In most cases, the first page of the paytable will show the winning combinations of a certain symbol as well as the coinage that will be paid out if said combination lands. The explanation of wild symbols can also be found on the paytables page. On more advanced slots, there may be multiple pages to the paytable. How Slot Machines & Coin Slots Work Slot machines are the most popular games in any casino, but a lot of people don’t have a clear understanding of how they work. In fact, some people have an out-and-out misunderstanding of how they work, while others are more than willing to take advantage of the gambling public’s ignorance in such matters.
Knowledge makes you bet more effectively
by John Robison
Even though there are hundreds of different slot machines made by a variety of different manufacturers, all slot machines basically fall under one of six categories. The different types of machines have their own unique playing characteristics, and understanding these differences is important. For starters, knowing the type of machine you’re playing will help you to determine the number of coins you should play per spin.
Let’s look at the different types of machines you’ll find on the slot floor, how to recognize them, and some tips for betting smart.
Multiplier
This is the most common type of slot machine. Wild Cherry, Wild & Loose, Double Diamond, Triple Diamond, and Five Times Pay are all Multipliers. The paytable on a Multiplier is a table with one row for each winning combination and one column for each coin you can play. The worst payout you can get from a Multiplier is a push—that is, a return of the exact amount of money you bet on the spin.
This is the most common type of slot machine. Wild Cherry, Wild & Loose, Double Diamond, Triple Diamond, and Five Times Pay are all Multipliers. The paytable on a Multiplier is a table with one row for each winning combination and one column for each coin you can play. The worst payout you can get from a Multiplier is a push—that is, a return of the exact amount of money you bet on the spin.
Hit frequencies on Multipliers range from low to high, but they’re usually not as high as Multi-Line and Australian-style slot machines (we’ll get to these types of machines later).
“Multiplier” is the general category name. A machine is either a Straight Multiplier or a Bonus Multiplier.
![Slot Slot](https://newsfunslots.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Which-Slot-Machines-Pay-the-Best.jpg)
Straight Multiplier machines pay you the same amount of money for each winning combination, for each coin you play. Each column in the paytable on a Straight Multiplier is the payout for one coin multiplied by the number of coins played. Two-coin Double Diamond machines, for example, are usually Straight Multipliers. You get 800 coins for three Double Diamond symbols when you play one coin at a time, and you get 1,600 coins, which is exactly 2 times 800, for three Double Diamond symbols when you play two coins at a time. Every other payout in the Coin #2 column is exactly twice that in the Coin #1 column.
Playing more than one coin per spin on a Straight Multiplier is a waste of your bankroll. You don’t activate any new winning combinations, so you don’t get an increase in hit frequency. You don’t get an increase in the per coin payout on any winning combination, so you don’t get an increase in long-term payback. Play one coin per spin on Straight Multipliers.
Bonus Multiplier machines pay you a bonus for playing full coin. The amount paid for the top jackpot, and sometimes the amounts paid for other winning combinations, are more than just a straight multiple of the number of coins played times the amount paid when playing one coin.
Three-coin Double Diamond machines are usually Bonus Multipliers. The jackpot you receive for lining up three Double Diamond symbols when playing full coin is 2,500 coins. That’s 100 coins more than the 2,400-coin jackpot this machine would pay if it were a Straight Multiplier.
Sometimes the bonus is quite large. A Red, White, and Blue machine, for example, pays 2,400 coins for hitting red, white, and blue sevens when playing one coin, and 4,800 coins when playing two coins. When playing three coins, however, the jackpot jumps to 10,000 coins. That’s a bonus of 2,800 coins for playing full coin.
It’s true that you have a higher long-term payback when you play full coin on a Bonus Multiplier. It’s also true that the combinations that pay a bonus hit so infrequently that even large bonuses lead to very small increases in long-term payback. Play one coin per spin on Bonus Multipliers. If the thought of missing out on a huge payout is too much for you to take, you’re better off playing a different game.
Buy-A-Pay
When you play Buy-A-Pay machines (sometimes called Buy-Your-Pay or Option-Buy machines), you must deposit full coin to activate all of the winning combinations. This feature takes many players by surprise, which is why Buy-a-Pay machines, such as the two-coin Sizzling 7s, have a bad reputation. Players who don’t read the paytable carefully often don’t understand why they didn’t get a payout for what they think is a winning combination. And quick-fingered players sometimes accidentally play less than full coin because they hit the Spin button without realizing that one of the coins they dropped, or one of their presses of the Bet One button, didn’t register.
When you play Buy-A-Pay machines (sometimes called Buy-Your-Pay or Option-Buy machines), you must deposit full coin to activate all of the winning combinations. This feature takes many players by surprise, which is why Buy-a-Pay machines, such as the two-coin Sizzling 7s, have a bad reputation. Players who don’t read the paytable carefully often don’t understand why they didn’t get a payout for what they think is a winning combination. And quick-fingered players sometimes accidentally play less than full coin because they hit the Spin button without realizing that one of the coins they dropped, or one of their presses of the Bet One button, didn’t register.
Server based slot machine. The paytable on a Buy-A-Pay is divided into separate boxes, one for each coin you can play. The box labeled Coin #1 tells you the winning combinations and how much they’re worth when playing one coin. The box labeled Coin #2 tells you the additional winning combinations you buy when you play two coins at a time, and so forth.
The worst payout on a Buy-A-Pay can be less than a push. A winning combination can pay one coin and require two coins to be activated. Because a Buy-A-Pay can pay less than a push, it can have a higher hit frequency than a Multiplier. I’ve seen Buy-A-Pay machines on which the last coin paid over 100%, so I recommend always playing full coin on this type of machine.
