Learn About Video Pokies and How to Play

Video pokies originally appeared at land based gaming venues in places such as arcades, bars and casinos and since the advent of online casinos, software companies started developing pokies for the virtual world where their popularity has grown even more. There are several different types of video pokies and these all vary in design from one software provider to the next, but the rules are basically the same with most varieties.

Players can sample these games at most online casinos in the free play mode before spending their real cash, plus they all have a rules section and the paytables will reveal how much each symbol is worth, plus they also explain how the bonus rounds are triggered.

Learn About Video Pokies and How to Play

Video Pokies are a modern interpretation of classic fruit machines. They are bigger and better some might say. The rules are simple with most of these pokies and even if you are new to a game, it should only take you a few spins to get used to. Video Pokies can have anywhere from four to nine separate reels, each full of different symbols and they could have anywhere from 10 to 100 winning paylines. Some recent slots have been known to have up to 243 different Ways of Winning, rather than the standard payline structure.

Apart from just matching a certain amount of symbols across one of the active paylines to win a prize, these video pokies also have bonus rounds where additional prizes can be won. Bonus rounds make video pokies a lot more exciting than classic 3 reel pokies. The more advanced video pokies may also have bonus rounds that require a bit of skill to win prizes (basically nimble fingers and good mouse control is needed).

Video pokies can have scatter symbols, wild symbols, expanding wilds, multipliers and bonus symbols. Players can also win additional prizes during free spins rounds that can often be re-triggered meaning that in some cases, an infinite number of free spins is possible.

The bonus rounds generally take place on a second screen. As soon as they have been triggered, you will be transported away from the reels. This bonus round is generally a simple picking round where you must select certain objects to reveal either hidden cash prizes, multipliers or free spins. A multiplier basically doubles or triples your stake that you are betting with. Some multipliers can reach up to 500x your stake.

There are numerous online pokie themes and for each theme there are many different varieties. For example, the Egyptian theme is quite popular, plus there are many pokies that have popular television game show themes. Playtech and other software companies have also developed games based on iconic Marvel™ comic heroes.

There are more than enough different varieties to keep players entertained for hours at a time. These video pokies are rich in colours and have innovative audio and sound effects. The software is improving at such a rate that the latest i-Slots (3D pokies) have given us glimpse of what the future may hold for online pokies.  

The impressive animations and fascinating mini intros to these games are great to watch and the amazing quality makes each pokie thoroughly entertaining. Since the mid 90’s, more than 2000 online video pokies have been developed.