There's a test I run on every casino lobby, and it's a slightly lazy one. I skip the big titles at the top, keep scrolling, and look at what's sitting three or four rows down. Any casino can put Gates of Olympus in its front window. What it keeps further back tells you whether someone actually chose the games or simply switched on everything a supplier offered.
National passes that test comfortably. Scroll past the famous names and you run into a clever little VoltEnt fishing slot, a Spinomenal steam train, a Nolimit City sequel and a row of Hold & Win games from studios you may not have met yet. The library is big, but it doesn't feel dumped on the screen. It feels arranged.
This page is the long version of that lobby. I'll go through the slot shelves and the kinds of games you'll find on each, explain the mechanics that have taken over modern slots, and then move across to the live casino, table by table.
How the Lobby Is Laid Out
National splits its games into two main areas, the casino lobby and the live casino, and each has its own way of sorting things.
On the slots side, the shelves do most of the work. For You is built around what you've played before, so it gets more useful the longer you're a member. Popular and Hits show what everyone else is spinning, while New is where the latest releases appear first. Then there are the shelves sorted by mechanic, from Hold & Win, Megaways and Bonus Buy to Jackpot, Fast Games and Drops & Wins. I use those far more than the general ones, because once you know which mechanic you're in the mood for, they cut the choice down to something manageable.
Instead of shelves‚ the live casino uses tabs‚ namely: For You‚ Lobby‚ New‚ Blackjack‚ Roulette‚ Game Shows‚ Baccarat and Poker․ Both sides also have the same search box and the same provider filter‚ which gives you the option of typing something directly or clicking on a specific studio if you're after something specific․
The Slots, Shelf by Shelf
Popular and Hits
These two shelves change often, and they're a decent snapshot of what the casino's players are enjoying at any given moment. Recently they've been full of Pragmatic Play heavyweights such as Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, Starlight Princess Super Scatter and Sweet Rush Bonanza, sitting next to Hacksaw Gaming's mischievous Le Zeus, Playson's Royal Joker Hold and Win and BGaming's Bonanza Trillion and Lucky Lager x9990. Felix Gaming's 20 Boost Hot turns up a lot too, and it's a nice reminder that a simple fruit game can hold its own among the blockbusters.
New Releases
The New shelf is where I spend a surprising amount of time. Lately it has brought in Pragmatic Play's Helios Triple Sun, Ra vs Osiris, Hearts of Venus and Eternal Diamonds, Nolimit City's Duck Hunters 2 and NetGame's Three Civilizations Bonus Combo. Smaller studios get a proper look-in as well, with Amigo Gaming's 3 Fisher Cats and 3 Fat Kings, 3 Oaks Gaming's Lucky Penny 3 Pots: Super Wheel and 4 Super Clover Pots, and VoltEnt's 25 Coins x3000.
If you enjoy being early to a game before everyone else finds it, this shelf is worth checking once a week.
Hold & Win
If I had to pick one shelf that sums up where slots have gone in recent years, it would be this one. In a Hold & Win game, landing enough special symbols, usually coins, triggers a respin round. The coins lock in place, you get a few respins to land more, and every new coin resets the counter. The round ends when you run out of respins or fill the screen, and the values on the coins are added up.
It's a simple idea, and it creates a very particular kind of tension, because every respin can either end the round or keep it alive. National has a deep selection, including Felix Gaming's Book of Artemis Hold and Win and Book of Knight Hold and Win, Neverending's Thunder Diamonds Hold and Win, 4 Pots of Ra Hold and Win and 3 Chili Bundles Hold and Win, Dynabit Gaming's Coin Bandit, Game Time Tec's Big Bells Fire and Spinomenal's The Midnight Steamer Hold & Hit 3x3. Playson's coin games, such as Coin Strike XXL Multicoin and Thunder Coins XXL Multicoin, are built on a similar collect-the-coins idea.
Megaways
Megaways slots change the number of symbols on each reel with every spin, so the number of ways to win changes too, sometimes into the hundreds of thousands. The result is a game that can look completely different from one spin to the next. Pragmatic Play's The Dog House Megaways 1000 and BGaming's Lady Wolf Moon Megaways are two good places to start on this shelf.
Bonus Buy
In a normal slot, the free spins or bonus round only arrive when the right symbols land, which can take a long while. A bonus buy lets you pay a fixed price, usually a multiple of your bet, to jump straight into that feature.
The price of a bonus buy is set by the game and is typically far higher than a single spin. The feature does not guarantee a return that exceeds that price.
Used sensibly, it's a lovely way to see a game's best part without waiting for it. I'd just treat it as a treat rather than a habit, and set the stake low enough that one disappointing round doesn't spoil the evening.
Drops & Wins
This shelf gathers the games taking part in Pragmatic Play's Drops & Wins network promotion, which you'll also spot by the badge in the corner of their tiles. Play one as you normally would, and a random cash prize may land on top of the game's own payouts. Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, The Dog House Megaways 1000 and Sweet Rush Bonanza all carry the badge at the moment.
Fast Games and Jackpot
The Fast Games shelf is for quick-fire games that don't follow the usual reels format, where a round is over in seconds rather than a minute. The Jackpot shelf gathers games with a jackpot prize on top of the normal paytable. Both are smaller corners of the lobby, but they're worth a browse when you fancy a change from regular slots.