Paylines have long been an integral part of online slot games. They define the paths across the reels on which the combinations appearing in the payout tables are eligible for wins. If a combination appears on a path that has not been defined as a payline then there is no payout awarded. The number of paylines in a slot game varies from a single payline in many 3 reel slots to 100 paylines in two 5 reel slots offered by Microgaming.

Microgaming was the first to introduce an online slot game that did away with the concept of paylines altogether. In these games wins are calculated by symbols appearing from left to right starting from the first reel, irrespective of on which row the symbol appears. Another way of looking at the concept is that a 5 reel slot will have 243 paylines with all paylines enabled. Therefore Microgaming refers to the slot as having 243 ways to win. Microgaming’s online slot with no paylines was called Burning desire. It was released in February 2009 on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. Players can bet from 1 to 10 coins in the game. The payout table for the line combinations gives the payouts for 1 coin wagered. If the player wagers 10 coins then the stated payout is multiplied by 10. The total bet per spin is taken to be 25 times the coins wagered. Therefore when a player selects 10 coins he will be charged 250 coins per spin. Since the maximum coin denomination is $1.00, the maximum total bet per spin is $250. The scatter symbol payouts are multiplied by the total bet.

In the competitive world of online slots other online gaming software providers are quick to pick up on innovations. Last week Vegas Technology released Grail Maiden and Cryptologic released Savannah Sunrise, both based on the no paylines or 243 ways to win concept. Both these software providers refer to this concept as All Ways. Grail Maiden follows a similar pattern as Burning Desire. Players can bet 25, 50, 75 or 100 coins. The payout table gives the payouts for 25 coins wagered. In Grail Maiden the total bet per spin is the same as the line bet. Therefore the line payouts and scatter payouts are multiplied by the same multiplier.

Savannah Sunrise has players wagering 1 coin for the line payouts and 25 coins for the total bet. Hence scatter payouts are multiplied by total bet. However the scatter combinations win with left to right combinations as the other symbols. However Cryptologic has introduced a twist in the Savannah Sunrise online slot. Players can choose the number of reels to play with. When players choose all five reels they get 243 combinations with all 15 reel positions coming into play. If players choose only 4 reels then the first four reels will display 3 symbols and the fifth reel only one symbol. Therefore only 13 reel positions come into play and the ways to win is 81. The total bet accepted is 15 coins.  For three reels, 11 reel positions come into play, with 27 ways to win and a total bet of 9 coins. For two reels, 9 reel positions come into play, with 9 ways to win and a total bet of 3 coins. For one reel, 7 reel positions come into play, with 3 ways to win and a total bet of 1 coin.