Online slot machines come in many shapes and sizes, and there are currently over 4,000 to choose from, brought to you by somewhere in the region of 100 online casino game development studios and software providers.

In recent years, we have seen a retro resurgence of the classic slot machine features in a handful of slots, which give players of a certain age a sense of nostalgia. Let’s dive straight in to discover more about some of the most iconic slot machine features that are starting to reappear online today.


A look at modern online slots and their special features

The industry-award-winning companies that produce the world’s best online slots today constantly have to come up with innovative new ideas to keep players entertained.


This includes pioneering exciting new in-play features, bonus rounds and game engines that players can start playing with a minimum deposit – and quickly add to their list of favored formats, provided gameplay is strong enough. Some catch on much quicker than others and have become so popular that they are here to stay. One such example is the Megaways game engine from Big Time Gaming.


What are Megaways slots?


A Megaways slot is an online slot machine with the Megaways game engine. One of the creative geniuses at BTG (Big Time Gaming) developed a new way for online casino players to enjoy playing slots from their smartphone, desktop computer, laptop, or tablet.


Their ground-breaking technology first appeared in an online slot machine in 2012, and since then, it has gone on to become extremely popular with players worldwide.


In a Megaways slot, which normally has 5 or 6 normal reels and one upper horizontal reel, players never know exactly how many possible winning combinations (aka Megaways) the next spin will have. It’s completely random each time.


It’s simple, really. Each symbol on the reels can have 2, 3, 4, or 5 symbols or varying heights, meaning that in most Megaways slots, each spin can have anywhere from 243 up to 117,649 different possible ways to win. This is what makes each spin so exciting.


The Megaways game engine from BTG became such a hit that it is now licensed to more than 40 other companies that make online slots and can be found in over 200 online slots.


What other special features and bonus rounds do modern online slots have?
Some of the other special features commonly found today in the world’s best online slots are free spins bonus rounds, picking bonus rounds, and prize wheel bonus rounds.


The in-play features are often Wild Symbol features, such as Grouped/Stacked Wilds that cover entire reels from top to bottom, and Multiplier Wilds (Wild Symbols, usually with 2X, 3X, 5X or bigger prize multipliers).


Others include Random Wilds (multiple wilds can appear anywhere on the same spin) and Shifting/Moving Wilds (when they land, they can stay on the reels for more than one spin, moving across the reels in one direction with each new spin until they have left the reels).


You can also find Growing/Expanding Wild Symbols, which get bigger (taller) with each new spin, and Sticky Wilds, which stay locked in position for a certain number of spins, and many other exciting in-play features.
Which classic slot machine features are starting to make a comeback?


Many classic slot machine features are also starting to make a comeback, and many have been adapted for the modern online slot machine. Examples of some of the iconic slot features you can find in many online slot machines today are the following:

-Cash Boost feature
-Cash Collect feature
-Trail feature (aka Trail Run feature)
-Add Cash feature
-Hold feature
-Nudge feature (aka Nudging Reels feature)

Final note
Some new slots even resemble the classic slots, such as the Pub Fruit slot series from Blueprint Gaming, which includes titles such as Ted Pub Fruit, Luck O’ The Leprechaun Pub Fruit, Genie Jackpots Cave of Wonders Pub Fruit, Cop the Lot: Safe Grabber Pub Fruit, and Deal or No Deal: Go All The Way Pub Fruit, to name a few.


You can also now find the classic slot features starting to creep into the latest online slot machines from several other market-leading software providers, such as Playtech, Games Global, Red Tiger Gaming, NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Yggdrasil Gaming, ELK Studios, IGT, and Play’n GO, plus many others.