Rid yourself of the restrictive rules of paylines with our bombastic universe of cluster pays slots! You get more symbols, more combination opportunities, and wins can even lead to more wins on the same spin. It’s no surprise that cluster slots like Reactoonz have become so popular as the mechanism creates an innovative experience.
The LeoVegas guide helps you get to grips with this different kind of slot gaming. Read on to learn everything about cluster pays slots, including the pros and cons, how they work, and the most common features.
A cluster pays slot is a slot game that pays when a set number of matching symbols lands next to each other in a cluster. You still pay per spin, but you need to land matching symbols in a cluster rather than on paylines.
In regular video slots, you have paylines running horizontally across the slot’s reels and rows, and your aim is to line up the same symbol, typically three, four, or five times, on one of those paylines. In cluster slots, you have to land five or more matching symbols next to each other on a grid of around 36 or more positions to create a paying cluster.
Paying in clusters isn’t the only key characteristic of this popular form of slot gaming. As well as the way they pay, from five-symbol combos to megaclusters, there are three more key features that power the most popular cluster slots.
The programming of most traditional video slots is done in a 5x3 format, allowing for up to 15 symbols to land on any given spin. Even the expansive Megaways slot games are equipped with a grid of up to 6x6. In cluster pays slots, 6x6 is usually the default matrix, populated by at least 36 symbols. That’s why these slots are generally much larger, while the absence of paylines leads to increased win opportunities.
Aloha! Christmas is a fine example of a popular 6x6 cluster pays slot. If you’re looking for a much larger grid, Jammin’ Jars 2 with its 8x8 or 64-symbol game panel could be an interesting option.
Sometimes referred to as the ‘Tumble’ or ‘Avalanche’ feature, cascading reels enable consecutive wins on a single spin. This is achieved by removing all the winning symbols of a successful combination, followed by new symbols that fill the empty positions, paving the way for another win.
This feature isn’t exclusive to cluster pays slots: Gonzo’s Quest could be seen as the game that popularised this mechanic. However, it is pretty standard to see cascading reels in these slots as well. Chaining wins through cascades adds a massive dose of excitement to a feature. In Sticky Bees, winning combinations of five or more burst to commence a tumble, while in Reactoonz 2, wins trigger a cascade and have the power to boost the Quantumeter feature.
Multipliers are very common in cluster slots and they typically appear as a result of cascading wins. Plus, the more symbols you land, the greater the multiplier becomes. Other bonus features are equipped with the progressive multiplier mechanic as well, such as free spins rounds. Some even fuel wild symbols with multipliers to enhance the power of a cluster win even further.
Sweet Bonanza Xmas is a cluster pays slot brimming with powerful multipliers. In the free spins mode – activated by four or more scatters – symbols with a multiplier worth up to a 100x can land on the grid. The ancient Egypt-themed cluster pays slot Golden Glyph 2 boasts a wild symbol enriched with a progressive multiplier, which increments by one with each winning cluster.
LeoVegas treats players to the latest and greatest cluster pays slots available online. This page however, only lists our favourites. Maybe you are familiar with some of the sequels linked to above, but the originals are the ones that draw large crowds because of cascading wins, big grids, and progressive multipliers.
Created by NetEnt, Aloha! Cluster Pays was a near-instant hit. The oddly shaped 6x5 grid and video slot reels distinguish this low-volatility slot from other cluster pays slots.
You need to create a cluster of at least nine matching symbols to obtain a payout, which randomly activates the Sticky Wins Respin feature for a chance to increase the win. There’s also a free spins mode in this Hawaiian-themed slot that boots the low-paying symbols.
Powered by Pragmatic Play, Sweet Bonanza leans heavily on the smash-hit game Candy Crush – inventively drawing from the mobile game’s mechanics. Whenever you hit eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the reels – they don’t need to be connected – you bag a payout, followed by a cascade.
In the free spins move, triggered by four Lollipops, the Candy Bombs come into play. These feature symbols carry multipliers worth up to 100x your win on that spin. If you add the possibility of multiple Candy Bombs exploding at once, it’s easy to see why this colourful slot is so popular.
Set in front of majestic pyramids and loaded with gods, pharaohs, plus hieroglyphs, Golden Glyph taps into the popularity of Egyptian-themed slots and cluster pays slots. This medium volatility slot incorporates a 7x7 grid on which at least five matching and connected symbols in a cluster award a payout.
Besides the tumble Mechanics for continuous wins, Power Wilds, Power-Ups, and free spins ramp up the rewarding gameplay. What’s more, the free games mode includes a Wandering Wild with a progressive multiplier. Every time it’s part of a winning cluster on a free spin, the multiplier increases, resulting in even bigger successive wins.
Disco-themed and loaded with colourful jars of fruit, this might just be Push Gaming’s most famous creation so far. Jammin’ Jars rocks up with a massive 8x8 grid, cascading reels, free spins, mega symbols, and sticky wilds. It’s quite understandable why it’s one of the most popular cluster slots in the wondrous world of iGaming.
Launch the Rainbow feature to enjoy colossal fruit symbols, while the Jam Jar Multipliers feature increments the multiplier by 1 with each consecutive win. To make things even more jaw-dropping, the Free Games mode boasts a progressive multiplier that doesn’t have an upper limit.
Push Gaming decided to build on the success of Jammin’ Jars, which is why their developers created the power-packed Giga Jar. The 7x7 grid comes packed with fruit ice cubes and the mighty multiplier Jam Jar wilds.
On top of this, there’s the multiplier with a max value of 50x running down the side of the slot. This leads to the Giga Jar multiplier symbol, which leaps onto the reels after three cascades. Each time it becomes active, the multiplier goes up a tier. There’s more where that came from as Giga Jar is decked out with the Ice Breaker feature, Snowball feature, and giant symbols.
Whether or not you want to play cluster pays slots comes down to your preferred play style. In terms of RTP and volatility variations, cluster slots don’t differ from regular slots. Elements like themes and features will likely drive your decision. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of cluster pays slots.
There aren’t any paylines in cluster pays slots. Instead, you either need to land matching symbols multiple times next to one another or land the same symbol multiple times anywhere on the reels – like in Sweet Bonanza.
It is not easier or more difficult to win on cluster pays slots versus online video slots. This element of slot play is primarily determined by a game’s volatility, with low volatility games paying out smaller amounts, but more regularly on average. Aloha! Cluster Pays is a low volatility cluster pays slot.
There’s a case to be made for many of the most popular cluster pays slots as being the best, but Sweet Bonanza, Sticky Bees, Jammin’ Jars, and Pirots are all competing for the top spot.