Modern slot games are technically impressive, aesthetically pleasing and packed with brilliant features that players take for granted.
Of course this was not always the case, and a quick look at the best PA free slots sites on slots.info will give you a good comparison point for reviewing the changes and evolutions that this marketplace has undergone in the past couple of decades.
To bring you up to speed and help you to appreciate just how far online slots have come, here is the lowdown on the aspects that have improved the most.
Cross-platform compatibility
Arguably the most important leap that slot games have made from their primordial origins to the present day is in terms of the platforms they can run on.
At the turn of the millennium, Adobe’s Flash was dominant in all sorts of digital contexts and so was also widely used by web-based casinos to power their games. This limited device compatibility and also created performance problems in many scenarios.
Flash forwards to today, and almost all of the top slots are coded using HTML5. This fifth-gen markup language is not only far more capable and efficient than older solutions, but also offers the broadest possible compatibility with everything from smartphones and tablets to the latest gaming laptops and PCs.
Because of this, no matter the OS onboard or the chipset under the hood, so long as your device has a web browser and an internet connection, it should be able to play slot games. The only other thing worth considering is whether investing in a pair of blue light glasses is sensible to see you through late night sessions of play.
Bonus features & themes
In the early era of online slots, gameplay was generally quite simple and closely aligned with what traditional mechanical machines might offer. You could expect to encounter games with 3 or 5 reels, a handful of paylines and commonplace symbols like playing cards and fruits.
While such old-school games are still popular at the moment, the market has made serious progress in terms of the bonus features that are bolted on top of the base play, as well as when it comes to the themes that each title offers.
Cascading reels, free spins, standalone mini-games that are skill-based rather than controlled by RNG and many more features besides have joined the fray. This is partly down to the fact that the market is far more competitive than before, meaning that major developers need to work harder to ensure that their latest releases stand out from the crowd in some way.
When it comes to themes, the same is true. Whether you are a fan of pop culture, gothic horror, art deco architecture, the golden age of Hollywood or even specific celebrities, there should be a slot out there for you.
These aspects made new slots far more engaging and also add to the replayability, as you will not be stuck looking at the same boring old symbols or twiddling your thumbs while the reels spin.
Reliability & security
As with every digital service on earth, slot games have become far more consistent in terms of the way they perform and the uptime that the sites providing them can achieve thanks to how hosting tech has improved over the years.
In the age of cloud computing and geographically distributed data centers, players can safely assume that they will be able to spin the reels of their favorite slot reliably from anywhere in the world, without having to put up with lag, disconnect errors and other foibles that were more prevalent in the past.
The same ameliorations have been made to the security of online casino sites, as the rise of cybercrime threats has been met with an equally rapid and robust implementation of procedures and systems to protect innocent customers from exploitation.
It is not just the security which applies to the slot games themselves, but also to the payment methods which are used to make deposits and withdrawals. Encryption ensures transactions are secure and people can play with confidence on reputable sites.
Legitimacy
The final aspect of online slot games which has improved with time is the acceptance that they have achieved in the mainstream, largely due to the increased support from legislators at both a state and a federal level.
While only a handful of states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, currently allow slot sites to operate within their borders, this is gradually beginning to change and so players from across the country can enjoy access to legitimate, domestic casino sites. This is a positive step from a safety perspective, as well as in terms of generating tax revenues from online gambling to help pay for public services.
So in all the online slot game sector looks set to go from strength to strength by building on the already solid foundations that have been established so far.
