What are Moving, Horizontal & Changing reels in slots?

One of the biggest benefits to come from the slots industry moving from being based solely on mechanical, in-situ slot games with a pre-determined set of reels, into an online based and software based set of games, was that game designers were no longer confined by the physical size and physical characteristics of a slot machine.

In the real world, if a partly or wholly mechanical slot had three or five reels, then that was the total number of reels you would ever have to play the game and furthermore, the way the symbols were organised on the reels would never change. So, you would play the same game ad-infinitum.

With software-based slots, this game developers a chance to look beyond the physical conformities of a slot game and to think outside of that box. It wasn't long until we started to see features in online slot games that had never been seen before, simply because it was impossible to incorporate them into real world slot games.

Over the years there has been a huge increase in this type of feature being incorporated into games but in the majority of cases, these features have all been focused on items that are included as bonus features in the slot, such as Pick 'Em games, Free Spins bonus rounds, Rolling Reels and Multiplier Trails, Jumbo Blocks and more.

However, there are now some games that offer bonus features that can alter the very set up of a slot game, or which have a very unusual make up with reels moving, expanding, increasing/decreasing or even spinning in different ways to the norm. Given that there are a lot of ways developers can manipulate the reels to give us different bonus features, we have bundled all these different types of games together here to take a closer look at them.

So now that we know we are looking at what game developers have done to the reels in some games to offer us some new and innovative features, let's get a clearer understanding at what these types of reels are and how they work. We will then take a look at whether each offers players a better chance of a win and lastly, we'll also give you some games to try where you can try out these different reel set ups and features.

What are the Different Reel-based Bonus Features I can find on slots?

As I mentioned previously, we are looking at the different games that manipulate or change the reels in some way for this article and there are a number of ways that these types of features can be incorporated into slot games.

Some of the most commonly used ways are outlined below:

• Action Reel - This is a relatively new addition to the fold and so far, has been used on just the one game. The reel spins independently to the main reel set and also spins from right to left. When the reel finishes, on the reel are blank spaces but beside them are actions that will determine what happens in a subgame that plays as you spin the reels. This will determine if you trigger one of the bonus features in the slot.
• Horizontal Reels - A relatively rarely used feature that was trialed a few years back on a couple of games in quick succession. The Horizontal Reels are displayed at the top and bottom of the standard reel set and when they spin, they usually have blank spaces on alongside Wild Symbols (or sometimes Scatter symbols) in the other spots. If you can land one of these Wild or Scatters on the horizontal reel, it is then incorporated into the result of the standard reel spin to potentially offer you a chance to win, or it can also be used to increase the number of ways to win across the reels.
• Moving/Changing Reels - Games that have this feature can see a couple of things. With Moving Reels, usually one or more reels are linked together into a group and they will move around the standard reel set on each spin you have. These linked reels may also have a special bonus feature attached to them (Jumbo Symbols on them is a popular choice). Another way that reels can change is by them increasing in size or number, or by increasing the number of symbols available on each reel. This is usually achieved by triggering one of the bonus features of the slot which then adds a reel, or another row of symbols to the reel set. This is definitely the most flexible reel-based bonus feature and can be used in a wide variety of ways across games. This also includes games where reels will split and add another to the selection in play.
• Shuffle Reels - One of the newest reel features and one that I have seen only in one slot so far. This feature sees a larger than standard set of symbols in play and after a spin and after a player has landed a win, the symbols will be shuffled around on screen. Technically, this bonus has been used only with a cluster-ways slot so far, but there is potential that it could be used on more traditional slot games in the future.

Are these reel-based bonuses beneficial to players?

As with most of the features that are incorporated into slot games, the different types of reel features outlined above are all potentially beneficial to the player, however there is also a high degree of variance built in to the bonuses which means that they may pay out a very large sum to you, but the likelihood is that you will win a smaller amount, if anything at all.

Some bonus features, such as the Action Reel and Horizontal Reels (which are actually very similar bonuses, just used in different ways) tend to be only focused on enhancing the game for players. They don't have any negative impact on the game, other than when the reel lands on an empty space on a spin) but when that happens the player doesn't lose anything and the outcome of the spin on the main reel set below is not affected.

