The arrangement of reels and images that we call 1,024 line games were invented by Microgaming, though other designers have since followed suit with similar styles of slots that do away with traditional pay line arrangements altogether. The number 1,024 in the phrase 1,024 line slots is a dead giveaway – that is actually the potential number of winnings based on the number of symbols in the game. How did they come to that number? Multiply 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 (four rows on five reels) and like magic the number 1,024 appears.
By removing the concept of pay line activation, Microgaming (and now other designers) created machines that gamblers are falling all over themselves to take a shot at. 1,024 line slots sound so ridiculously stuffed with available line bets it’s difficult for a slot gambler to not push a few bucks through some variation just to see what it’s like. Think of these games as being composed entirely of scatter symbols, rather than having 1,024 actual pay lines.
Arctic Fortune Video Slot
Microgaming Solutions’ Arctic Fortune video slot was the first in that company’s line of extremely popular and industry-altering 1,024 Ways slots. The theme is winter in Viking territory. The beautiful background image (a dark and wintry scene that animates randomly throughout the game) and the creepy Viking-style music make this one of the moodier machines at any Microgaming-powered online casino. Every symbol has its own set of animation that plays when that symbol forms a winning combo. It makes the game a little busy, but since Arctic Fortune was the first in a major new release of slot games, the designers did everything they could to make it a show-stopper.
Leagues of Fortune
Appearing early in the summer of 2012, Leagues of Fortune is another Microgaming release in their popular line of 1,024 Ways (or 1,024 Lines) slots. Besides using the “every symbol is a scatter symbol” system that does away with pay lines altogether, Leagues of Fortune also introduced the new Microgaming gamble feature rules. The two big changes are, actually, big changes, which isn’t that common in the world of casino game design. For starters, players can change the odds of the gamble – larger bets lead to slightly better odds, while smaller bets make the odds slightly longer. The other big change is that gamble games that result in a win can be continued as long as the player keeps winning, allowing prizes to get larger and larger (and more and more tempting) until finally a loss takes away the jackpot and (in our experience) makes the bettor really angry. Microgaming is making some huge changes in the world of online slots; the 1,024 lines thing is sort of old hat now that other companies are joining in on the fun, but the new gamble game rules are an exciting new chapter for one of the Internet’s oldest and most-popular game designers.
Our Thoughts on 1,024 Line Slots
It may seem like the future of slot gambling is going to be slots with an unbelievable number of pay lines – where will it end? Is a slot with 50,000 lines enough? Why stop there – why not release a slot game with 50,000,000 lines? At some point, a slot game may require an entire laptop’s hard drive and graphics capacity for a few rounds of play – that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you can see where we’re going with this. 1,024 line slots are making slots players greedy for games with limitless pay line bets. At the same time, a fondness for traditional games is setting up an interesting scenario where casinos on the Internet host massive titles like Leagues of Fortune next to simple cherry-and-bar one-armed bandits. If that’s the future of Internet slot games, so be it. But for those of you that like your slots of the ten, fifteen, or thirty line variety, get them while you still can. The future is here, and her name is 1,024 Ways.