You don’t have to be Darwin to know evolution happens everywhere. It can be organic, like the faltering steps from homo erectus to the modern human. Or it can be driven by tech. That is what’s happening with the bonus features and special effects in slots… and, as the best South Africa online casino, we feel duty-bound to trace the progress!
Jislaaik okes. It wasn’t that long ago that slot machines had only one cash component. That, of course, was hitting payline wins.
You stuffed coins in the slot, yanked the lever and if matching symbols aligned, coins came tumbling out. It was one-dimensional gaming on a three-dimensional machine. Hayibo… how things have changed.
Shakedown to Shake It Up at Springbok South Africa Online Casino
The first step from shakedown to shake out was the integration of bonus features into slot games. The equivalent of jokers, aka wild symbols, were introduced to ramp things up. What they brought to the party was a higher probability of winning – and the folks sure did like that!
Then over in the Yahoo confines of Vegas, progressive jackpot prizes scaled the heights of the machines. They blinked and buzzed away at the top, encouraging punters to pop the coin… and they did, in copious numbers. When someone lucky hit the jackpot, the noise and light show went on and on. It was like disco without the dance.
Eighties Eish! Slots Only at Sun City!
Ja, nee. In those days, having the real-time opportunity to become a dollar, or even Rand, millionaire was rare. That was back in the 1980s, long before the first South African online casino was launched.
It was the dark days, people, the days without much colour, creativity or cash. The only way to get your bets away was to hoof it to Sun City or the Wild Coast Casino. Even then, slots were limited… at best.
Login for Virtual Gaming
Now, when you login at our award-winning South Africa online casino, what do you see? Gaming is virtual, outcomes are random and there are literally hundreds of slots packaged for play on your screen.
Shoo! That is awesome.
Wilds + Scatters + Free Spins
Unpack any of the standard SpinLogic slot games and wilds aren’t the only money mechanics rumbling away under the hood. Yes, there are scatter symbols. They are the dudes that pay out the loot whether they are properly organised on the reels, or not.
Scatters are also the key triggers for free games. They are a bit – only a bit – like the double action/ single action trigger of a Beretta or the safe action trigger of a Glock! Without the trigger, the free games round is stealthily sidelined for another sequence of gameplay.
Wilds, scatters and free games were pretty much the sum total of the action. At that time, free games were called free spins. Why the name change?
Free Spins? Nah! Free Games Instead
It kind of clashed with the free spins bonus. As all players at the top-ranked South Africa online casino are only too aware, that is a ‘gimme’ rather than an in-game bonus feature. Free spins duly became free games, and it wasn’t due to evolutionary pressures!
The next notable advancement in special effects at Springbok South Africa online casino can be shortened to one word. That word is ‘variation’. Wilds took on all sorts of guises, and they still do.
Wilds in Multiple Configurations
Even today you can play slots with expanding wilds, multiplying wilds, morphing wilds and bursting wilds. Ja nee, Bokke, there are even jumping wilds. You can check out how that effect works by locking and loading Ancient Gods online slot in your browser!
One casino game that has multiple versions of the wild symbol is Whispers of Seasons. In this graphically smaaklik slot machine, geishas and shoguns spin in bucks. That is the side show, folks.
Best for Wilds: Whispers of Seasons Slot
The main course is the changing seasons. They are represented by different special effects. Spring is a wild respin, summer has bursting wilds and autumn features wild multipliers that range in value from 2x through to 5x.
How about winter? Well, we all know winter is the season to be jolly. In this sequence of gameplay, wilds can expand to cover all positions of the reel!
No matter the season, wilds are the main ingredient in this picture-perfect medium volatility slot. If you want to witness the power of the wild, play Whispers of Seasons now at Springbok. We’re the top-ranked South Africa online casino by popular vote!
Multipliers: The (Real) Money Mechanic
The next memorable development in the special effects department is the multiplier. This little game-changer was dropped onto game boards to jazz things up. It is the one slots’ bonus that really can change your fortunes around.
