Slots have been around since the 19th century and the early slot machines were basic in their game play, even though the actual physical machines were a complex piece of engineering. Early slots had 3 reels and a limited number of symbols on the reels. Advancements mostly consisted of more reels and more symbols and it took some time before special features appeared, like jackpots and bonus rounds.
In 1996 slots transferred to the virtual world courtesy of the internet and online casinos. These new style free slots allowed players to be taken to different screens within the same games for bonus rounds. Bonuses consisted of free spins and these developed further into more complex affairs as technology improved.
The Importance Of Bonus Rounds
Bonus rounds in slots are the main attraction and a major part of the popularity of slots games. They have come on in leaps and bounds over the years and the winning potential has also vastly increased. Bonus rounds add interest to slots and break the monotony of the base game. They also compliment special features and are the best-shot punters have at winning big on slots. Bonus rounds are also important because they give punters free play that saves on their casino balance.
Free Spins
Everybody loves a freebie and bonus rounds with free spins are the most popular special features on slots. In fact, most slots include a free spins bonus rounds as part of their special features package. Free spins can be basic in nature or more complex, either way they are the most important and entertaining element of slots.
Book Slots
Some of the most popular slots are book based and this basically means that the book symbol is the star of the show and the trigger of the bonus round. Book-based slots mostly keep things simple and surprisingly, two of the most popular book themed slots ever created, do not have any special features in the base game. Book Of Dead and Book Of Ra are very similar in theme, they both have an Ancient Egyptian artifact theme at their heart and the books of the title act as the wild symbol and the trigger for the 10 frees spins bonus round.
Here a symbol is chosen at random to act as an expanding symbol that fills an enter reel. The free spins bonus can be retriggered a number of times too. There are some newer spin offs from this book theme and they include Book Of Christmas, Book Of Halloween and Book Of Oz. Legacy Of The Dead mixes things up a little and when a bonus is retriggered, another symbol is randomly chosen to expand and this is added to the original symbol that kick started the bonus round. Most book themed slot award 10 free spins but Legacy Of The Dead only offers 8 free spins.
Other slots with great free spins bonus rounds include Lil’ Devil, Rumpel Wildspins, Cleopatra and Age Of The Gods King Of Olympus.
