How to play brand new slot games for the first time

A quick look around the online slots industry at the moment and it is easy to see that it is in a state of rude health. Seemingly every week one or more companies are releasing new games onto the market.

In 2019 alone Microgaming, and a number of the company's affiliate partners, have released a total of 38 different games alone, the vast majority of them slot games.

These include games like new the brand new Mega Vault Millionaire, and 9 Masks of Fire which were both released just a couple of weeks ago, as well as games like Boom Pirates, Tweethearts, Banana Odyssey, Tiki Vikings, Sherlock of London and the Village People Macho Moves slot.

However, it is not just Microgaming hitting us with new releases, other top companies also continue to release games on a regular basis. So as a keen slot gamer, when you are literally bombarded with new games to play, how do you go about playing them? Are you the kind of player that simply loads up a slot with money in your account and hits the spin button straight away? Or do you take a more calculated and perhaps more pragmatic approach to your slot gaming?

In this article, we are going to take a look at an effective way you can give yourself a slight advantage when playing slot games, in terms of being able to make strategic decisions on the best way to approach a slot. Of course, you can't guarantee yourself more wins using strategy, slot games are random beasts after all, but you can prepare yourself in a way so that you can make better choices when playing games to give yourself more chances to win.

For the purposes of this article we are going to use the newly released Mega Vault Millionaire slot as our game of choice, although the same approach can be rolled out across almost any slot game. The only exception perhaps being progressive jackpot slots, for reasons that we will explain in a bit more detail in the relevant section.

So let's now assume you are new to the new Microgaming slot and want to give yourself the best chance of landing a win. What is the best way to go about this?

Here's the process that I would follow for any new slot game I am about to try.

1. Visit the developer's website for accurate details about the game

Unfortunately, not all reviewers of slot games can be trusted for their accuracy. As a reviewer myself, I have lost count of the number of times I have read someone else's review and read about a feature on a slot game that just doesn't appear to be there, or which if it is there, plays differently to how it is explained in the review.

Therefore, a sensible place to start to learn more about the slot you want to play is the developer's site. Often, when a company releases a new slot the developer will post a news item or press release on their site which will detail many of the key features of the game and explain them in a little more detail. Microgaming, for example, are particularly strong in this respect.

By using the data from the official developer, you can be sure that the bonuses and features you read about are going to be 100% accurate, rather than from a third-party source who may accidentally or otherwise, have got the details slightly wrong.

Once there, read up all you can about the game to get as good an understanding of it as you can. Note down the key features of the game, the number of reels, whether it is a pay line slot or a ways to win game, the minimum and maximum bet sizes, the jackpot site and (if it is available) the RTP percentage of the game.

This basic information will at least give you an outline structure of the slot before you then move onto step two in the process.

2. Find a free to play version of the game and play through some spins

Personally, I think that you should then try and find a demo version of the slot game to have a play on. Many sites now offer the chance to play a free to play version of a slot game. Indeed, if you visit Microgaming from certain countries, you can link to almost any of their releases and play a free-to-play version of the slot from their own website.

For other providers, you may need to visit a casino to try out free to play versions of slots. Some casinos you may need to be a member and have logged in to do this, but on others you do not need to be a member. Much does depend on the legal restrictions in place on slot games in the country in which you reside.

Playing the game for free will give you a bit more meat on the bones of the information that you have learned in step one. Sure, you may know it is a 5x3 reel with 243 Ways to Win and a jackpot of 80,000 coins, but by playing the game for free spins, you actually get to see how that slot is put together, how the bonuses interact with the base game, whether they are easy to land, or more difficult and time consuming to trigger. Plus, you can gauge whether the slot is going to be one that eats up your money if you bet too much, or whether it is a game that tends to pay out smaller amounts more often.

It is important to note that for some games, finding a free to play version is impossible. This is definitely the case for progressive jackpot games, such as Mega Moolah and the Mega Vault Millionaire, which is powered by Mega Moolah. Unfortunately, there are no free to play versions of some slot games and progressives seem to be among the most common slots in this category.

