Playing slots doesn’t require any special skills or knowledge and it is the simplest way to try your luck and become rich if fortune smiles at you. Today, when slot machines have become available on the Internet, you may play slots machines online at any time of the day right at home.
The object of the game is to win money from the machine. Symbols, either on mechanical reels or on a video screen have to match in order to win. Symbols used in slots are very simple, bright and easily recognized – fruit, bells, or hearts.
As we see, the rules of the game are very simple. But despite them there are some slots specific terms every slots enthusiast should know.
Hopefully, our short glossary will be useful for all slot players, and will help you feel at ease when you play slots online or communicating with your fellow-gamblers!
Bonus Multiplier Slots – Machines that offer proportionally larger top jackpots when you play maximum coins. The top jackpot symbol, (usually sevens) pays when maximum coins are deposited.
Double Machines (Doublers) – When symbols line up, double machines pay double or triple winnings.
Multiplier Slots – Machines that pay on a graduated scale. For example, a winner plays one coin and receives 5 coins, pays 2 coins and receives 10 or more coins, etc.
Wild Symbol – The slot machine equivalent of a joker symbol in cards.
Pay Line – Usually the line in the center in the window, the line on which the designated symbols must line up in order to receive a payout. Some machines have multiple pay lines.
Multi-Line – Slot machines with two or more pay lines.
Patterns – Random short-term statistical trends, don’t confuse them with long-term statistical averages. The short-term trend may be better or worse than the long-term average.
Credit Meter – Tallies the credits earned rather than dropping coins in the tray after each win.
Max Bet – The maximum number of coins (in land based casinos) allowed on each spin. Often, you must play the max bet on a machine to qualify for the jackpot.
Jackpots – The largest prize at any given slot machine.
Progressive Jackpot – The top jackpot that grows progressively as more coins are dropped into the machine. Machines are sometimes linked together among several casinos to form a larger combined jackpot. A linked group of slots with a growing jackpot is called Progressive Slots.
Static – A jackpot that is pre-determined and does not change.
Straight Slots – Machines that pay out fixed amounts that are posted on the front of the machine.
Pay Cycle – Many people believe that slot machines run on pay cycles: after the machines takes a certain amount of money, it pays out a certain amount of money. This is why people look for a machine that hasn’t ‘hit’ for a period of time. In fact, slot machines pay out on a percentage basis over a long period of time, typically up to one year, not in short-term cycles.
Payout Percentage – The percentage that the slot machine returns to the player, often calculated over a year’s time.
Random Number Generator – Computerized slots are programmed by the manufacturer to randomly select numbers on a continuous basis whether the machine is in play or standing idle. Each number corresponds to a pattern of symbols, with the fewest numbers corresponding to jackpots. The same chip that generates the numbers is programmed with the slot’s average payout, and determines the generated numbers based on the average payout.
