Progressive Slots

Progressive slot machines are without a question, the most profitable and appealing of all online slot machine games. Progressive jackpot slots offer more money than non-progressive slots, and when they are won, they have the ability to alter people’s lives dramatically.

Are they all about the money though, or do they provide a better source of entertainment than regular non-progressive slots? In this article, we’ll dive right into the world of progressive slots.

What is a progressive jackpot slot?

So, progressive jackpot slots are richer in prizes than non-progressives. But what exactly are progressive jackpot slots? If you don’t know already, the clue actually comes in their title. A progressive jackpot slot contains a jackpot that gets progressively larger, the more it is played.

This is because for every single wager that a player makes, a sizeable chunk of that wager is donated towards the top jackpot. The jackpot has no fixed cap, and will keep growing and growing until it is won. When it is won, the jackpot will be reset to a pre-determined default minimum level.

From that moment on, the cycle begins anew, with the jackpot continuing to grow until it is won once more, and so on and so forth. This, in short, is the definition of a progressive slot.

Multi-tiered progressives

Most progressive slots generally only offer one progressive jackpot. However, it is becoming more and more common for progressive slots to actually have a number of jackpots available.

These are what you might call “multi-tiered progressive jackpots”. Generally, multi-tiered progressive jackpots will offer vastly different sums of money and have very stereotypical names, such as the minor jackpot, midi jackpot, mega jackpot or super jackpot.

It is not uncommon for a multi-tiered progressive jackpot slot to have between 3 or 4 progressives. Progressives seldom have more than 4 jackpots, though.

The point of having multi-tiered progressives should be obvious. The reason that they exist, is because not everybody can wager with maximum stakes to win the progressive jackpot.

The casino software developers think it is wrong that somebody with limited funds shouldn’t be able to compete on a progressive jackpot slot. Hence, the multiple progressive jackpots offered.

If you are playing with minimum wagers, you can compete for the smallest progressive jackpot. Middle-sized wagers will get you a crack at the medium-sized jackpots, and the big-daddy progressive jackpot is reserved for the highest staking players.

How to land the jackpot

There are a number of ways that a player might land a progressive jackpot, and generally speaking, each progressive chooses one of these three methods. The three most common methods of winning a progressive jackpot are randomly, using 5 symbols, or winning a bonus round.

Some of the largest progressive jackpot slots (with multiple jackpots on offer), often have randomly triggered prizes. This means that it doesn’t really matter whether you win on a payline with your spin or not. The progressive jackpot can be randomly triggered at any time in play.

Matching up 5 identical symbols on a payline is the more traditional way to win a progressive jackpot. Just like you would line up the 5 highest paying icons to win in a non-progressive slot, you can do so in a progressive. Progressives that pay-out their jackpots like this will either demand the player to land 5 wilds, or 5 special jackpot icons on a payline, on most occasions.

Finally, you could win a progressive jackpot via a bonus round in some slots. By triggering a bonus round (via scatters), the player has unique chance to win a progressive jackpot. You may have to spin a wheel, or the bonus round could be in stages.

It could even be as simple as a pick and win game. Ultimately, the progressive jackpot paying bonus game could consist of anything! Furthermore, you may not even need scatters to land the bonus game. The bonus game could be triggered at random.

It is also worth noting that just because you are in with a chance to win a progressive jackpot via a bonus round, or by matching 5 symbols; it doesn’t mean that you will win!

Bonus rounds sometimes offer secondary prizes, if you haven’t fulfilled the criteria to win the progressive. Sometimes matching up 5 jackpot icons simply isn’t enough. You may also need to wager the max stake to win the progressive. The rules vary from slot to slot.

The big prize

The total amount that you can win a progressive jackpot slot really does vary. In some slots, a progressive jackpot is thought to be worth around 1,000 to 5,000 credits. In other slots, they can worth as much as 100,000 to 5,000,000 credits.

It really depends on the progressive slot. Most multi-tiered progressive jackpot slots generally allow mini jackpots to be worth around 100.00, medium jackpots around 10,000, and mega jackpots could be worth as much as 1,000,000 credits. This is all just an approximation though, and as progressives aren’t fixed, they could go as high as you like, providing that they aren’t won!

The lay-out of progressives

Progressive jackpot slots are designed like any other slot. Progressive slots can come in both 3 reel and 5 reel format. The former will see them often just have a single line to play on. In the case of the latter, progressive video slots can offer as many as 1,024 ways to win, although it is more common for there to be between 25-250 paylines.

Wagers can go quite high in progressives. In multi-tiered progressive slots, you can get away with playing cheaply. However, if you are playing a standard progressive, you will generally need to wager the maximum amount in order to compete to win the grand prize. There is no such thing as a capped betting limit, and max wagers can range from 5 credits up to 500, though seldom more than that.

The mighty progressives

Some of the biggest and most popular slots of all time are progressive jackpot slots! For example, The Dark Knight, Mega Moolah, Major Millions, Beach Life, and the endless Marvel Super Hero themed Playtech slots, are all examples of major progressive jackpot titles. Some of these offer the multi-tiered structure, and others just the single progressive, but all are prime examples of these superb genre of slot machine games.