Cascading reels are one of the dynamic features video slots designers add to games these days. When game designers look for features which add excitement and dynamism to a game, they’ll find few features as exciting or dynamic as cascading reels. Here in the year 2017, many of the most famous online slots offer the cascading symbols feature.
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Slots with cascading reels are more common than you would think. The problem is, different software designers call this feature by different names. Microgaming calls them “rolling reels”. NetEnt sometimes calls a similar game mechanic the “avalanche feature”. IGT and Play’n GO each call this feature “tumbling reels”. Cascading reels are a widespread concept with many different names. New players might not know what a cascading reel is, so I’ll provide a short description of this feature.
What Are Cascading Reels?
Cascading reels are a way for a player to have multiple winning combinations on a single spin. Normally, a winning combination appears on the screen, credits are added to your coin total, and it’s time for the next spin. Essentially, you have to risk coins to receive another chance to win coins.
Classic Slot Games: For the nostalgic veterans who enjoy the traditional casino-style games, we supply over 400 3-reel free slots and two-dimensional machines. They are usually not abundant with bonuses, but, they are easy to use and consist of a few lines and rows.
With cascading reels, if a winning combination appears on the screen, those winning symbols tumble or cascade off the bottom of the screen. When that happens, new symbols appear to replace the lost symbols. If these activate another winning combination, then another set of symbols appear.
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What Cascading Reels Do
In many cases, the cascade effect continues indefinitely, until the new symbols do not create a winning combination. In other cases, the slot machine only activates the cascade effect a certain number of wins before moving on to the next spin.
Also, slots with cascading reels offer multipliers. With each new cascade, the multiplier increases. This allows for huge potential winnings, because the multiplier might get as large as 5x or 10x the regular payout.
Avalanche Feature – Most of the time, only the winning symbols fall off the screen. This means that a lot of non-winning symbols remain on the screen, clogging up your chances of hitting new winning combinations. Net Entertainment allows for all of the symbols to tumble off the screen, in what they call the avalanche feature. On a 5×3 grid, this means that you receive 15 new symbols, thus a brand-new screen full of chances to hit a winning combo.
Cricket Star Online Slot – Cricket Star Slots from Microgaming has the rolling reel feature, which is the same as cascading reels. Microgaming added the Wild Wickets (wild symbol), 20 free spins, and stacked wilds to Cricket Star. The top fixed jackpot for Cricket Star is 12,500 coins.
Jungle Jim El Dorado Slots – Jungle Jim El Dorado is an online slot from NetEnt with cascading reels. Jungle Jim El Dorado is a sequel to the original Jungle Jim Slot. In this case, the explorer is trying to find the lost city of gold, El Dorado. One of NetEnt’s most famous games, Gonzo’s Quest, has a similar theme. That’s not the only similarity; both games have tumbling reels. In fact, Jungle Jim El Dorado has 5 extra paylines, but otherwise is a close counterpart to Gonzo’s Quest. Thus, you could see Jungle Jim Eldorado as an update of Gonzo’s Quest, but with graphics and sounds optimized for mobile gaming.
Pyramid: Quest for Immortality – Pyramid: Quest for Immortality Slots from NetEnt has the avalanche feature. As noted above, this means that the entire 5×3 set of reel symbols cascade off the screen when a winning combination happens. With a 50x multiplier, Pyramid: Quest for Immortality has a 3,600,000-coin top prize. That’s a huge fixed jackpot, mainly due to dynamic features like the avalanche reels.
Playboy: Don’t Stop the Party Featuring Pitbull – Several Playboy Slots exist, but Playboy: Don’t Stop the Party Slots from Bally Technologies offers a feature similar to cascading reels. Featuring the rapper Pitbull, Playboy: Don’t Stop The Party has a feature called the “Give Me Everything” Bonus. In this bonus game, free spins are offered when wild drop onto the screen. In this case, the cascade comes from the top of the screen. The effects are similar.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Secret of the Sword – Tomb Raider: Secret of the Sword Slots has rolling reels with a 5x multiplier. This is the second Tomb Raider Online Slot from Microgaming, but it is packed with more features than the original game. Tomb Raider: Secret of the Sword has wild symbols, scatter symbols, and 10 free spins.
Natural Powers Online Slot – Natural Powers Online Slot from Microgaming has a Freefall Symbol Feature, which are essentially cascading reels. Natural Powers Slots also has wild symbols and free spins. Natural Powers is based on comic books, specifically comic book heroines. With great power comes great riches, at least when the freefall symbol feature is active in this game.
Energoonz from Play’n GO – Energoonz from Play’n GO is an online slot anyone interested in cascading reels should know about. Energoonz is going to remind players of Pokémon, as it’s about a bunch of little monsters which grow and evolve. What makes the tumbling reel action on this game interesting is the Energy Meter. As you clear more monsters from the screen, the Energy Meter increases. Multipliers are unlocked with the energy increases. If enough monsters cascade off the screen, you’ll win +1000 coins. Energoonz Slots also has free spins and a retrigger feature, so your free spin mode can last a long time.
