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Slot machines, aka “one-armed bandits,” have changed a lot since their early days. Those used to be simple games with spinning reels. Now, we see online basketball slots filled with special features. 

What differentiates one basketball game from another? The features they offer! You can encounter wilds, scatters, and multipliers. Each addition makes the spins far more rewarding. 

In this guide, we will explain some of the most common slot features. Read the basics and see how that works in practice at Stay Casino — you’ll get 300 free spins as a new player, plus 100 more every Thursday.

Top Slot Features Explained

When you are playing basketball slot games, there are always certain features that you should know about since they help you understand the sport and learn the game better. Here are a few features that you should know about while playing these basketball slot games. 

Wilds

First off, wilds are the most common features in basketball slot games. They replace other symbols on the reels, rendering it easier to make winning combos. So, a wild could turn a losing spin into a win by replacing missing symbols in a pay line.

There are various types of wilds. Each one will help you differently:

  • Stacked Wilds: These are wilds that cover several spots on a single reel. They can assist in creating several combos simultaneously once they land.
  • Expanding Wilds: An expanding wild pops and fills the whole reel once it finally lands. It allows more winning opportunities since every position in that particular reel is wild.
  • Sticky Wilds: Sticky wilds will appear and stick on the reels for some spins. You get more chances of winning, as they don’t disappear after one spin.

Scatters

Next up, scatters. Regular symbols must line up on a pay line to win. But scatter symbols can land anywhere on the reels. 

They don’t need to answer to the rules governing pay lines. Do a certain set of scatters? Those may trigger bonus rounds, free spins, or other features like multipliers and jackpots.

For instance, hitting three or more scatters in most basketball slots gives you free spins. You save cash but get a chance to win more. 

Sometimes, scatters can pay you even though they do not trigger any bonus feature. They give extra rewards just for showing up on the reels.

Multipliers

Moving on to multipliers. Those are symbols that can multiply your winnings by a certain number. Imagine you have won 200 credits, and there is an x10 multiplier in action. Your 200 credits just became 2,000 credits instantly. This feature can turn a small win into a big one.

Multipliers vary with different basketball slot games. You can trigger random multipliers that apply to any win in one spin. You can also face fixed multipliers that only work for particular lines. Or during special rounds of play.

Some slots will even let you make multipliers stack. Hit two x2 multipliers? It would multiply your win by 4, furthering your prize. 

Free Spins

Then, we have free spins that allow you to spin the reels without credits or coins. That means additional winning chances. Some symbols on free spins can be wild or extra bonuses. All these give you more opportunities to come out on top.

Cascading Reels

As a wrap, let’s look at cascading reels. Those are also called tumbling or rolling reels. 

Unlike regular reels spinning, cascading reels operate differently. Hit a winning combo? The symbols disappear as more fall in their place from the top of the screen. That means you can win more than once from a single spin. If the new symbols create another winning combo, the process starts again. 

Cascading reels make the games faster. Here, action continues without having to spin every single time. It’s a blast to have more chances at big wins all at once!

Other Bonus Features

This is a list of features that goes on for a while, but not all of them are regularly available. Still, let’s know how they are operated, just in case you encounter when playing online basketball slots.

Dropping Symbols

Also called Tumbling Reels, Rolling Reels, Avalanches, Cascading Symbols, or other terms slightly varying between the creators, the feature allows winning symbols to disappear from view, leaving space for other symbols to fall from the top of the screen. This can further multiply wins in one round.

Win Multipliers

Other features offered in the bonus rounds may include applying bonus multipliers. Bonus multipliers multiply the wins coming after the bonus round by a number, which is fixed and set between 2x to 5x. The winning multiplier may also be limitless in some versions when winning with a bonus spin. 

Special Wilds

Not only are they a substitute for all the other symbols, but some wilds also carry additional features. The wilds can expand to fill up a whole reel; they may come with multipliers that are applied to all the winning combinations they help create and can even travel across the reels with each spin.

Gamble

As in a game of basketball, now with the possibility of the gamble feature, you can choose whether to put your wins from one round into another miniature game, such as guessing whether a card randomly drawn is black or red, having the reward doubled if you guess it correctly, but losing it if you guess wrong.

Wrap Up!

Online basketball slots have cool features that make the game more fun. Wilds substitute the other symbols to make your win. Scatters give you free spins and sometimes a bonus. Multipliers boost your wins. Cascading reels take you to more opportunities to win.

These features make the game exciting and give you more ways of winning. Remember to look out for them — they could bring big rewards!