There are very few pure Buy-a-Pays on slot floors today. Most of the games that have Buy-a-Pay aspects are what I call Hybrids.
Hybrids
These games are part Multiplier, part Buy-a-Pay. These machines usually take three coins, occasionally more, but never less. Sometimes the second coin multiplies the payouts from the first coin and the third coin buys new winning combinations. Sometimes the second coin buys the new winning combinations, and the third coin multiplies the payouts on the combinations bought with the second coin.
These games are part Multiplier, part Buy-a-Pay. These machines usually take three coins, occasionally more, but never less. Sometimes the second coin multiplies the payouts from the first coin and the third coin buys new winning combinations. Sometimes the second coin buys the new winning combinations, and the third coin multiplies the payouts on the combinations bought with the second coin.
Blazing 7s is a Hybrid game. The first coin buys the Bar combinations. The second coin buys the 7 and Blazing 7 combinations. Rome and egypt slot. The third coin multiplies the payouts on the 7 and Blazing 7 combinations bought with the second coin.
Other Hybrid games are not as obvious. On some games, you can play a bonus game only when you bet full coin. On the old Silicon Gaming machine Banana-Rama, for instance, you’re eligible for the bonus game only when you play full coin. The third coin buys you the opportunity to play the bonus game. Similarly, you can spin the wheel on Wheel of Fortune only when you play full coin. Jacks or better poker strategy.
As with the pure Buy-a-Pay, the worst payout on a Hybrid can be less than a push. Hybrids can also have higher hit frequencies than Multipliers. And just as on the pure Buy-A-Pay, I’ve seen Hybrid machines with individual coins that paid over 100%, so I recommend playing as many coins as needed to activate all the winning combinations and make you eligible for all the bonus opportunities.
Next time, we’ll finish our look at the rest of the machine types you’ll find on the slot floor—and explain the smart ways to play them.
UNDERSTANDING SLOTS.
Slots are among the most popular ways to gamble. It’s easy to sit down, put your money in, and watch the reels spin. But there’s more going on than you might expect. Let’s take a look inside to understand what’s happening when you pull the lever.
Slot machines generally have three or more “reels,” each of which has a number of symbols. While physical slot machines may have 20 or more symbols per reel, digital technology allows them to have many more—some have 256 virtual symbols—with millions of possible combinations. The combinations of symbols that pay out if you bet on them are called “paylines.”
Slot machines contain random number generators that can generate thousands of numbers per second, each of which is associated with a different combination of symbols. Whether you win or lose is determined by the random number generated in the exact instant you activate each play—if it matches a payline, you win. Since each spin is independent, random and unrelated to previous or future spins, it’s impossible to predict what will happen on each play.
There are many different kinds of slot machines. Some allow you to choose how many paylines to bet on per play, and how much you want to bet. Before you put your money in, figure out the cost per play, the odds, the paylines, the return to player, and anything else that will help you make the right decisions for you. Look for pay tables on or near the machine that explain everything you need to know.
The possible payouts and the odds of winning depend on the machine you’re playing, the paylines you choose to play, and how many credits you wager.
Machines that cost pennies to play might pay out small prizes relatively often. Others cost several dollars per play, but offer bigger jackpots and higher odds. For instance, for the I Heart Triple Diamond penny machine, the odds of winning a prize are 1 in 12, but the odds of winning the top prize are only 1 in 649,400.
No matter what machine you decide to play, the odds always favour the house. This means that over time, it’s more likely than not that you will walk away with less money than when you started.
While machines can be programmed to pay out at higher or lower odds, a typical average house advantage for slot machines is 8%, meaning the average return the player is 92 percent. That makes slot machines less favourable than tables games such as fortune pai gow poker, blackjack and roulette, in terms of return to player.
Game | House advantage, with optimal play |
---|---|
Baccarat | 1.06% |
Blackjack | 0.5% |
Craps | 0.8% |
Fortune pai gow poker | 0.5 to 2.5% |
Poker | 2 to 3.5% |
Lottery | 50% |
Roulette | 5.3% |
Slot machines | 8% (average) |
Playing longer doesn’t improve your odds of walking away a winner.
Persistence doesn’t pay off. Each play on a slot machine is independent, unpredictable and unrelated to what happened on the previous play. A machine is never “due for a win” and they don’t “go cold” after a win either.
Understanding Slot Machine Pay Tables 2019
Soon after you leave a machine it wins a jackpot—that doesn’t mean you would have won if you had kept playing.
Future wins on a machine are completely unrelated to what happened when you were playing. Because random number generators determine the outcome of each play, the results of each play are totally independent from what happened before. Outcomes depend on what random number is generated in the exact instant a player presses play or pulls the lever.
Machines that are furthest from the aisle do not pay out more because they’re played less often.
How often a machine is played has nothing to do with how likely it is to pay out on the next play. Payouts are determined by the pre-set odds of the machine and the unpredictable results of the random number generator inside.
You cannot improve your chances of winning at most slot machines.
Most slots are games of chance, based on the random number generator. For some machines, bonus games offer you a chance to influence the outcome by interacting with an arcade-style video game. While skill may be a factor, the random number generator usually determines whether you even get to play the bonus game and the amounts available to be won—so chance is still a major part of the deal.
Understand how skill and chance work and how they affect the games you play.
Read thisTake this quiz to get a better understanding of your gambling habits.
Read thisUnderstand the role randomness plays in games of skill and how it affects the outcome of the game.