- How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos To Play
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- How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos Video
- How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos Cheat
As a popular casino game that dominated the casino lobbies of physical casinos, the slot machines feature a lever on the side and a button on the front which can be pressed to start the turning of the reels. The first versions of the reels included the currency detector which can detect and authenticate the money inserted. Slot games have boomed in popularity in recent years, taking the place of more traditional table games, thus knowing how online slot machines work is always beneficial. They are easy to find in many online casinos, very simple and easy to play, and come in all sorts of themes and designs. How does the RNG software work on a slot machine The outcome of each spin is random. Your odds of hitting a jackpot do not increase based on the number of spins. Each time you press the spin button, the slot machine will generate a random sequence of numbers that determine the outcome of that spin.
Understanding the inner workings of slot machines need not be a tiring experience for online casino newcomers. In this article, we are going to shed some light on what slot machine paylines and paytables are and how they work.
Slot Machine Paylines and Paytables
Due to their steady popularity and ease of use, slot machines have become a common sight in most casinos and entertainment venues. Traditional slot machines are programmed to give a payout when reels line up to match symbols on a single payline. Paytables contain information about payline structures and how the game works.
Mechanical vs Modern Slots
The issue with older mechanical slots is that they tend to be less creative when offering ways to win because of their limited paylines. Winning combinations are also somewhat restricted on these early slot machines.
The modern slot machines are now run by computer software and random number generators. This means that more can be packed into a game and a lot can happen at a much faster pace. Not only that, but technology has improved and given us far more engaging and enhanced gameplay in the new slot machine games.
Nowadays, we even have story-based video slot games, which are increasingly becoming more popular.
Paylines
Paylines, betting lines or winning lines are connected rows of matching symbols that result in a win. The payline is like an umpire or a referee. It tells you if you have won that particular round or not.
Modern slots are more captivating in that they offer more paylines for starters. Multi-directional and varying combinations of paylines are other huge improvements. Paylines numbering into double digits have also become quite common. These numbers can go even higher in video slots, although at increased wagers.
Payline Formations
Another exciting benefit of a computer system controlling the slot machine is the different payline formation. They can be matched vertically, diagonally, horizontally and even in zigzag patterns.
Besides the above, several other distinct ways in which paylines can match up are:
- Left to right. The matching symbols start from the reel on the left and continue to the rightmost reel. This is the most common and prevalent configuration.
- Right to left. In this instance, symbols line up from right to left. This is a rare payline as it is usually paired to form the below payline.
- Pay both ways (or both ways slots). Instead of a win in either direction, matches are made in both directions. This instantly makes for a more entertaining play. Chi slot is an example of a both ways slot.
- All ways. In this case, hundreds of rows of paylines are commonplace. Therefore, matching symbols are likely to be present on every reel. This configuration can be found in such branded games as Playboy slot and Battlestar Galactica slot.
- Cluster pay. This payline system is set up in such a way that it groups symbols together. Symbols land horizontally and vertically forming a connected cluster. This payline formation is featured in such titles as Wild Worlds, Aloha Cluster Pays, and The Legend of Shangri La slot.
Paytables
A critical and integral part of every slot machine is the paytable. It provides important information about the paylines, symbols and bonuses.
Paytables can be accessed before the start of the game and should always be consulted. A paytable is an instructional guide of sorts on how to play the game and what to expect. Familiarising yourself with a game's paytable will allow you to be up to speed with the different components of the game. Things like game rules, bonus features, symbols and their values are explained in the paytable.
Placing Bets and Payouts
Adding to the overall variety of slot games are the adjustable payline slots and fixed payline slot machines. On the adjustable payline machines, a player can choose the number of paylines to play (or activate). On the contrary, it's all or nothing on the fixed payline slots.
There is a catch with all slot machines. To be able to win as much as possible, you have to play as many lines as possible. However, it's generally not advisable to continuously play all the paylines if you want your bankroll to last. Nevertheless, there are other ways to increase the odds in your favor. For instance, wild symbols, scatter symbols, bonus symbols and progressive jackpots. All of them are referenced in the paytable.
Things to keep in mind
Placing Bets and Payouts
Adding to the overall variety of slot games are the adjustable payline slots and fixed payline slot machines. On the adjustable payline machines, a player can choose the number of paylines to play (or activate). On the contrary, it's all or nothing on the fixed payline slots.
There is a catch with all slot machines. To be able to win as much as possible, you have to play as many lines as possible. However, it's generally not advisable to continuously play all the paylines if you want your bankroll to last. Nevertheless, there are other ways to increase the odds in your favor. For instance, wild symbols, scatter symbols, bonus symbols and progressive jackpots. All of them are referenced in the paytable.
Things to keep in mind
In essence, all slot machines have the same basic functionality. This is regardless of their charming lights, melodic tunes.
The payline structures is the essential difference between slot machines.
That and additional helpful information — hence the importance of consulting the paytables. As a side note, it is worth noting that lower denomination slots usually have lower payouts in contrast to higher denomination ones.
Hopefully, this article would help you better understand several things. First and foremost, the way how slot machine paylines really work. Secondly, you should now know how to play online casino slot games better.
Don't forget that payline technologies and game development changes frequently. In order to be caught up with all the latest additions, make sure to tune to the new slot reviews on Bob Casino!
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How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos To Play
If you're going to play slot machines, you should understand how slot machines work.
That sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people have no idea how these games really work.
In this post I explain how slot machines work in simple terms that anyone can understand.
What Is a Slot Machine?
Real money slot machines are the basic gambling machine at most casinos, and slot machines generate 70% to 80% of most casinos' revenue. In some casinos, they make up even more than that. They're called slot machines because you used to put coins in a slot to play them.
