Trends come and go in the online slots market, but one of the newest fads looks like it’s here to stay. Cluster Wins or Cluster Pays is a new type of format that is taking players by storm, allowing them to hit winning combinations on real money slots in an exciting new way.
How Cluster Pays Work
To hit winning combinations on Cluster Pays or Cluster Wins slots, you just have to land four/five or more symbols in a group. They don’t have to land on a specific payline; as long as they are touching, the prize is yours.
The number of symbols that can appear in a cluster depends on how many symbols positions there are on the reels. So, if you have a 4×5 set of reels, you can land up to a 20-of-a-kind winning combination for a huge payout.
History of Clusters
Cluster games aren’t actually a new thing in the online slots world. In fact, they have been around for quite some time, but were never as popular as they are now. One of the first games to feature the Clusters format was Chain Reactors, which was released on the OpenBet platform in 2013. The game was incredibly popular and a sequel, Chain Reactors: Super Trails, was launched the following year – but, that was as far as it went back then.
It wasn’t until 2016 that the Cluster Pays format made it back into the spotlight with the release of NetEnt’s Aloha: Cluster Pays online slot. The game’s vibrant design and unique gameplay really captivated players this time around, providing them with a (sort of) brand new way to experience playing slots. Shangri-La: Cluster Pays, followed shortly after, and players were thrilled with both titles.
Now, a new Clusters based game is released almost every month. These are just a few of the titles that have made their debut this year:
- Lost Relics from NetEnt
- Pixel Samurai from Playtech
- Tiki Fruits from Red Tiger Gaming
- Astro Legends from Foxium
Benefits of Cluster Slots
When playing typical slots, your wager is normally based on the number of paylines in the game multiplied by your line bet. Since there are no paylines in Cluster slots, this isn’t the case. Instead, you just place one wager on the entire set of reels to trigger every potential winning combination – which makes for more affordable wagers.
Most of the time, Cluster slots also feature Cascading Reels. This allows players to hit multiple winning combinations in a single spin, as winning symbols disappear, and new symbols take their place. Should several cascades occur in a single spin, players are often rewarded with increasing multipliers.
As such, the base game of Cluster slots simply come with bonus features built into them. You don’t have to trigger special features or place extra wagers; there are already generous bonuses waiting for you when you spin the reels.
