Cascading reels are reminiscent of internet games like?Gemix and old classic video games like?Tetris. When a symbol is part of a winning combination, you are paid out for the win then the symbols on the payline explode or disappear from the screen, allowing new symbols to drop into their place. This is an innovative take on basic symbols, and can boost winnings as the replacement symbols can generate further wins of their own. These work in place of traditional reels, and symbols fall from above to fill the reels. Any winning paylines are paid out, and then the winning icons disappear allowing new ones to drop in and take their place – potentially resulting in further wins.

Generally speaking, these types of features all follow the same general function. The icons are only replaced on the reels if they are used to complete a winning combination. If you had four matching symbols on one?payline for example, you would be awarded with the corresponding payout for that winning combination and then the winning icons would be replaced with new icons, giving you a chance to win more money on the same spin.

The?original slot machines generally only had one payline, so most winning combinations would consist of three-of-a-kind and would pay out accordingly. Modern games however can have up to seven reels and hundreds of paylines. Games developers are always coming up with new ways to improve the gaming experience and draw in new players, and different features are just one way that they’ve made games far more entertaining.

You can now find many variations of these features; including?expanding wilds, sticky wilds,?shifting wilds, and stacked wilds. Each of these performs in a different way to generate single or multiple wins, but all still follow the same basic principle of substituting for another symbol.

Game developers have used increasingly complex video graphics to design their games, and features now come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.?Stacked wilds appear as though several wilds are stacked on top of each other and can cover an entire reel, generating several winning lines in one hit.

Sticky wilds stay in place on the reel for several spins at a time, awarding the player with multiple winning paylines. These are often used as part of a bonus game to increase winnings. Shifting wilds work in a similar way by staying on the screen, but they also shift one position every time the reels spin. They will carry on generating winning combinations on each spin until they eventually shift off of the reels.

Expanding wilds are often animated and once they land on a reel, they will expand to cover the whole reel, and can create several winning paylines, in a similar way to a stacked wild.