How 3D Slot Machines Work? Simple Explanation
If you’ve been playing online slots for a while, you probably aren’t even aware that they are called 3D slots and that they’re creating an illusion that you’re playing a three-dimensional game. By now it’s no longer a defining trait, as when something achieves enough of a market penetration you don’t mention it anymore, but there’s still an important distinction between these pokies and those that are not 3D! There are over 15,000 slots on the market today from 200+ providers, and all of them provide the best casino bonus for deposits, but free spins can be provided to a particular slot.
The defining thing about 3D slots is that they have outstanding elaborate graphics, like those you find in computer games, that allowed slot machines to introduce numerous exciting features as they left the boundaries of traditional five-reel setups with flat icons.
Traditional slot game features
Even the classic online slots had many options to create visuals and exciting features, it’s just that this had a limit. Slot machines had expanding reels, expanding wilds, exploding symbols, but it never really stepped out of the confinements of the traditional board setup.
Whenever a developer wanted to do something innovative, it was simply not possible to do, because the technology didn’t allow it. The developers had to go out of their way to make the most of the technology that was available.
Features made possible by 3D slots
Here are some of the features and innovations that were made possible by 3D slots, that weren’t possible to do in traditional slot machines that had a rigid structure, most commonly with a five-reel board that had 15 or 20 symbols:
- Avalanche reels. Popularized by Gonzo’s Quest, the avalanche reels or cascading reels are a niche of their own. These games have falling blocks that form winning combinations in a completely new way.
- Megaways. The game mechanic that has a flexible number of symbols on each reel, from 2 to 7. This wasn’t possible to do with the traditional slot machine technology.
- Symbols interacting with each other. Some games have symbols that chase each other on the reels, or battle each other. You need a 3D slot for that.
Are we talking about true 3D?
If 3D is, for you, a full experience of depth perception, as when you watch a 3D movie with red and blue glasses, no, 3D slots are not about that. They are three-dimensional in the same sense as any regular computer or gaming console game is. It’s just an illusion of depth, on a flat screen.
Which slots are not 3D?
The question to ask is which slots are not 3D slots, as these constitute a much smaller group than the 3D slots.
The traditional slot machines with fruit symbols, also called classic slots, are not three-dimensional nor do they intend to be. They have flat symbols and you are constantly fully aware that you’re playing a slot machine with printed symbols. There may be some rudimentary animations, but the symbols are always flat.
This genre of online pokies has stood the test of time, as there are players who are specifically searching for these flat old-school slot machines. They are mostly present in land-based casinos but they made their way to the Internet as well, where they exist as
Video slots vs 3D slots
You’ll sometimes hear slots being referred to as video slots. This is to make a distinction between them and classic slots, but this term is largely redundant, as you might as well say online slots.
Video slots are all slots that use computer-generated graphics, while 3D slots are only those slots that have more elaborate graphics, symbols, animations, sound, and the intent to create an illusion of depth.
Long story short, all 3D slots are video slots, but not all video slots are 3D slots.
Pros and cons of 3D slots
Pros
- Realistic graphics. There’s nothing 3D slots can not represent as there are no boundaries of computer graphics. Life-like slots are perfectly possible, and this extends to VR as well.
- Innovative features. 3D slots made possible most of the innovative features we enjoy in online slots today, and without this technological innovation we’d be stuck with five-reel slots with flat icons.
Cons
- Overwhelming visuals. For some players, the graphics of 3D slots are just too much, and they’d rather just enjoy the rudimentary slot machine without all the bells and whistles, the animations, the explosions and the like.