Slot machines differ from other gambling machines because of the way the outcomes are generated. A video poker game is also a gambling machine, but it's not a SLOT machine. Neither is a video blackjack game.
What makes a slot machine game a slot machine game are the spinning reels.
In early mechanical versions of the games, you literally had big metal reels powered by springs and levers. They spun and landed on various stopping points when the kinetic energy that caused them to spin was all faded.
Modern slot machines use a computer program to determine the outcomes. The spinning reels are just for show, even on machines that LOOK like they're using physical reels.
But many – if not most – modern slot machines just use a computer monitor with animated reels to determine outcomes.
How Does a Slot Machine Come Up With a Random Result?
Modern slot machines used a computer program to determine the outcomes. This program is called a 'random number generator' or 'RNG.'
Here's how the random number generator works:
It constantly 'thinks' of a range of numbers. Each number corresponds to a combination of symbols on the slot machine reels and the payline. When you press the spin button, the random number generator stops on that combination.
But with a computer program, you could easily have a symbol that comes up once every 20 spins, another that comes up once every 5 spins, and another that comes up once very 10 spins.
These changes in probability can even happen from one identical machine sitting next to the other.
How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos Free
I'll have more to say about that in this next point:
How Slot Machines Make Money for the Casino
All casino games give the house a mathematical edge. This is usually based on something simple – in blackjack, for example, the player has to play her hand first. In roulette, you have two green numbers, but the payout odds would be break-even if all the numbers were black or red.
With a slot machine, the house makes its money simply by paying out at lower odds than the odds of winning.
Each prize amount on a slot machine has a probability of happening. When you multiply that probability by the prize amount, you come up with the 'return' for that combination.
Add all those returns together, and you get the total return for the machine.
That return is always less than 100%.
Here's an example:
You might have a 55% probability of getting no win at all. This would apply to all non-winning combinations, so the return for any of the non-winning combinations would be 55% X 0, or 0.
You might have a 20% probability of getting a single cherry symbol that doesn't match anything else on the machine, and that might pay off at even money (1 for 1). The return for a cherry-blank-blank combination would be 20% X 1, or 20%.
How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos Video
You then might have another 20% probability of getting a 2 for 1 payoff for any combination that includes a bar symbol and no other matches. The return for a bar-blank-blank combination would be 20% X 2, or 40%.
If you had no other combinations, the overall return on this game would be 40% + 20% + 0%, or 60%.
This means that on average, over a staggeringly large number of spins, you'd wind up getting back 60% of the money you bet.
At $3 per spin over 1000 spins, you'd have bet a total of $3000.
The odds say that you would have gotten $1800 in winnings, for a loss of $1200.
How Do Slot Machines Work At Casinos Cheat
Of course, a real slot machine pay table would have more than three possible prizes, and at least one of those prizes would be large. The average slot machine has a 1000 for 1 jackpot for its top prize.
How Do Bonus Games and Other Slot Machine Features Work?
Modern slot machines have a staggering array of special features, too. One of the most prominent of these features are the slot machine bonus games.
Here's how that works:
Some combinations of symbols result in a mini-game that you get to play. It's called a bonus game. It might be as simple as getting 10 free spins, each of which is guaranteed a winner. It might be more involved, like getting to play a Space Invaders type game where each alien you shoot has a prize amount associated with it.
Scatter symbols are also popular. A scatter symbol is a symbol that triggers some kind of payout regardless of where it appears on the screen.
The 8-liners in Texas are a good example. A screen has three rows of symbols, for a 3X3 grid. It's called an 8-liner because there are eight paylines.
You have three horizontal paylines, three vertical paylines, and two diagonal paylines.
You must activate each payline with a bet, and it's possible to win multiple prizes on multiple paylines.
Think of paylines as being similar to the various patterns that bingo variants have.
Scatter symbols trigger wins regardless of where it is on the screen.
Wild symbols are also popular. These are symbols which can fill in for another symbol that you would need to trigger a win on that payline.
If you play poker, you're probably already familiar with the concept of wild cards. Just apply that concept to slot machines, and you understand how it works.
These are just a handful of the special features that are now available on modern slot machine games.
How Do You Win at Slots?
I wish I had a foolproof winning strategy for slot machines that I could share with you.
But I don't.
No one else does, either, regardless of what they claim.
Slot machines are entirely random. You put your money in, and you take your chances. The only way to win on a slot machine is to get lucky.
You'll find plenty of looney strategies that are supposed to improve your probability of winning. They're all equally worthless.
One example is to find slot machine games on the edges of the banks near the walkways. The idea is that the casino managers want to attract players to the slot machines, and they do this by putting the looser games near the walkways.
Of course, this isn't true in modern casinos. Even if it were true, it wouldn't mean you were going to beat the casino. Such games would still have a mathematical edge for the house that you couldn't overcome in the long run.
Another popular strategy I see touted is to look for hot or cold machines. A hot machine is one that has paid out several times in a row. The idea is that the game has gotten hot and is going to keep paying out.
A cold machine, on the other hand, is one that hasn't paid out in a while.
If you have a 1 in 1500 probability of winning the top prize on a slot machine, that probability is the same regardless of whether the jackpot got hit on the previous spin.
It seems intuitive to think that if you just hit the jackpot, the probability of hitting it again on the next spin would be lower.
But that's not the case.
It's still 1 in 1500.
If you're going to play slot machines, go into it with you eyes open and understand that it's going to cost you money in the long run.
Don't fall for lame, looney slot machine strategies.
Conclusion
Slot machines can be a lot of fun, but they're like other casino games:
They're more fun if you have some understanding of how they work.
After reading this post, you're better educated that at least 80% of the slot machine playing public.