Online Fruit Machine Games

A sight familiar in UK pubs and clubs, fruit machines are equivalent gaming machines to the casino slot games popular in the US but with extra features that can add a little skill to proceedings. The classic 'pub fruit machine' is now also beginning to start turning up at online casinos, and we predict that these online fruit machines will attract more and more players who are looking for gaming that's a little more sophisticated in its play than a bog-standard slot.

Fruit machine games operate at a basic level just like a slot machine - the player stakes a coin (or coins) to spin a set of reels, the aim being for them to stop with a winning combination displayed across a payline that spans all the fruit machine reels. However fruit machines then have extra features to allow players to potentially manipulate the results of their spin, giving more chances for players to generate a fruit machine jackpot from their initial bet. The classic features that differentiate a fruit machine from a US-style casino slot machine are typically:

The Nudge Feature

This is a facility on fruit machine games for the player to nudge one or more stationary reels one 'notch' to bring a winning combination up on the payline. Nudges are not available on every spin of a fruit machine and multiple nudges may be allowed on a single go. Nudges may also be awarded during a fruit machine's Bonus Trail game (of which more below) enabling a playing to ramp up the reward from that bonus game.

Certain fruit machines (notably the online fruit machines from casino software company Microgaming) offer players a 'Nudge Peek' feature. This is a handy feature that allows the player to temporarily rock the reels of such fruit machines forward one symbol to preview the next two symbols on that reel. Using Nudge Peek thus lets players make a more informed decision about which reels could be nudged into a winning combination.

The Hold Feature

The 'hold' feature of a typical pub or online fruit machine lets the player freeze one or more reels for the next spin. Depending on the particular fruit machine game you're playing you might have multiple 'holds' awarded letting you hold several reels over several spins, significantly increasing your opportunities to bank a decent payout.

The Gamble Feature

This fruit machine feature activates after a win. The common format of the Gamble feature on typical online fruit machines is a 'Hi / Lo' bet (i.e. from a fixed sequence of numbers the player bets whether the next number to be randomly selected will be higher or lower than that currently shown) which will double the win if successful or wipe it out if wrong.

The Fruit Machine Cash Ladder

A fruit machine game's 'Cash Ladder' can be activated after a specified win, offering the player a chance to earn a higher reward from this bonus game, and typically the path to the highest fruit machine jackpot. The usual format to be found on common UK pub fruit machines is an ascending block of lights with numbers on them that the machine starts lighting up in a random or chase sequence - the aim is to hit a 'stop' button at the point when one of the highest value boxes is lit. This then becomes the multiplier for the win that activated the cash ladder game or a specific cash reward. Online fruit machines often include such 'skill stop' games amongst their bonus features too.

The Fruit Machine Bonus Trail

The Bonus Trail (or Bonus Board) feature is a bonus game that may be triggered either at random or by a specific combination on the payline depending on the rules of the fruit machine game you're playing. The common format on many fruit machines involves being awarded a number of spins of a 'number reel' (think of it like a dice) that determines how many spaces along a bonus board game you move. Each space on the bonus board has one event described on it that can benefit or disadvantage the player if they land on it. For instance a space could act as a multiplier, or activate the Cash Ladder game or award the player a number of nudges to use when he returns to normal play. The flexibility of entirely software rendered online fruit machines means these can often have very elaborate bonus trails indeed! Whether playing pub or online fruit machine games the bonus trial is the part of the game where a player can really bank some serious money and/or hit the fruit machine jackpot, so take some time learning how to play this feature if you want to get the most from your forays into fruit machine gaming!

Fruit machine games are less commonly found at online casinos compared to US-style slots, but as companies vie to offer members new entertainment we can envisage these three-reelers popping up more and more amongst the gaming attractions at popular Internet clubs.