Looking at 7 Reel Slots

If you’re looking for something that’s a little more complex than a standard slot machine, you might try seeking out a seven-reel slot machine. These games can be wild, offering an enormous number of possible combinations and alternative ways of winning prizes. Even compared to a five-reel video slot, a 7-reel game increases the number of symbols that can appear on the screen at any given time.

What Are 7 Reel Slots?

A seven-reel slot is any slot machine game that features seven reels (or columns) or symbols on the screen during play. As always, adding additional reels to the slot machine increases the complexity of the game, as there are more possible payline combinations. In fact, a 7-reel slot with three rows of symbols can have an incredible 2,187 paylines (as opposed to 243 for a five-reel slot and 27 for a three-reel slot), though in practice, far fewer paylines are almost always used.

History of Seven Reel Slots

Seven-reel slots were unheard of back in the days of mechanical slot machines. When each reel had to spin independently, it was possible for individual reels to break down due to mechanical failure. This made three-reel slots the most popular options for manufacturers, with the occasional five-reel slot also making an appearance.

Once video slots began increasing in popularity, the possibility of creating 7-reel slots became more realistic. Nonetheless, it was rare (if not entirely unheard of) to find a brick-and-mortar casino that hosted any seven-reel slot machines. Since players were used to the more traditional three and five reel games, 7-reel slots were considered more of an oddity than anything else.

The advent of online casinos finally created an arena in which 7-reel slots could truly be accepted. With no space limitations, online casino sites could offer as many games as they liked, and try new and unusual game types. That led to casinos offering seven-reel slots as well as even more bizarre games, some of which featured ten or more reels.

Even with these advances, seven-reel slots remain extremely rare, even on the online world. While it’s certainly possible to offer these games, casinos tend to choose to focus on five-reel and three-reel slots instead. This is due to the fact that players are more familiar with these games, and thus more likely to play them.

How Seven Reel Slots Work

Seven-reel slots essentially work in the same way as any other slot machine. Players insert coins and choose how many paylines they’d like to play; they may then hit a button to begin spinning the reels. Players must match symbols in order to collect prizes. However, since there are seven reels instead of the normal three or five, players often have to make longer combinations in order to score wins; matching three symbols might sometimes be enough to claim a small prize, but often four or five symbols are required to win anything of value. Depending on the rules of the slot machine, jackpot prizes may be reserved for players who match the same symbol on all seven reels, or a player might only be required to match five symbols anywhere on the machine.

The main difference in how seven-reel slots work comes from the fact that adding two extra reels exponentially increases the complexity of the machine. This can sometimes allow operators to offer very large prizes on a 7-reel slot, since there are more possible combinations on the reels. However, since the odds of a video slot can be highly manipulated anyway, most major slots jackpots are still offered on 5-reel games instead.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Seven Reel Slots

The biggest advantage to 7-reel slots is the ability of creators to add more symbols, bonuses, and special features on a machine. Since there’s more room for symbols to appear on the screen, that provides more room for creativity and flexibility on the part of operators.

However, this complexity is also the greatest weakness of the 7-reel slot machine. Many players find these machines to be confusing and difficult to play. Perception is important here, too: even if the odds on a seven-reel slot machine are the same as those on a five-reel game, it may look like a daunting task to match seven symbols at the same time in order to win a large prize.

Given the fact that players generally don’t response well to seven-reel slots, it’s not surprising that they are extremely rare in online play. While they can be fun as an occasional change of pace, most players prefer focusing on the more manageable five-reel games which are much more common at online casinos.