What a Payline Is
Slot paylines explained in one line: a payline is a line running across the reels and touching one symbol on each, and a winning combination is judged along it. Every other pay system here is a variation on that idea, or a way of dropping it altogether.
Classic lines on 3-reel games
The simplest slots have 3 reels, while 5-reel video slots add free spins and multipliers. Older spinning-reel machines tend to offer as many as nine paylines, which keeps the layout easy to follow.
Video slots with more lines
A video slot can run to one hundred paylines, and every active line is a separate place for a combination to land. The reel count and the line count together describe a slot's layout, and both are worth a look before the first spin on any E2Bet slot game.
Ways to Win Instead of Fixed Lines
Some slots drop fixed lines completely. The pay rule is then about positions on the reels, not about a drawn path across them.
How multi-way games count wins
Multi-way games have no fixed paylines. A symbol pays wherever it sits, as long as it shows up on three or more reels in a row, counting from the left. Counting is by reel rather than by line, so one spin can produce several winning combinations from the same symbol. That is the reason ways is a better description than lines for these games.
Buffalo King Megaways as an example
Buffalo King Megaways is a Pragmatic Play slot with six tumbling reels, and the number of ways runs past 200,000 instead of a fixed line count. Its bonus round awards 12 to 22 free spins for 4 to 6 bonus symbols, and wilds in that feature carry multipliers of up to 5x, so the structure of ways sits alongside the usual extras and replaces only the line count.
Pay Anywhere and Symbol Count Wins
A third family ignores both lines and left-to-right order. Matching symbols are counted by how many land on the grid, and the number needed differs from title to title.
Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza and Starlight Princess
These three are Pragmatic Play slots, and each pays by symbol count rather than by line. Gates of Olympus and Starlight Princess pay when 8 to 30 matching symbols appear anywhere on screen, and Sweet Bonanza starts paying from 8 of a kind. Multipliers sit on top of the symbol count in all three. In Gates of Olympus the multiplier symbols can be worth up to 500x and are added to a running total that is applied to the win. In Starlight Princess they range from 2x to 500x and are summed when each tumbling sequence ends. Reading each title's rules is worthwhile, because the same pay-anywhere idea can come with quite different multiplier handling.
Sugar Rush clusters
Sugar Rush counts clusters of matching symbols, starting from 5, and its largest cluster payouts reach 150x. Its multiplier starts at 2x and doubles each time a winning symbol falls on a marked spot, capped at 128x. That makes it a useful contrast with the three titles above, since the growth comes from marked spots on the grid and not from random multiplier symbols.
Money symbols on a fixed grid
Not every grid game counts clusters. In Wolf Gold, filling all 15 grid positions wins the Mega Jackpot worth 1,000x, and in Big Bass Bonanza wilds collect every money symbol in view, with money values reaching 2,000x.
Stakes and winnings are in Malaysian ringgit (MYR), and no download is needed to play in a mobile or desktop browser. The pay system belongs to the game itself; which games an offer covers is set on the page for E2Bet free credit offers.
Scatters, Free Spins and Multipliers
Pay systems decide how a base-game win is counted. Features sit on top of that, and most of them start with a scatter.
How scatters trigger features
A scatter pays from a chosen symbol showing up anywhere on the reels, in any order, so these wins ignore both paylines and ways. Free spins are a frequent bonus: a run of spins plays out on its own at the stake that was set, with nothing further deducted. The number of scatters needed, and the spins they award, differ from game to game, so the paytable is the place to check.
- Gates of Olympus: 4 or more scatters start the bonus game with 15 free spins.
- Sweet Bonanza: 4 to 6 scatters start the bonus game with 10 free spins.
- Sugar Rush: 3 to 7 scatters award 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30 free spins.
- Big Bass Bonanza: 3, 4 or 5 scatters give 10, 15 or 20 free spins.
Multipliers that add together
In Sweet Bonanza, multiplier symbols between 2x and 100x can land and their values are added together. In Big Bass Bonanza, every fourth wild retriggers the feature with 10 more spins and a multiplier that steps from 2x to 3x and then 10x. Wolf Gold uses scatters differently: three of them trigger a bonus with five free spins in which reels 2 to 4 merge into one giant symbol. The multiplier rules belong to each game, so a figure from one title does not carry over to another.
RTP and Volatility Across Pay Systems
RTP and volatility are separate from the pay system: a title can use lines, ways or clusters and still differ on both, so they are read on their own.
What RTP measures
RTP is a long-term percentage and does not describe a short-term session. A game with a higher figure can still pay out less than a game with a lower one on a given evening, and the pay system tells you nothing about which it will be.
Low and high volatility
Low-volatility slots pay smaller wins often; high-variance slots pay bigger wins less often. A cluster game and a lines game can sit at the same end of that scale, so the pay system alone does not tell you the volatility.
Trying Different Pay Systems at E2Bet
The E2Bet official site lists a Slots category in the game lobby on its home page, which is the part of the E2Bet online casino that holds its slot games.
Slot providers in the lobby
The slot studios named include Pragmatic Play, PG Soft, JILI, Habanero and Microgaming. Pay systems differ from game to game, so open the game information before staking anything.
Free spin offers
Free spin offers are listed on the promotion page, including free spins on Pragmatic Play games through Refer & Earn, and the terms for each can change. Gambling is for adults aged 18 and over, so keep to a budget and do not chase losses.
Frequently Asked Questions
A payline is a line across the reels that touches one symbol on each, and wins are judged along it. Older spinning-reel machines tend to have as many as nine, whereas video slots can run to one hundred. The line count is normally listed in the game information, so read it before you spin.
It means the game has no fixed paylines. Symbols pay wherever they land, as long as one appears on three or more reels in a row from the left. Counting by reels instead of lines is how a Pragmatic Play slot such as Buffalo King Megaways reaches over 200,000 combinations on its six reels.
Matching symbols pay when enough of them land on the grid, with no line involved. Sugar Rush is one example, where a cluster needs at least 5 matching symbols and the payout tops out at 150x. The minimum cluster size differs by game, so the paytable of each title is the place to confirm it.
A scatter pays from a chosen symbol appearing anywhere on the reels, in any order. In several games it also starts the bonus round: in Sweet Bonanza, for example, 4 to 6 scatters begin the bonus game with 10 free spins, while other titles ask for a different number.
Not necessarily. Low-volatility slots pay smaller wins often and high-variance slots pay bigger wins less often, and a title can use paylines, ways or clusters with either. RTP is a long-term percentage, so it does not describe a short session. Check each game's information and paytable before you play.
Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza and Starlight Princess all pay for matching symbols landing anywhere. Gates of Olympus and Starlight Princess need 8 to 30 matching symbols, and Sweet Bonanza pays from 8 to 12 or more. Check the paytable inside the game before you play, because requirements are set per title.
