What Are Cluster Pays Slots?

If you’re used to spinning the reels in traditional slot machine games, you might find cluster pays a bit of a strange diversion! However, these popular slots have changed the game (literally) for casino-goers over the years, with top developers leaning into alternative reel-spinning action.

Cluster pays slot games first arrived online thanks to NetEnt, one of the biggest online slot providers. Instead of playing on a set number of reels, these games produce a huge map of symbols that cluster together – so, if you link up a group of matching symbols, you stand a chance of winning!

In this guide, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about cluster pays slots, some of the most popular titles, and which developers to look for.

How to play cluster pays slots

Unlike traditional slot games, cluster pays slots don’t have set reels and paylines. Instead, these games revolve around groups of symbols that cluster together in a grid system that you need to match up to win prizes.

Here’s how to start playing cluster pays slots at LeoVegas.

To begin playing, head to the Cluster Pays section of our slot catalogue where you’ll find an array of titles – you can also do this by searching for ‘cluster pays’ in our casino search bar. After you’ve found your game of choice, you can launch the game of your choice. All our games are optimised for mobile and desktop, so don’t worry about the device you’re using!

Once the game’s loaded, you’ll see the controls on your screen. Most games include a ‘spin’ button, which will place a bet and start the game, and a ‘set bets’ button, which allows you to choose how much you want to spend on your bet.

Most cluster pays slot games also include paytables or menus that tell you how much each symbol is worth, and how many you need to line up to score a win. If this information isn’t available in a table alongside the main game, there should be an information button to tap or click to bring it up.

When you click or tap the ‘spin’ button in a cluster pays game, your grid will refill with lots of different symbols, which vary depending on the game. If you match enough symbols in a cluster, they’ll make up a ‘win’ and explode, often allowing more symbols to cascade into place.

Not all games offer the cascading effect, but those that do will allow you to keep playing for as long as you keep making clusters. In some games, you can fill up a win bar or ‘tank’ each time you make a cluster to activate a bonus round or free games.

If you don’t win, the grid will reset for you to set your bet and spin again when you’re ready. Many cluster pay games keep cascading until you stop winning – check the paytable before you start!

How to win at cluster pays

In most cluster pays games, you need to arrange a certain number of specific symbols to win set prizes. For example, if the game arranges five apples in a cluster, you could win the lowest prize on the grid, and if it arranges more than 25 bananas, for example, you could win the jackpot. The symbols and prizes vary from game to game!

Sometimes, you can activate free games and bonus features by lining up specific symbols in clusters.

Always check the paytable to find out how many symbols of each type you need to merge into clusters, as these will vary from game to game.

What makes cluster pays slots so different from regular games?

If you’re used to playing some of the more traditional games from our popular slots range, you’ll notice that there aren’t any reels! There’s no set order to making win combinations in cluster pays games, and you don’t have to line them up from left to right.

The key difference between regular slot games and cluster pays games is the grid. Grid sizes vary from game to game, but cluster pays slots typically give you a large space into which symbols will fall, cluster together, explode and cascade.

These differences also mean that activating bonus rounds and features works differently from traditional slot. However, you might often find that cluster pays games have ‘wild’ symbols, like those in typical slots, to take the place of certain symbols so that you can make new cluster groups.

What are some of the most popular cluster pays slot games?

Check out our exclusive grid slot, LeoVegas Cluster Gems.

This cluster slot game takes place on a 7x7 grid, and the aim is to group together different card suit symbols for prizes. The top prize in the game, naturally, is triggered when grouping together 25 or more of the elusive LeoVegas logo.

There are lots of other great cluster pays games available at LeoVegas that fall under different themes. For example, check out Kluster Krystals: Megaclusters from Relax Gaming. This game has a retro feel that also features free games and multipliers.to help make symbol gathering more interesting.

Also check out BTG’s Star Clusters slot, another Meagclusters game that fits in neatly with some of the other colourful, gem-filled titles in our main slots library.

This game offers wild multipliers, free spins and clusters that take players all the way up to a maximum win of 23,960x the stake.

Finally, there are opportunities for players to blast off into the stratosphere with ELK Studios’ Cluster Slide, an 8x7 grid game that produces prizes from cluster groups of five symbols or more.

Rest assured, we’ll provide you with more cluster pays games in the months to come, so be sure to bookmark our cluster category page and keep your eyes peeled for new additions.

Which slot developers produce cluster pays games?

As mentioned, the forerunner of cluster pays slot games is NetEnt, one of the best-known studios producing games for online casinos. Cluster pay titles have only been part of the gaming scene since around 2015, so there’s likely to be plenty of life in NetEnt’s creative library yet.

However, we encourage you to dive into games from the likes of Blueprint, one of the most creative studios working in iGaming and a close partner of LeoVegas. In fact, Blueprint developed LeoVegas Cluster Gems, our exclusive cluster pays title.

It is also worth searching through games from ELK Studios and Big Time Gaming. These developers are some of the most creative teams working in cluster-based gaming right now, and we can’t wait to see what else they have to offer us in the future.