How to Play Progressive Slots

Whether you are a regular slot player or a newcomer to Buzz Bingo, you are bound to come across progressive slots at some point. If you don’t know what a progressive slot is, we are here to clear things up.

Same Game, Different Name

The good news is that a progressive slot plays just like a regular slot. That means you spin a number of reels with symbols on them and try to match certain combinations to win money. In the early days of slot machines, there were only three reels and you needed to match symbols across the centre line (pay-line) to win. Typically, the symbols were fruits, bars, and numbers (hands up if you are old enough to remember them).

Today, online slots usually have five reels and the symbols can be virtually anything you can imagine – in fact, there are themes to suit almost any taste. Love baking? There’s a slot theme for you. Crazy about sharks? There’s a theme for you too. You get the picture. There are also many more combinations of symbols that can result in a pay-out.

Traditional Jackpots

Now for some techy stuff. The amount you can win is determined by how much you stake per spin and what combinations of symbols you land. The higher you stake, the more you could win – up to a maximum amount. With online games, the outcomes are decided by a computer program called a random number generator (RNG) which is programmed with different probabilities for each symbol. This is called weighting.

The symbols can be weighted to appear more or less often than others. As a result, some slot games will pay out smaller amounts but will pay out more often, while others will pay out larger amounts but much less frequently. However, the jackpot on these games is usually set at a fixed amount. Each game you play may have a different pay-out level, a different jackpot, and slightly different odds of winning.

Progressive Jackpots

When you play a progressive slot machine such as Glass Slipper at Buzz Bingo, the jackpot gets bigger every time the game is played. This is because a small percentage of every stake goes into the jackpot kitty. A standalone progressive slot has a jackpot that is exclusive to that game. So, the jackpot only goes up when the current player makes a spin.

Other progressive slot games are linked to multiple games in multiple locations, meaning the jackpot increases at a much faster rate as a large number of players can be added to the pot at the same time. Progressive slots tend to pay out less often, but with bigger jackpots. Once someone wins, the jackpot resets and starts building again. When you find a progressive jackpot online, you can see the current jackpot amount displayed as you play.

Just remember to check if there are any terms attached to the progressive jackpot such as maximum bet amounts. Otherwise, there is no difference in the way a progressive slot plays compared to a standard jackpot slot – apart from the potential for bigger returns. So, now you know all about progressive jackpot slots. Fancy giving them a try?