If you want to combine the quaint charm of traditional pokies with some exciting gaming features you should try out a category of online pokies known as fruit machines. These are also known as pub fruities or AWPs (amusement without payment) because historically they were located in pubs and dispensed only fruit flavoured chewing gum as prizes and not cash. You will find a selection of fruit machines at most Australian online casinos. If you are at a Microgaming online casino then some titles that you could wager on are Cash ‘n Curry, Dubya Money, Game On and Pub Fruity. This article will acquaint you with some of the gaming features found in online fruit machines.
The two most common features are Nudge and Hold. They are awarded randomly after any spin. If you activate the Nudge feature the reel will move down by one position. This can lead to a winning combination in the payline. If you are lucky you will be able to simultaneously activate the Nudge feature on more than one reel. In the Hold feature, the marked reel is held fixed while the other two reels are spun again. These features come free of cost like free spins in online video pokies.
A more exciting feature of online fruit machines is the Cash Ladder. A win on a regular spin puts you on the first rung of the Cash Ladder. You have to play a Hi Lo game and guess whether the next number will be higher or lower. If you guess correctly then you will climb up one rung of the Cash Ladder. If you guess incorrectly then you will be returned to the main game without winning anything and the Cash Ladder will be reset to base level. As you move up the Cash Ladder the payouts will become bigger. You can cash the prize any time before playing the Hi Lo game. The top rung of the Cash Ladder usually offers a Cash Pot jackpot.
The Feature Board is the most complex of the online fruit machine features. It will be triggered by a specified combination of symbols appearing on the payline. The Feature Board has squares along its perimeter. You move along the squares by generating a random number. You may have to roll a die or spin a wheel. When you land on a square you get the benefit indicated. The Feature Board also contains booby squares that terminate the feature.