More Slots with Cascading Reels
The full list of slot machines with cascading reels is huge. I discussed a number of games in the page on tumbling reels, so I’ll simply list those games on this page: Gemix Slots, Cosmic Fortune, Gonzo’s Quest, Avalon II, Da Vinci Diamonds, Da Vinci Diamonds: Dual Play, and Dungeons & Dragons: Crystal Cavern.
If you want more video slots with the tumble feature, research titles like Football Star Online Slots, High Society Online Slot, Cleopatra Slots, Pixies of the Forest, and Troll Hunters. Once you’re finished with those, give a try to Frozen Diamonds, Cool Jewels, Cutie Fruits, Prissy Princess, and Cloud Quest. Each of these games offer cascading reels or some other version of the tumble feature.
You have probably already enjoyed High 5 Games’ slots – even if you did not realize it. This slot software house has been around since 1995. They have developed concepts and games which are used by many of the biggest names in the casino industry, including IGT, Ballyand WMS. With more than 150 live and online games in their portfolio, High 5 Games can be played on mobile devices and through social media sites (for fun only) like Facebook.
This page gives you an overview of what to expect from High 5 Games. The main distinctive features and characteristics of the slots are covered first below. After that my pick of 3 games that will give you a solid overview of their range. After that you can read a little about the company history, and what makes the High 5 Games business tick.
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What Makes High 5 Games’ Slots Different?
You’ll find several ideas appear in a lot of the slot games from High 5. That is not to say that their slots are ‘samey’. In fact the mix of Super-Stacks, different sized reels, split symbols and different behaviors during free spins bonus rounds make for a lot of variations – especially when you take the often quirky and entertaining themes into account.
Here are some of the special features you will find on High 5 Games’ titles:
Super Stacks: Many slots have spins where a lot of the symbols on the reels are the same. What happens is that a symbol is randomly selected for each spin, and then fills many consecutive ‘mystery’ spots on the reels. The result is that you will often see several entire reels filled with the same symbol (or even the entire visible grid). This can result in a lot of wins from a single spin.
Different Reel Configurations: Some slots follow the standard 5 reel and 3 or 4 rows of symbols setup, though many others do things differently. Two setups which are common in the High 5 range are the 6 by 4 (6 reels with 4 rows) and diamond shaped 3-4-5-4-3 setup. The diamond shaped setup uses an ‘all-ways’ system, which awards wins from right to left as well as the usual right to left. The 6×4 setup can have up to 466 win-lines!
Free Spins Games: Unlike other slot software, you will not get too many break out bonus games with pick-em options of other interactive games. Most slots have a free spins bonus round, with various special behavior helping you rack up wins. These can include expanding wilds, increasing multipliers or Super-Stacks which focus on the main symbols (or even wilds).
Tumbling Reels: Many games use the ‘Tumbling Reels’ system, where new symbols fall into the holes left when your winning combinations explode. As well as symbols falling down, new symbols come in at the top of the reels. This can produce small runs of wins from the same spin.
Doubled / Split Symbols: There are games which have a mix of single and double symbols. This gives you the chance of hitting 10 of a kind across the reels. You will often find that wilds count as double symbols in these particular games.
Cascading Games
There are some distinctive themes in the subjects chosen to create slot games too. Many games are based on the great artists, with Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Renoir and Michelangelo all getting a game. History is another popular theme, with slots based on everything from Ancient Rome to the Charleston dance!
High 5 Slots to Check Out
The 3 picks below give you a flavor of the different slots available in the High 5 range. Alongside these I would also recommend Da Vinci Diamonds, which is an IGT title that was originally created and licensed by High 5.
#1 – Van Gogh: This is a solid example of a slot based on a great artist, with the background being ‘Starry Night’ which should be recognizable to many of you. There is a special bonus feature where the famous paintings turn into scatter symbols – paying based on the total number on the screen. Real my Van Gogh slot review here.
#2 – Wild Rodeo: This is a retro rodeo themed slot with a twangy guitar sound track and cowgirls dressed in different colors on the reels. The feature of note is on the 2nd and 4th reels, where you will find the horns of 2 cows. When these face each other you get a set of 3 wilds appearing on the 3rd reel (and the horns also go wild). This can create some big wins. Find out more in my Thundering Buffalo slot review.
#3 – Miyuki and Friends: This game has a very distinctive look – based on the Japanize Anime cartoon style. The main reason to play is the ‘Super Stacks’ system, which makes it possible to have the entire screen covered with a single symbol – triggering multiple wins. There is also a free spins bonus game where you get to pick a symbol (at random) to become your Super Stacked symbol for the spins. See my Miyuki and Friends slot review for more.
High 5 Games Company Overview
High 5 are based in New York, and were first formed in 1995. This slot software specialist how has titles in live casinos in more than 50 countries, and has more than 150 slot titles to their name. There are now major offices in New Jersey, London, Kansas and other subsidiary offices dotted around the world.
Some of the technology that High 5 has produced over the years has been licensed to the biggest and best known software houses around. IGT has games with diamond shaped reels and tumbling reels, while other ideas have been taken up by the likes of Bally and WMS.
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In addition to real money gaming in the form of both live slots and online slots, High 5 are also big in the social gaming sphere. Their games are available on Facebook, where they are played for fun.