What Is Cluster Pays, and Does Dropping Paylines Change Anything?
Cluster pays swaps paylines for touching groups: you win when enough matching symbols connect horizontally or vertically anywhere on the grid, usually five or more. It changes how a win is shaped and how often small ones chain together. It doesn't change what a game pays back on average, and the four examples below prove that neatly. What It Is On a payline slot, a win has to run left to right along a set path. Three cherries scattered across the screen pay nothing unless they sit on a line. Cluster pays throws the lines away. The grid gets bigger, often 7x7 or 8x8 rather than 5x3, and the game looks for groups of identical symbols that touch each other side by side or top to bottom. Diagonal contact usually doesn't count. All four games below pair it with cascading reels. When a cluster pays, those symbols vanish, new ones drop in from above, and the fresh arrangement gets checked again. One spin can pay three or four times before it stops. How It Works The rule of thumb...