It's not hard to find online Slots products that use a large number of stacked icons as a selling point.
In these products, some are implemented by setting consecutive real icons on the reels, but more products use the changing icon Super Stack as a Feature.
Super Stack has the same visual performance as directly setting consecutive icons on the reels, with no significant difference.
Both are achieved by increasing the probability of consecutive icons appearing in a single column to increase the possibility of higher rewards.
The main difference between the two lies in their implementation logic and methods.
By stacking a large number of the same icons, the player's close win experience is enhanced. Super Stack does not make each icon appear consecutively multiple times on the reels, but sets a special icon.
This icon, once drawn, will turn into a designated icon before staying on the reel.
Therefore, it is only necessary to set a sequence of consecutive icons on the reel to achieve the effect of multiple icons appearing consecutively.
As for which icon appears consecutively, it is sufficient to set the probability of drawing Super Stack icons separately.
Compared to reels with real stacked icons, the most obvious advantage of this method is that it simplifies the design of the reel.
By setting a segment of variable special icons and the probability of drawing icons, it is possible to achieve the stacking effect of various icons.
By controlling the probability of different icons being drawn, it is possible to control the difference in the probability of winning icons, without having to arrange and control the number of icons individually.
Stacking as a Feature is also very likely to produce a situation where there are few types of icons but no wins. It is important to note that the drawing of Super Stack icons must be completed before the icons appear on the reel.
During the drawing process, players cannot see the icons change from Super Stack icons to other icons.
In contrast, the mechanism that places the drawn icons directly in front of the player is called Mystery Symbols.
This type of Feature first appears on the reel as a special icon with no payout multiplier, then changes into a designated icon.
The red question mark in the image is a type of mystery icon. This Feature adds the step of drawing icons to the visual performance compared to icon stacking, which helps to enhance the player's attention to the drawing process during the lottery.
The biggest difference between mystery icons and icon stacking in terms of mechanism is whether the process of drawing icons is completed on the reel or outside the reel.
This difference should theoretically be similar in the final visual performance, but due to different numerical logic, there can be significant differences in practice.
Because mystery icons first display stacking, then transform into other icons.
In this process, mystery icons can typically only transform into one type of icon.
Otherwise, displaying a large number of stacked mystery icons on the screen loses its meaning, and it would be better to directly draw stacked icons, saving lottery time.
Therefore, in numerical design, it is necessary to consider that each drawn icon will affect all mystery icons.
The mystery icons in the lower left corner of the reel all turn into the icon rhino, while Super Stack does not have this restriction.
Because its drawing process is not completed on the reel, and its design purpose is also more to reduce the repetitive work of designing multiple icon stacks.
The stacking of different icons in each column can be seen as one of the features of this mechanism.
Therefore, generally, when Super Stack is used as a Feature, the probability and judgment of drawing various icons in each column are carried out separately.
Whether adjacent columns can draw the same stacked icons is determined by the configured drawing probability.
The obvious stacking but different icons in adjacent columns need to be determined in numerical calculations, using either Super Stack or Mystery Symbols as the Feature.
If Super Stack is chosen, when calculating the probability of icon appearance, the probability of SS icons appearing in each column is distributed to other icons.
If Mystery Symbols is chosen, because the drawn icons are the same, it is necessary to discuss the RTP based on the possible types of drawn icons, then use the probability of MS icons turning into various icons for weighting and summing to obtain the final RTP.
This article introduces how to design this type of reel table.
First, directly present the image
In this demonstration of the calculation reel table, a new special symbol 'SS' is added, which is the special pattern needed for the Super Stack feature. 'SS' in each spin result, each reel will change into other patterns according to its own weight table, so 'SS' on different reels can change into different patterns.
Next, present the pattern frequency statistics
The first table has been taught many times on the website, simply counting the total number of various patterns on the reel.
The second table is the 'SS' pattern conversion weight table mentioned just now.
And the last table, after calculating the conversion weight of 'SS', the average number of each pattern on each reel.
The formula is: (Number of SS x Pattern Weight / Total Weight) + Number of Patterns
For example, for reel 1 pattern K: the average number of pattern K after conversion is 20x30/100+4= 10, refer to the following image
After calculating the average number of all patterns on all reels in this way, the same method can be used to calculate the overall game RTP, as shown in the following image. (Click the image to enlarge)
Konami's famous game china shores uses this implementation method, and it is named Action Stacked Symbols.
