Some of you pay pretty close attention to what I’m doing when I play slots. Here’s an example of someone who’s been watching closely, and had a question about how I play:
Why do you play the 5 line version of games when 10 and 25 line versions exist?
Bri T.
Back when I was a baby slot player (not really, I was 19, the legal age in Canada) you more frequently had the option of choosing how many lines you wanted to play (if it had more than one line; one of my early favorites, King Cash, was a single line game!).
Most newer slots don’t give you a choice on how many lines to play by itself. But what often happens is as you increase the denomination, many games reduce the amount of lines available.
Let’s take the example of a low-limit Dragon Link. At the 1 cent and 2 cent denominations, the game gives you 50 paylines. However, switch to 5 cent or 10 cent, and it goes down to 25 paylines. The $1 denomination has just 5 paylines.
Why do they make such changes? Part of it comes down to the bet levels. If you had 50 lines at $1 denomination, minimum bet would be $50 instead of $5! But that also means the 5 cent denomination can be played for as low as $1.25 instead of $2.50, thanks to the reduction in lines.
This example isn’t a high limit machine, so part of it is simply keeping the bet ranges tighter (as the casino can always install a high limit version to offer those truly big bets). Even as a lower-limit version that means a $50 bet is possible. Meanwhile, by comparison, the Million Dollar Dragon Link versions start at $1 denomination and a 25 line bet, so the floor is $25 a spin!
So, because I like to bet bigger, I tend to gravitate to those higher denominations. And since some slots aren’t available in high limit, and sometimes I just like to play on the main casino floor, that will often be the reason you see me playing less lines than could potentially be played on a lower denomination.
Bottom line, more lines means more wins – but smaller ones. Less lines means less wins, but bigger amounts! I’ll take the bigger wins any time.
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