An online Pokie is a term given to an online gaming machine such as a Slot/Fruit Machine or a Video Poker (which is a virtual card game based on five card draw poker). The word Pokie is only used in Australia and is recognised throughout the industry here with industry regulators, players, operators and other industry organisations.
Pokies tend to take up a lot of room at online casinos and they usually make up most of the games, generally over half the amount of games are usually Pokies. There are now even some websites available that are comprised of mainly slots, with just a small section available for other casino games.
The graphics are forever improving with online pokies, and the sound effects are improving at just the same rate. Many of these Pokies now have animated intros at the beginning of the game which are more like Hollywood movies. Australian players are particularly fond of Pokies and the great news is that there are plenty out there for them to sample. Most of them can be accessed in a players internet browser using a flash player, but the majority are available when you download the casinos software.
How to Play Online Pokies
Online Pokies are not difficult to master, especially when almost every game today has a detailed description of how to play the games, along with odds and payout structure. There are even strategies and hints to help players improve their games, so learning how to play these games should be the last thing on a players mind.
With most of the games, simply hitting the spin or draw button will be sufficient enough to play these games. They do not require too much brain power and can be played by even the most novice player who has never played on a Pokie before. After playing for just five minutes or so, most players should get the hang of how to play each game. They are not designed to be too taxing on the mind.
Once you have played on one particular game at an online casino and then you visit another online casino which uses different software, you should notice that the basic principles for that same game are very similar and the only variation will be how the game has been laid out, for example the graphics or table design will be different. The odds may also vary slightly from one casino to another but there will be very little difference in the rules.
Online Pokies with Free Spins and Bonus Features
For the more adventurous player, there are thousands of Pokies available today that offer free spins and bonus features to spice the game up a little. The free spins are usually activated by Scatter symbols, but exactly how they are activated will actually be revealed in each game’s Paytable, which can be viewed at any time.
Some Pokies have free spins that can continuously be re-triggered, meaning that the free spins could in theory go on forever, but this is quite unlikely. Once activated, the free spins will spin automatically for a certain amount of spins and will not take any of the player’s credit. During this free spins round, any wins that appear on the reels will be added to their balance once the bonus round has come to an end.
The bonus feature could be an entertaining bonus round that takes place on a second screen and is usually a picking round of some sort. Players simply pick a hidden value to reveal what prize they have won. The bonus features are usually triggered when the bonus symbols appear on the reels, either across one of the active paylines or in some cases they can appear anywhere on the reels, in no particular order.
