Like many sites with a lot of content, some articles get more traction than others. Some of you read linearly on a day to day basis, but most of the traffic that comes to the site is through searches.
That tends to weight lists like these towards articles with a more defined and broad audience, on topics that tend to be consistently valuable.
I took a look at my analytics and identified the 10 most read posts of 2021; if you’re newer to the site, some of these pieces may be new to you, but in many cases tens of thousands of people found these valuable.
10. The Progressive pick on Smokin’ Hot Stuff Wicked Wheel
This is an enduring topic, one that came up on my recent conversation with It’s a Slot Machine, among others. At the time I wrote this, I matter of factly talked about what is clearly obvious – this can’t be a true pick. And this has been confirmed since, but many players still find it frustrating that a conventional wisdom item – that if they show you the other picks that it’s a true pick – was not followed here.
My understanding is this is no longer allowed in Nevada. How this impacts the design of games like this in the future, we’ll see!
9. Stopping the Reels
I see so many players encouraging slot channels on YouTube and so on to stop the reels to get a bonus. It’s such a popular myth that slot manufacturers are now telling players point blank in the pay table that stopping the reels does not have any impact on the outcome of a spin. The fact this is on the top 10 just underscores the number of people who don’t realize that the outcome is determined when you hit spin to start the reels moving.
8. Ultimate Fire Link Slot Review
Ultimate Fire Link remains my favorite link game, and it’s clear others are fond of it too, given the enduring traffic to my post about it. Scientific Games has a parade of sequels coming out, each tweaking the model in various directions, although all look to make the game harder. Yet the original game remains crazy popular and I’m not sure why they don’t continue to extend the original line too.
7. Quick Hit and Max Betting
This is another article I wrote early on, and has been very enduring, about Quick Hit and the max bet advice. Getting access to those progressives requires a max bet, but when a casino disables the progressives in favor of flat jackpots, the pressure is off.
6. Picking the Right Denomination
One mistake I see some players make is overbetting for their bankroll. If you bet too high for what your bankroll can afford, you can potentially find yourself out of money before you can get a hit that puts you back in the game.
Denomination plays a role in this; if you have $100 and go into the high limit room trying to win something massive it could be a very quick visit. But there are games with higher denominations and lower max bets than penny slots are shipping with today, and that could impact things too.
5. Birthday Free Play in Vegas
This is one of those articles that sadly diminished in value in 2021, as Mlife pulled all of their birthday offers, which existed for years at three of their casinos. Offers are still out there, but much less convenient and not really at any of the strip properties, so like many comp devaluations it’s just another lost perk with time.
4. Use That Players Card
If I had a list of core principles around which the site’s content was developed, the importance of the players card would be on the top ten. So many players talk about pulling their card when they’re losing and so forth, but what they don’t factor in is the loss of all the offers that would be built upon their play. Meanwhile, players cards have no impact on the payback of a slot machine.
The Players Card perks are among the only guaranteed paybacks, as win or lose, you get your comp dollars, and whatever offers generated. So don’t forget to use the card.
3. Dancing Drums Tutorial
The popularity of Dancing Drums endures, as its endless parade of sequels shows. The original had a unique betting setup (shared with sister games like 88 Fortunes) that gave you some various ways to play the game. The one gold symbol option is among the more interesting ways to bet low and win big on a game.
Sequels take that option away, as they seem to always do, but the original is still quite popular and endures on the casino floor.
2. Finding Slots at Casinos
One of the most common questions I get is where to find slot x at casino y. I can’t answer those questions, unfortunately, when there’s 1,000 casinos each with a plethora of machines inside. In some cases, though, there are ways to look for games. Periodically I check and see what finders have been added and which have died, so this article is updated when possible.
1. #landthegrand or Major on Lightning Link and Dragon Link
Another enduring game series, the sister games Lightning Link and Dragon Link have a couple of ways to win each of the bigger progressives. Over time it’s become more clear that there’s multiple ways, as slot fans post their wins, but when this article debuted it was still relatively unknown (and I suspect given the fact this article has sat at #1 for a long time, there’s plenty of players still learning this).
Interestingly, they’ve modified this behavior on some of the newer descendants, so in 2022 I’ll revise to cover how things differ in newer Link games.