However, some sites do offer punters the chance to play through some spins for a very low deposit. For example, at Zodiac Casino, you can deposit just £1 and receive 80 Chances at 0.25 on the Mega Moolah slot). At Casino Classic you can get one chance for free and for just £1 deposit get 40 Chances on the Mega Vault Millionaire slot. An offer like this may well be your best way to play a slot very cheaply, before you decide to invest a much larger sum playing the game.

Note that all of the offers are also available in other currencies, mainly the US dollar, Canadian dollar, NZ dollar, Euro, and Swiss Franc, and others.

3. Read some trusted reviews of the slot to see others opinion of the game.

After reading about the slot and experiencing it yourself, you will have your own impression of the game and now is a good time to then see how that impression stacks up with the views of others that have played the game. To do this, check out some trusted reviews of the slot.

Now there is an argument here that players should complete step 3, before step 2 as this would allow them to play the slot knowing about some of the little foibles and features of the game that reviewers have come across. I do understand the thinking behind this, but personally I would not complete things in this order.

Reviews are essentially, opinions. They may try to be as objective as possible but in the end it is a subjective review and often reviewers will have wildly different views of the same game. If you read these reviews and they are generally negative about a slot, then I believe this means you are more likely to play a slot in a more negative frame of mind and as such, this will taint your view of it and you won't be able to play it as objectively.

At least armed with the bare information, you can play the demo version of the slot and come to your own opinion as to what is good about it or not and quite often, when you do this, you will find that your view may be very different to that of others that have played and reviewed the game.

I have a perfect example of this from my own experiences of a game called Plentiful Treasure slot from Realtime Gaming. I played the slot and was not very impressed with the game at all and reviewed it thus, however it remains one of the most popular games in terms of spins played by Realtime Gaming every month and many other reviewers have handed the slot excellent reviews.

That doesn't mean that my review is wrong, it is just that the things that appealed to others on the slot, did not appeal to me and slot fans across the world will have the same differing opinions. As such, I believe it is best to formulate your own on a game, rather than go into playing it with the negative or positive views of another echoing in your mind as you play.

The real benefit of reading these reviews though is not to confirm what you thought about the slot, or not, but to pick up any foibles in the game that reviewers have noted, especially when it is noted by more than one reviewer. This all helps players build up a better knowledge of the game before they eventually play for real money.

4. Make your deposit and load up the real thing to play

Having learned about the game, experienced playing it and then reviewed the information out there on the slot, you are now ready to formulate your plan of attack on the game.

Ideally, you'll want to come into playing the game for real money on real spins with a clear plan of action. You should know whether this is a slot where you want to bet smaller amounts of money per spin to play the 'long game' or whether this is a lower variance slot which offers regular payouts and which offers you the chance to bet a bit more on each spin.

Similarly, you should know about the features you want to trigger, how to trigger them and then what you are looking for in order to land the better value prizes in the game.

The good news for slots players is that many of these items are automatic in the game, you don't need to select them as such, but there are some slots that do offer you a choice. Some games offer you a selection between different bonus games and it is only by playing the slot and learning about it, you will learn which of these bonus games are the most beneficial for players. Some games will pay out smaller more consistent amounts, other bonuses may be more volatile and pay out much smaller amounts, but on occasion much larger amounts too.

Essentially, you are developing a specific strategy to play this slot game and they key thing to do here is once you have your strategy in place, trust yourself and stick to it. There's nothing more you can do to influence the reels in your favour, other than hitting the spin button. After that it is down to the slot game to decide whether your spin is a winner or not.

Remember, if you are making a deposit at your casino to check for any bonus offers that may be available for you. Different casinos have different offers available at any time and reviewing these offers can ensure that you get as many bonuses as you can receive if you deposit the right amounts at the right time.

By developing a systematic way to learn about any new slot, you can be assured you are doing all your can to try and land a win when playing the game. It may not work out, slots are random beasts after all, but it is better to at least gain an understanding of the game you want to play as not all slots are the same.

Good luck!