Multipliers are typically injected into games in one of two basic formats. Sometimes as both. They are prize multipliers or bet multipliers.
Get Up to 100 x the Stake at the Top South Africa Online Casino
In the former iteration, payline wins are boosted by a numerical value. In the latter format, your existing stake is amplified, sometimes by as much as 100 x! When either of the multipliers are on the grid, you can win more ZAR… and that’s a fact!
What’s more, multiplier values can be fixed. They can also incrementally increase along with other actions in the game. There are even times when the value is randomly selected by the software and added to the bottom line.
Best for Multipliers: Hot Pots Master Slot
If you want to see multipliers in full swing, load Hot Pot Masters slot on your phone. It is a 243 ways to win game with increasing multipliers that can transform the hold and spin feature into an ATM. You need a registered account at the top-ranked South Africa online casino to cash in on lots of kaching!
What is the next bonus feature on the ‘all mahala’ special agenda? A little something-something called cascading or tumbling wins. In this tranche of the action, every single payline win can generate MORE moolah.
Here is how it works…
Hayibo! Claim Recurring Payouts Via Cascading Wins
The cascading wins feature kicks in the moment there is a winning combo on the board. After you are paid out, the winning symbols disappear and a replacement set drops in from above. If they form a paying pattern, the mechanic described above happens again… and continues to recur until no new winning combos drop!
In other words, when you play slots with cascading wins, one paid spin can activate two, three, four or more sequential payouts. Now that’s not lekker, Bokke, it is fricking fab-u-lous!
Where can you find cascading wins slots? Where do you think? At the best darn South Africa online casino, of course.
Best for Cascading Wins: Doragon’s Gems Slot
One game with recurring payouts is Doragon’s Gems slot. In this SpinLogic blinder, cascading wins are paired with a multiplier trail. This great addition doubles the multiplier value and, by extension, the prize with each cascade that drops.
Spoiler alert. Doragon’s Gems also has an optional Bonus Bet and Buy feature embedded on the game board. These two babies can boost your chances of banking wads of boodle.
The first optional feature increases the probability of hitting the cascading wins feature. The second allows you to unlock the bonus action whenever you want. Fees do apply so be sure to weigh up the risk versus reward element.
Hold, Spin and Bank GTD Wins
One of the most recent special effects to land at our legendary South Africa online casino is the hold & spin (aka hold & win). You’ll find it in super-hot slots like Oz Golden Trail, Hades’ Flames of Fortune, Cash Chalet and Gemstone Keys: The Arcane Unlocked.
When the feature is triggered, game play takes place on a second game board with independently spinning reels. The usual game symbols are replaced by coins, blanks and collector icons. Coins are inscribed with instant win prizes that typically include three jackpots.
Symbol Lock to Deliver Instant Cash Prizes
When coins and collector symbols drop, they are locked in place. Collector coins absorb all the current prizes on the board. Blanks deliver absolutely nothing.
You are then awarded a specified number of re-spins which are reset each time a coin or collector symbol appears. The round can end in one of two ways – no more symbols drop, and you are awarded the total value of the all the prizes on the board. Or, all positions on the board are filled with symbols.
Best for Hold & Spin: Oz Golden Trail Slot
When you fill the hold & spin grid with symbols, you win the grand jackpot! That can be anything from around 2,500 x the stake… and more! In Oz Golden Trail, for example, the grand prize is a progressive jackpot juiced by a percentage of all the bets wagered by players at our South Africa online casino.
That is a quick overview of the main players in our evolutionary trundle through the special effects in slots. There are countless other ways of winning with zero outlay. Features like outsized symbols, jackpot picks, prize wheels and shifting reels are a dime a dozen in the best South Africa online casino slots.
How to Find Best Bonus Feature Slots at Springbok South Africa Online Casino
What is the easiest way of finding the games with special effects? By registering an account at Springbok Casino and scrolling through the slots’ titles. Once you have found the game you fancy, click on the tile and read all the gen. Besides the volatility, theme and number of paylines, there is info on the in-game features.
