Free spins and the climbing multiplier ladder
How free-spin rounds start, how the multiplier ladder climbs during the round, and what that does and does not mean.
What a free-spin round is
Some Orbitpop machines include a free-spin round. When it is triggered, the machine plays a set number of spins without taking any play coins from your balance. Any play-coin wins from those spins are added to your total at the end of the round.
Free spins are usually triggered by scatter symbols, which count wherever they land on the reels. Each machine's paytable says exactly how many scatters it needs and how many free spins they give. The free Preview of every machine shows the round in action, without coins or an account.
How the ladder climbs
On machines with the climbing free-spin multiplier ladder, the round does not just repeat the same spin over and over. A multiplier sits on a ladder beside the reels, and it steps up as the round goes on. Wins landed while the multiplier is higher are multiplied by that value.
- The ladder starts at its lowest rung when the round begins.
- It climbs during the round, as described in that machine's paytable.
- Any play-coin win is multiplied by the rung the ladder is on at the time.
- The ladder resets when the free-spin round ends.
The ladder makes rounds more lively to watch, but it does not make a round more likely to start, and it does not guarantee a large payout once it does.
Why some rounds feel bigger than others
Two free-spin rounds on the same machine can look completely different. In one, the wins might come early while the multiplier is low; in another, a single win might land near the top of the ladder. That difference is pure chance. Every spin, free or not, is decided by your browser's random number generator and is independent of every other spin.
There is nothing you can do to steer wins towards the higher rungs, and there is no stake size or timing that brings a round on sooner. The best way to enjoy the feature is to watch it unfold.
How the figures were measured
Where a machine's information screen shows how often its free-spin round starts, or how much of its return comes from the round, those figures were measured by running that machine's own code for millions of spins. They describe the long-run average, not what will happen in your session.
It is also worth knowing that free-spin rounds are included in those measured figures. A machine's return is not hidden inside the feature waiting to be unlocked; it is spread across all spins, with the round as one part of it.
A daily mission that uses free spins
One of the daily missions asks you to trigger free spins. Completing it gives you play coins, like every other mission. Because rounds arrive at random, some days it happens quickly and other days it takes a while. If it does not happen, nothing is lost; there is always another mission tomorrow, and play coins have no value either way.
Next up: Cascades explained: falling symbols and rising multipliers