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| Best online casino / Online casino games / Classic slots |
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Many of the trends in slots for 2006 are simply old ideas repackaged and updated for a new generation of slot players. One of these is the resurgence of penny slots. Penny slots might have been popular in the days when a penny might actually buy something, but until recently they were unheard of outside the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas. Now penny games are taking over more and more of the slot floor in casinos throughout the country. In some regional markets nearly half the machines are penny slots. At the end of March 2005, just under 10% of the 176,589 slot machines in the Vegas casinos were penny games. The return of penny slots is directly tied to the popularity of video slots. Penny video slots with 25, 50, and even 100 lines and maximum bets of 5,10, or 20 credits per line with concomitant jackpots, give casinos the cash flow they need and players the flexibility and excitement they want.
Video slots are themselves a continuing trend, one that continues to evolve along with the technology. Slot manufacturers have hired video game designers and programmers to develop video slots to appeal to a younger audience that grew up on the likes of Donkey Kong and Pitfall. Like video games, the new generation of video slots, like IGT’s Alien, have plots, albeit far more simplified than those found in Halo and Doom. For example, if a player manages to land three (3) spaceship doors on the first three (3) reels, they are thrown into the Alien Hunt bonus game, in which players have to defeat an increasingly nasty selection of aliens. That’s a far cry from the old day when three cherries was as exciting as it got.
Another continuing trend is multi-denomination machines on the slot floors, which allows casinos to satisfy players of many denominations at the same time without losing possible revenue. The aging of the baby boomers is also triggering long-term trends in slot design, key amongst them larger lettering on the screens and slant-top cabinets.
Another old trend that is making a comeback is multiple progressives. In coming years expect to see machines with multiple progressives not just on winning reel combinations but on bonus screens as well. |
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