Other bonus features may have more of an impact on your game and you can find that adding or removing a reel, splitting a reel or changing its position in relation to other reels can have a negative impact on a game. For example, if you think about a group of moving reels all displaying the same symbols. If you land this set of three reels on the first three reels, then you are guaranteed a win at least. However, if it moves to any other position on the reels, then no win is guaranteed as you need other symbols to fall into place on the reels for that to happen.

Indeed, in some games, the addition of extra reels, or extra symbols onto each reel, is one of the bonuses that players want to trigger in order to access some of the better value wins available in the game and of course, in this respect, players should want to access the feature as often as possible as it will offer you a better chance at a big value win.

So as you can see, these bonuses are very different and it is very much a case of how the reels are manipulated or changed and how that is incorporated into the slot, and at what point in the slot game process it occurs, that determines how beneficial these bonus features can be for players.

What games can I play that offer the different reel-based bonus features?

The good news for players that want to try a reel-manipulation type slot is that there have been a decent number of these types of games released over the last few years in particular and we have picked a selection of the best for you to try all of which showcase a different type of reel-based bonus feature or mechanic.

• 11 Champions (Action Reel)

Released in June 2020, this Gameburger Studios game is the only Action Reel slot that I've played. The action reel refers to actions on a football field such as passing, dribbling or shooting and that is because as you spin the standard 5x3 reels, behind that reel is a football game in progress. When you trigger a pass or dribble, the ball will be moved around the field into different positions on the reel and when the bonus triggers and you shoot to score a goal (based on the outcome of an Action Reel Spin) the positions you have moved the ball to on the reels will turn Wild for that spin and of course, the more you turn Wild, the more potential you have for a decent value win.

• 3 Tiny Gods (Shuffle Reels)

One of the main bonus features in the 3 Tiny Gods slot game, the Gift of Bastet feature, can trigger on any non-winning spin and when it does, the God will then shuffle the position of the reels around on screen to potentially turn that non-winning spin, into a winning one.

• Treasure Heroes (Shuffle Reels)

Released in March this year, this unusual Rabcat slot doesn't have standard reels, but instead it has a 5x5 grid layout and you win by clustering symbols together. However, when you land a win, the reels will then shuffle around moving the symbols on screen into different positions, which can then trigger a second win from the same spin (and a third etc). This is called the Moving Wall feature in the game, but it essentially shuffles the symbols on the reels around.

• Seven 7s (Extra Reels)

This very unusual slot from Crazy Tooth Studio initially sees just one reel on screen with one symbol in the window visible on each spin. However, if you can land the Lucky 7 symbol, this will add a second reel to the selection on screen. Keep adding the 7 symbols and you can increase the value of your win up to the top jackpot prize which comes from landing Seven of the 7 symbols across all the possible reels.

• Reel Splitter (Splitting Reels & Extra Reel in Free Spins)

This Just For The Win slot which was released back in May 2019 has two different reel-based features. In the base game, any four of a kind win over the initial 4x3 reel set, will see a fifth reel introduced on screen in between the second and third reel, which triggers a respin of the reels and sees this number of ways to win increase to 243 for that respin. In addition, if you trigger the Free Spins bonus, this additional reel becomes a permanent addition for the Free Spins bonus and every Free Spin is also a 243 Ways to Win game.

• Sidewinder & Rainbrew Slots (Horizontal Reels)

Both these slot games, Sidewinder and Rainbrew, are almost mirror images of each other, so I have included them together here. Both feature Horizontal Reels at the top and bottom of the main reel set and these reels contain blank spaces alongside extra Wild symbols, which if landed can increase the number of Ways to win on a slot to 1,125 from 243 Ways to Win on a standard spin. Wilds are viewed as top, middle and bottom wilds, with the middle wild appearing on the main reels, while the top and bottom wilds appear on the two horizontal reels at the top and bottom of the reels. You can also land the Free Spins symbol on the Horizontal reels, which triggers the Free Spins bonus when landed with the same Free Spins bonus symbol on the second and fourth reels.

As you can see, there are a growing number of games where the reels can be manipulated to produce bonus features or to add an extra level of complexity or excitement to the game. We anticipate that this feature is going to be one used more prevalently by companies moving forward.