Pay Both Ways

An ordinary payline pays from the left: matching symbols must run in a row starting at reel one. Pay both ways adds the other side, so a combination also counts from right to left. Each line works twice, which makes small wins noticeably more frequent while each one stays modest.

The standard example is NetEnt’s Starburst, released on 23 January 2012. Specs in short: a 5×3 grid, 10 lines, 96.08% RTP, low volatility and an 800x cap. Put three matching gems on reels three, four and five with other symbols on the first two, and a left-to-right game pays nothing while this one pays from the right. So read both edges of the grid, not only the left. The expanding Wild, which lands on the three middle reels, works in both directions at once.

Secrets of Atlantis, NetEnt’s game of 24 August 2016, has 40 fixed lines on a 5×4 grid, 97.07% RTP and a 1,600x cap. It names the rule Win Both Ways and does without free spins. Thunderkick’s Tiger Rush (October 2018) uses 10 lines on 5×3, and by the rules only the highest win per line is paid, so the two directions never add up to a double payout. Top win: 1,750x.

When the second direction switches on only sometimes

In Quickspin’s Dragon Shrine (2016) the base game counts wins left to right only, while the free-spins entry screen suggests both directions apply in the bonus, which is worth confirming in the demo. In ELK Studios’ Nitropolis 4 (23 February 2023), Both Ways arrives in the Super Bonus together with Max Rows, the heaviest mode in the game. RTP there is 94.00% and the cap is 50,000x.

243 Crystal Fruits from Tom Horn Gaming (2017) takes another route: a special Wild moves the game from five lines to 243 ways. Its cap is only 100x and RTP is 96.55%.

What to remember when choosing: paying both ways does not make a slot more generous. It shifts the wins toward frequent small ones. To see how volatility and RTP combine into a rhythm, read the piece on slot volatility.