the reels. A standard reel symbol will not have any additional uses other than awarding a winning payout whenever you get a set of matching symbols lining up in the correct order on any activated payline.

Underwater themed slots

Scatter Symbols

Scatter symbols are not like any other reel symbols for they can award a winning payout and/or trigger a bonus game feature whenever you get the required number of them spinning into view anywhere on the slot game screen.

The beauty of Scatter symbols is that when you are playing slot games and not putting into play the maximum number of paylines any one slot has available you can still trigger those bonus games or Scatter payouts.

You will often find that the more of these symbols that you spin in the bigger and better either the Scatter payout will be or you will be awarded more free spins or a potentially higher paying bonus game feature round, so you will of course therefore be hoping to get at least one Scatter symbol appearing on each reel when the reels finally come to a stop!

Bonus Symbols

Bonus symbols are used to trigger a bonus game on many slots, however they do differ from the Scatter symbols mentioned above as you often have to get a certain number of these types of reel symbols spinning in on the reels in certain reel positions before the bonus game is triggered.

The most common way for a set of Bonus symbols to award a bonus game is for you to get at least three of them spinning in on consecutive reels starting on the first reel on activated paylines only. You will however also find some slot games which require a bonus symbol to spin in on reel one and reel five both at the same time and often on the same reel strip location, or sometime these symbols have to spin in on every other reel such as reel one, three and five to trigger the bonus game feature round.

Some three reel slots have just one bonus symbol in play on one particular reel and you will only be able to trigger the bonus game feature round when that symbols spin in on the payline when you have activated maximum coins on the payline.

When playing any slot game which offers a set of Bonus symbols it is always advisable to check the pay table of that slot to see just how they trigger the bonus games, as there are many different ways that they can do this depending on the type of slot game you are playing!

Wild Symbols

There are now so many unique types of Wild symbols it can be very hard to keep track of the various ways these symbols work and operate! The most basic kind of Wild symbol will simply stand in for other reel symbols in play on the reels, and whenever one of them lines up alongside any set of other matching reel symbols it will help to form a winning combination.

You will find that some Wild symbols are also Wild Multiplier symbols and these not only help you to complete winning combinations but when these symbols do help form a winning combination the payout is boosted by the multiplier value attached to the Wild symbol.

Some online slot games now have Soaring Wild symbols, Random Wild Symbols or Floating Wild symbols and these symbols will be randomly attached to one or more reel location as the slot is playing any one spin or after the reels have come to a rest.

Expanding Wild symbols are also in play on a lot of online slot games and when these symbols spin in on any reel position they can expand upwards and downwards and occasionally from side to side and diagonally and will make any reel position they touch become Wild locations on the slot game screen.

Some slot games will also have a special and very unique type of Wild symbol bonus game feature and this is often a completely randomly triggered type of bonus game which when awarded will turn one or more of the reels into completely Wild reels.

As this bonus game can and very occasionally does turn all of the available reels completely wild, when that happens the player playing the slot at that moment in time who is awarded that bonus game is going to win a huge amount of cash by having the entire reels covered in Wild symbols, if they are playing all of the paylines that the slot game has on offer!