Cluster Pays
A cluster pays game has abandoned the payline entirely as an organising principle. Where payline slots define a fixed set of paths that symbols must follow to count, cluster pays asks only one question of each spin. Did enough matching symbols land touching each other? Direction, position, and sequence are irrelevant. The grid is read as a field of adjacency rather than a set of routes, which opens up a fundamentally different relationship between symbol placement and the outcome of a spin.
The minimum cluster size required for a win varies by title but is typically five symbols, all of the same type, connected horizontally or vertically across the grid. Diagonal adjacency usually doesn’t count. Once a winning cluster is identified and paid, those symbols are removed and replacements fall in from above, creating the conditions for a tumble chain. This pairing of cluster pays with a tumble or cascade format is close to universal. The two systems reinforce each other naturally, since the removal of winning clusters creates space for new adjacencies to form. Multipliers attached to consecutive tumble steps are also common in cluster pays titles, with the chain becoming more valuable the longer it runs.
Is cluster pays the same as scatter pays?
They’re related but distinct. Scatter pays is a broader win format where any matching symbols anywhere on the grid pay based on count alone, regardless of whether they’re adjacent. Cluster pays specifically requires symbols to be touching. Adjacency is the condition, not just presence. A cluster pays game is a type of scatter pays game in the sense that neither format uses paylines, but not all scatter pays games require clusters, and the two can produce noticeably different session feels as a result.
Can a single spin produce multiple separate clusters?
Yes. Multiple distinct clusters of different symbol types can pay simultaneously on the same spin, each evaluated and paid independently. Two separate clusters of five matching symbols of different types both count as winning combinations and are both cleared in the same tumble step. This is one of the ways cluster pays grids can generate multi-symbol win events from a single spin without requiring the combinations to overlap or interact.
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