Three reel - This is the most familiar kind of slot machine found on-line or in casinos. There are three reels that will spin when the button is pushed or the arm is pulled. The reels will stop individually and payouts will be given for winning combinations.

Five reel- This machine is generally the same as the three reel, but it just has two more lines available for matching symbols. Some of these machines will still payout with less than five matches.

Payline - The line where the symbols have to match up on the slot machine to win is called the payline. There are different numbers of paylines on different machines and you are not required to always play all the paylines available to you. For instance, you could put three coins in to play three lines on a five-line machine.

The majority of slot machines you will come across will have one payline and three reels. There are some machines where you can wager more than one coin at a time, but the bets will all be used on one payline. But, there are some three-reel machines that have three paylines.

On a five-reel slot machine, there could be anywhere from five to 15 paylines. Sometimes, one of these paylines could even be diagonal. It's a good idea to find out what the options for paylines are before making any bets because they can be different from casino to casino.

Progressive jackpot - A progressive jackpot means that the jackpot is continually being raised. Many slot machines will raise the jackpot at set times, such as going up by five cents on every spin. You won't find many slot machines like this though. Most of them will have a set jackpot.

Payouts - The payouts will be different at each machine because most of them all have different pay tables and some have more frequent wins.