Win Both Ways Slots

How the payouts balance out

Reading combinations from right to left as well as left to right means twice as many chances to win. Game developers balance this by lowering the payout for each combination. You usually end up with more frequent wins that pay a bit less than a standard slot. NetEnt's Starburst is a classic example of this. It gives you a steady stream of smaller payouts and a strict limit on the maximum win.

Some developers take a different approach. ELK Studios includes both-ways wins in highly volatile games like the Nitropolis series. These games have huge maximum payouts and complex features. In this setup, reading wins from both sides just adds more unpredictability to the math rather than smoothing things out.

Changing the value of the reels

In a normal slot, the first three reels are the most important because every win has to start on the left. When a game pays both ways, the first and last reels are equally important. The middle reel becomes the most valuable spot on the screen because it connects wins coming from either direction. Any wild symbols or multipliers that land in the center will have a much bigger impact on your payout.

This mechanic works really well with expanding grids. A five-of-a-kind win is great on its own. Getting paid for it from both sides on a screen with eight rows is even better. Adding more rows simply multiplies the effect of reading wins in two directions.