Fruit Machine Features

As explained elsewhere on this site the UK fruit machine is essentially a development of the classic US three-reel, single payline casino slot format. But what differentiates a 'fruity' from a 'slot'? Well there a number of reel and bonus features you'll typically find on online or real-world pub fruit machines that are unique to these types of game and add that extra bit of fizz to the fruity experience.

The Nudge Feature

This is the most obvious feature that sets fruit machines apart from slots. The 'nudge' is a reel feature that allows a player to selectively advance a stationary reel a number of 'stops' after a spin has finished. In so doing it may be possible to 'nudge' a symbol into position on the winline to complete a winning combination. Single or multiple nudges may be randomly awarded following any spin during a fruit machine's base game, or may be earned as a prize during that fruity's bonus game. You may also find that a particular machine allows nudges to be held or banked for use at a later moment. This is very useful if it looks unlikely that a stopped set of reels can be nudged into a winning combination with the number of nudges available.

The online fruit machines from Microgaming you'll find reviewed on this site also have a Nudge Peek feature worth mentioning. This facility lets you momentarily jog each reel forward one stop, allowing a preview of which two symbols are next on that reel. Using Nudge Peek gives players an enhanced intelligence of what winning combinations might be nudged onto the fruit machine's payline with the limited number of nudges they can use at that moment in play.

One final nudge feature that turns up on many popular pub and online fruit machines is the Nudge Gamble. This is a 'skill stop' game that invites the player to use the nudges awarded or gamble for more. The aim is for the player to watch two options flash alternately on the screen then click a button to instantly stop the display when the better option is illuminated. Get it wrong and any awarded nudges may be reduced or lost completely. Get it right and you collect more nudges up to a fixed limit.

The Hold Feature

The other reel feature of a typical fruit machine is the Hold option. Like the nudge, this feature may be offered at any moment following a spin, indicated by 'hold' buttons blinking beneath each reel. The player then has the option to freeze that reel for the next spin, the idea being to hold any of the reels that show promise of forming a winning combination from the subsequent spin, for example two reels with the same symbol on the winline.

Some fruit machines may also maintain a hold over several subsequent spins giving the player increased chances of getting a win, or multiple wins before the feature ends.

The Gamble Feature

This is a bonus feature that can randomly activate after a win on a fruit machine game's reels. It's commonly a double-or-nothing bet, based on predicting if the next number in a fixed sequence will be higher of lower than the one currently illuminated. Players can collect their win at any time and if they choose to play this feature each correct prediction they make will double the winnings at that point. A single incorrect prediction will cancel that win altogether.

The Fruit Machine Bonus Game

All fruit machine games feature a bonus game that can trigger at random moments or, more commonly, when a specific combination is achieved on the main game's reels. These games often go to town with the graphical theme applied to that given fruit machine, but basically tend to follow one of two formats; a skill stop 'cash ladder' or lapper board-style 'bonus trail'. The former is an opportunity for the player to stop a graphic display of different prize values as they are lit up in a sequence. Good hand eye co-ordination is the route to success here, since the sequence is cycled rapidly and timing the moment when you push to stop it is crucial to hitting the fruit machine jackpot this game can offer.

Bonus trail games are often set out as graphic 'lapper boards' (i.e. like a classic board game such as Monopoly) where there are spaces for the player to land on offering specific rewards, such as cash, nudges or multipliers, or penalties. The player moves around the board by spinning a single number reel (or wheel) to randomly select the number of spaces he or she can advance. The number of spins a player has is fixed, but some fruit machines award extra turns from spaces on their bonus trails. The game may conclude in one of three ways - the player opts to collect an award before using up all their spins; the player collects the award obtained from their last spin or; the player exits the game without a prize by landing on a penalty space.

Whether playing online or pub fruit machine games these bonus games are where players can really bank a decent payout and/or hit the fruit machine jackpot, so take some time familiarising yourself with a specific fruit machine's bonus game to get the best out of it. Online fruit machines offer a distinct advantage here, since many can be played in a demo mode giving players a chance to try out the game for free including its bonus game should they trigger it - and let's face it playing a free online fruit machine means you can afford to keep playing it until you do get a crack at the bonus game! Once you're happy you've got to grips with the game, it's usually a simple mouse click to switch into that fruit machine's real-money mode to start playing to win that cash jackpot.