Advantage Slots

I’ve seen rare cases take over 25 spins, but I’m still giving this a green designation on the risk scale.

Like with many slot machines, the line hits build left to right, so the fourth column doesn’t carry much weight. My minimum play used to be four coins in the second and third reels with at least two multipliers. Something like this, which you’ll find at a fairly high frequency:

Is that a great find? Not at all. We can also tell that in a sense because we find it often enough. In fact, it’s pretty fringe and I’m sure some grinders won’t play it. And you know what? I’ve adjusted too. I now want at least three multipliers and four coins in the second and third columns. Even that isn’t anything special, but hey, not every find is a grand slam.

In the photo above, the second reel has a regular coin and a 2x coin, while the third reel has a 2x coin and a regular coin. I’ll zoom in:

We also have a solo regular coin in the fourth reel, which isn’t completely worthless but isn’t factored into our formula. Again, I don’t play those anymore.

Once a reel is filled with three coins, that reel becomes wild for three spins, starting with the next spin. I say that because sometimes you find situations like this, which I’ll play:

You’ll notice the second reel has zero coins, and there are no multipliers in the third reel. However, it will be wild for three spins because it has three coins, so I’m spinning that for three spins and hoping for a small win.

If the second or third reels are wild, I’m playing for as long as they’re wild, which will be one, two, or three spins, depending on how many coins are included. You know a reel is wild when it has a highlighted border surrounding it (see above).

But what about something like this? Is it a play?

Nope. That middle reel is no longer active (no coins). It had been wild the previous spin but is no longer in play. It has that border I just referenced, but it needs to have at least one coin included to be active for the next spin.

So, what about those jackpot tikis above the reels? Do those matter? They do not. They are just part of a bonus that you cannot plan for. The other bonus — three anchors in Captain Riches and three volcanoes in Tiki Fortune — also comes randomly.

The dream in this game is to get the second and third reels wild on the same spin. In all my years of playing, I’ve only had all three reels wild at the same time once, but you better believe it was a massive hit.

Finding something like this above is not uncommon. If the next spin were to bring a coin in the second and third reels, which is rare, you’d be loving life for the next three spins with all of those multipliers significantly increasing your payout.

One last example. Would this be a play?

Not for me. We only have one multiplier in the second and third reels despite having six coins overall and two multipliers if you include all the reels. I just don’t value that fourth reel much when I’m looking at this game.

I don’t have a photo above for Mine Blast, but it’s the same game and plays the same way. There’s also an Irish-themed version I’ve seen at a couple of casinos, but I can’t even remember the name let alone produce an original photo. That said, they all play the same way and look similar enough that it shouldn’t matter a whole lot what the theme of the slot is. You’ll be able to ID them all quickly enough.

I do have some videos of this game, including of the elusive Mine Blast: