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The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots The casino floors are jammed with new and different kinds of slot machines. In The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots, John Robison tells you what they are, how they work, and how you should play them. John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming's leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.
by John Robison
Do the slot machines on the ends of aisles pay better than the machines in the middle? How about the machines near the table games? They'retight, right? And are the machines near the coin redemption booths loose? Join us on our journey for finding loose slot machines.
The loose slot machine is the slot player's Holy Grail. Much as King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table searched Britain for the Holy Grail of myth, slot players search casinos for loosemachines. Slot players have formulated many theories about where casinos place their loose machines to aid them in their quest.
Before we can figure out where the loose machines are, we have to figure out what they are. There is no U.S.D.A. system for grading the looseness of machines and no national orinternational standard that determines whether a machine is tight or loose.
So, what is a loose slot machine?
Say we have two 94% payback machines. Are they loose? I bet some people say yes and some say no. Why isn't there agreement? Let me add a little more information to thescenario to see if it gives you an idea of why one person calls a 94% payback machine loose and another calls it tight. What if I told you that one machine was a nickel machine and theother a dollar machine? For most people who play nickel machines, a 94% machine is among the best-paying machines in their area. For most people who play dollar machines, on theother hand, a 94% machine is among the worst-paying machines in their area. The person who called 94% loose probably plays lower-denomination machines, while the person who called 94%tight probably plays higher-denomination machines.
Let me add one more piece of information. The dollar machine is a video poker machine. Dollar video poker players would rather have root canals onall their teeth with no anesthesia while their fingernails and toenails are ripped off than play a 94% payback machine. They have many adjectives for a 94% payback machine, but loose isnot one of them.
You see, loose isn't an absolute. Looseness depends on your frame of reference. Looseness is actually a comparison. We shouldn't say 'loose.' We should really say'looser'. We should really be asking where the looser machines are. But let's bow to common usage and continue using the term loose machine.
So, what is a loose machine?
Quite simply, a loose machine is a machine that has a higher long-term payback percentage than another machine. The loose machines in acasino are those machines that have the highest paybacks. These are the machines that will take the smallest bites out of your bankroll in the long run. No wonder slot players areconstantly searching for them.
Over the years, players have developed a number of theories about finding loose slot machines. Casinos place loose machines near the entrances, for example, so passersby can see playerswinning and are enticed to enter the casino and try their luck. The loose machines are also at the ends of the aisles to draw players into the aisle, where the tight machinesare.
And, of course, a loose machine is always surrounded by tight machines. You never have two loose machines side by side. That's done for players who like to play more than onemachine at a time. If they should happen to stumble upon one of the loose machines, they'll be pumping their winnings from it into the tight machines around it.
More theories. The machines near the table games are tight because table games players don't want to hear a lot of bells and buzzers going off and happy slot players whooping it up aftera big win. Another reason the machines near the table games are tight is because table games players will occasionally drop a few coins into a slot machine and they don't expect to winanything, so why give them a high payback.
Similarly, the machines near the buffet and show lines are tight. People waiting in line are just killing time and getting rid of their spare change. They're not going to play for along time or develop a relationship with those machines, so the machines can be like piggy banks – for the casino! Money goes in and rarely comes back out.
The machines near the coin redemption booths, on the other hand, are loose. Players waiting in line for coin redemption are slot players and the casino wants them to see other playerswinning. Seeing all those players winning will make them anxious to get back on the slot floor to try their luck again.
Finally, finding loose machines in highly visible locations is most likely. Again, casinos want players to see players winning and be enticed into trying to get a piece of the casino'sbankroll themselves.
These are the theories I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe you know of some others. Most of the theories have a basis in psychology. When we see others winning, we'llwant to play too because 1) we're greedy, 2) we're envious, or 3) we see that at least some machines really do pay off and if we keep trying we might find one too.
Based on my own discussions with slot directors, interviews with slot directors, and seminars I've attended, I don't think these theories are relevant in today's slot world. To see why,we have to look at how slot machines and slot floors have changed.
Picture a slot floor of 10-20 years ago. Even if you don't go back that far, I'm sure you've seen pictures on TV or in books. The slot machines on a casino floor in that era arearranged in long rows, much like products out for sale in a supermarket aisle. There's no imagination used in placing the machines on the floor. The machines are placed using cold,mechanical precision.
On page 193 in Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years by Marshall Fey, there's a great picture of Bally's casino floor in Atlantic City that illustrates my point. Thepicture shows hundreds of slot machines all lined up in perfect rows like little soldiers. The caption reads, 'Like a Nebraska cornfield, rows upon rows of Bally slots extend as far asthe eye can see.'
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Compare that image with the slot floor layout at a casino that was designed in the last five or so years. Studies have shown that players feel very uncomfortable playing in longaisles. They feel trapped when they're playing in the middle of a long aisle, particularly if the casino is crowded. As a result, modern casinos have shorter aisles and when a long aislecan't be avoided, it will be wider than others so players won't feel like they can't get out.
One of the finding loose machines theories has casinos placing loose machines at the ends of aisles to draw people into the aisles. Having shorter aisles means having more machinesat the ends of those aisles. Can all of these machines be loose?
In addition to being uncomfortable in long aisles, players are also uncomfortable being put out on display for the other players. Perhaps they feel like they might become a target iftheir good luck is too visible.
One slot director I heard speak said that he tried to create 'comfortable niches' for his players. Instead of being in a fish bowl, visible to most of the slot floor, players in hisniches can be easily seen by only the other players in that niche.
Another theory about loose machine placement is that casinos place them in highly visible areas. Modern casinos still have highly visible areas, but the areas are visible to a smallernumber of players. A loose machine in this area will influence fewer players than before.
The last change in the slot floor that I want to mention is perhaps the biggest change of all. Casinos used to have hundreds of slot machines. Now they have thousands. Oneslot director in Las Vegas said in an interview a few years ago that with so many machines on his floor, he didn't have time to micro-manage them. He and his management decided the holdpercentage they wanted for each denomination and he ordered payback programs close to that percentage for his machines. Furthermore, he said this was the common practice in LasVegas.
As much as the slot floor has changed, the changes on the floor are dwarfed by the changes in the slot machines themselves. One thing that struck me about that picture of Bally's is howall the machines look alike. They really do look like soldiers being inspecting, all standing at attention and in identical uniforms, or like rows of indistinguishable corn plants. In fact, it looks like there are only three different games in the 10 machines in the first row in the picture. Granted, the majority of the machines in Bally's casino were Ballymachines. Still I'm surprised by the lack of variety in the machines in the front row in the picture.
I heard that one theory why Americans have gotten heavier is that we have access to a wider variety of foods today than we had before. When meals consisted of the same thing time aftertime, it was easy to pass up second helpings of gruel and eat just enough to no longer be hungry. But now we have Chinese one night, Mexican the next, followed by Thai, burgers, pizza,and pasta -- it's easy to overeat on our culinary trip around the world.
Just as variety in food creates desire, so does variety in slot machines. 'Hey, I used to watch The Munsters all the time. I'll try that machine.' 'I never miss TheApprentice. I'll give that machine a go.' 'I played Monopoly all the time as a kid.' 'I have a cat and a dog and a chainsaw and a toaster.'
Not only is there more variety in themes on machines, there's also more variety in paytables. Back in the 1920s, a revolutionary change in slot machine design was paying an extra coin fora certain combination. Adding a hopper to the machine in the electro-mechanical era made it possible for the machine to pay larger jackpots itself instead of requiring a handpay from ajackpot girl. Adding a computer to the slot machine made it possible for today's machines to pay modest jackpots of a few thousand coins all the way up to life-changing jackpots ofmillions of dollars.
The computer also makes it possible to add more gimmicks to machines. Gimmicks like 'spin-til-you win,' symbols that nudge up or down to the payline, haywire repeat-pays, and double spinall add more variety and interest to the games.
Today's machines are immeasurably more interesting and fun to play than those of even just a decade ago. Each new generation of machines has crisper graphics and better sound than theprior generation. Slot designers are working overtime to devise compelling bonus rounds that will keep players playing for just one more crack at the round. How many people playingWheel of Fortune are trying to win the jackpot? Not many. Most people keep playing to get one more spin of the wheel.
Slot directors today don't need to pepper their slot floors with loose machines to stimulate play. Today's machines themselves generate more desire to play than seeing a player doingwell.
Now I'll finish our discussion of where slot directors place loose machines with some additional thoughts, with a few anecdotes I've heard at slot seminars, and with what I think will be thefinal nail in the coffin of loose machine placement philosophies.
One of the placement theories says that tight machines should be placed near the table games because the table games players don't like a lot of noise while they're playing. Have the peopleputting forth this theory ever been near a craps table? A craps table with a shooter on a hot roll has to be one of the loudest places -- if not the loudest place -- in the casino. Crapsplayers can be a boisterous lot even when the table isn't hot. Okay, I can see players needing peace and quiet at blackjack tables (It's difficult to count cards even in a quiet casino.), butnot at craps, roulette, Let It Ride, and other tables. In any case, the casino can adjust the volume level on a machine. The slot director can put a very quiet, loose machine near the tablesand not disturb a single table games player.
Another problem with following a loose machine placement philosophy is that it limits the flexibility slot directors have in moving their machines around on the slot floor. If the directors aregoing to give up a little bit in payback on some machines, they certainly will want to get their money's worth and ensure that these machines are in locations where they'll be played, be seenbeing played, and entice other players to play. Slot floors have only a limited number of high visibility areas. Slot directors won't want to waste any of their high-paying machines in the morenumerous less visible areas, where the machines won't be encouraging other players.
Now I'd like to share some anecdotes I've heard at panel discussions during the big gaming show (first the World Gaming Congress, then the Global Gaming Expo) that's held in Las Vegas eachyear.
First, one slot director described an experiment he conducted in his casino. He had a carousel of 5 Times Pay machines that all had the same long-term payback. He ordered new chips to lower thepayback percentages on a couple of the machines to see if anyone would notice. The machines with the lower long-term paybacks received just as much play as the higher-paying machines. Noplayer, furthermore, ever complained that some of the machines in the carousel were tighter than others.
In another seminar, a slot director shared the philosophy he used to place some machines that he had inherited from another property. These machines, he said, had lower long-term paybacks thanthe payback he usually ordered for machines on his slot floor. He said, 'I read the same books that the players read. I put these lower payback machines in the spots that the books said shouldhave the high payback machines.'
My last anecdote is about a decision made by the slot director at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas many years ago. He was ordering 10 Times Pay machines for his slot floor and he was concerned aboutthe low hit frequencies available for those machines. (Machines with multiplying symbols tend to have low hit frequencies, and usually the higher the multiplier, the lower the hit frequency.)The slot director was afraid that his players would think the machines were very tight because they hit so infrequently. He said that he ordered higher paybacks than he usually does for thosemachines in an attempt to offset the low hit frequency. The machines would still have a low hit frequency, but at least the average value of a hit would be a little higher than if he hadordered a payback percentage nearer the percentage he usually ordered. He hoped that would be enough to keep his players from thinking these were tighter than the other machines on his slotfloor.
Although I think these anecdotes are the exceptions that prove the rule that some casinos at least order the same long-term paybacks for machines of a particular denomination, there is evidencethat some casinos may not. In the first edition of Casino Operations Management, for example, Kilby and Fox list a number of 'general philosophies that influence specific slot placement'including: 'low hold (loose) machines should be placed in busy walkways to create an atmosphere of activity' and 'loose machines are normally placed at the beginning and end of trafficpatterns.'
They then say that 'high hit frequency machines located around the casino pit area will create an atmosphere of slot activity.' I'm not sure whether they're saying high hit frequencyshould or shouldn't be placed near the pit. In any case, note that one philosophy said that loose machines create an atmosphere of activity and another said that high hit frequency machinesalso create an atmosphere of activity. This is the perfect segue into what I think puts the final nail in the coffin about loose machine placement theories.
There is no correlation between long-term payback and hit frequency. A low hit frequency machine can have a high long-term payback. High hit frequency machines, in addition, can have lowlong-term paybacks. Larry Mak, author of Secrets of Modern Slot Playing, recently queried the Nevada Gaming Control Board to find out the payback reported on penny machines. The Board said itwas 90.167%. Most of the penny video slots have very high hit frequencies, yet the overall average long-term payback is very low.
The usual reasoning behind putting loose machines in highly visible areas is so slot players can see other players winning. Maybe we should be more precise here and say that players will seeother players hitting and assume that they are winning because they are playing loose machines. But because there's no correlation between hit frequency and long-term payback, these players canactually be playing machines with low long-term paybacks.
I don't put much stock in loose machine placement theories, but I do believe slot directors may follow a hit frequency placement philosophy. Slot directors may try to place high hit frequencymachines in visible areas to encourage play. This philosophy says and implies nothing about the long-term payback of the machines.
John Robison is the author of 'The Slot Expert's Guide
to Playing Slots.' His website iswww.slotexpert.com
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Compare that image with the slot floor layout at a casino that was designed in the last five or so years. Studies have shown that players feel very uncomfortable playing in longaisles. They feel trapped when they're playing in the middle of a long aisle, particularly if the casino is crowded. As a result, modern casinos have shorter aisles and when a long aislecan't be avoided, it will be wider than others so players won't feel like they can't get out.
One of the finding loose machines theories has casinos placing loose machines at the ends of aisles to draw people into the aisles. Having shorter aisles means having more machinesat the ends of those aisles. Can all of these machines be loose?
In addition to being uncomfortable in long aisles, players are also uncomfortable being put out on display for the other players. Perhaps they feel like they might become a target iftheir good luck is too visible.
One slot director I heard speak said that he tried to create 'comfortable niches' for his players. Instead of being in a fish bowl, visible to most of the slot floor, players in hisniches can be easily seen by only the other players in that niche.
Another theory about loose machine placement is that casinos place them in highly visible areas. Modern casinos still have highly visible areas, but the areas are visible to a smallernumber of players. A loose machine in this area will influence fewer players than before.
The last change in the slot floor that I want to mention is perhaps the biggest change of all. Casinos used to have hundreds of slot machines. Now they have thousands. Oneslot director in Las Vegas said in an interview a few years ago that with so many machines on his floor, he didn't have time to micro-manage them. He and his management decided the holdpercentage they wanted for each denomination and he ordered payback programs close to that percentage for his machines. Furthermore, he said this was the common practice in LasVegas.
As much as the slot floor has changed, the changes on the floor are dwarfed by the changes in the slot machines themselves. One thing that struck me about that picture of Bally's is howall the machines look alike. They really do look like soldiers being inspecting, all standing at attention and in identical uniforms, or like rows of indistinguishable corn plants. In fact, it looks like there are only three different games in the 10 machines in the first row in the picture. Granted, the majority of the machines in Bally's casino were Ballymachines. Still I'm surprised by the lack of variety in the machines in the front row in the picture.
I heard that one theory why Americans have gotten heavier is that we have access to a wider variety of foods today than we had before. When meals consisted of the same thing time aftertime, it was easy to pass up second helpings of gruel and eat just enough to no longer be hungry. But now we have Chinese one night, Mexican the next, followed by Thai, burgers, pizza,and pasta -- it's easy to overeat on our culinary trip around the world.
Just as variety in food creates desire, so does variety in slot machines. 'Hey, I used to watch The Munsters all the time. I'll try that machine.' 'I never miss TheApprentice. I'll give that machine a go.' 'I played Monopoly all the time as a kid.' 'I have a cat and a dog and a chainsaw and a toaster.'
Not only is there more variety in themes on machines, there's also more variety in paytables. Back in the 1920s, a revolutionary change in slot machine design was paying an extra coin fora certain combination. Adding a hopper to the machine in the electro-mechanical era made it possible for the machine to pay larger jackpots itself instead of requiring a handpay from ajackpot girl. Adding a computer to the slot machine made it possible for today's machines to pay modest jackpots of a few thousand coins all the way up to life-changing jackpots ofmillions of dollars.
The computer also makes it possible to add more gimmicks to machines. Gimmicks like 'spin-til-you win,' symbols that nudge up or down to the payline, haywire repeat-pays, and double spinall add more variety and interest to the games.
Today's machines are immeasurably more interesting and fun to play than those of even just a decade ago. Each new generation of machines has crisper graphics and better sound than theprior generation. Slot designers are working overtime to devise compelling bonus rounds that will keep players playing for just one more crack at the round. How many people playingWheel of Fortune are trying to win the jackpot? Not many. Most people keep playing to get one more spin of the wheel.
Slot directors today don't need to pepper their slot floors with loose machines to stimulate play. Today's machines themselves generate more desire to play than seeing a player doingwell.
Now I'll finish our discussion of where slot directors place loose machines with some additional thoughts, with a few anecdotes I've heard at slot seminars, and with what I think will be thefinal nail in the coffin of loose machine placement philosophies.
One of the placement theories says that tight machines should be placed near the table games because the table games players don't like a lot of noise while they're playing. Have the peopleputting forth this theory ever been near a craps table? A craps table with a shooter on a hot roll has to be one of the loudest places -- if not the loudest place -- in the casino. Crapsplayers can be a boisterous lot even when the table isn't hot. Okay, I can see players needing peace and quiet at blackjack tables (It's difficult to count cards even in a quiet casino.), butnot at craps, roulette, Let It Ride, and other tables. In any case, the casino can adjust the volume level on a machine. The slot director can put a very quiet, loose machine near the tablesand not disturb a single table games player.
Another problem with following a loose machine placement philosophy is that it limits the flexibility slot directors have in moving their machines around on the slot floor. If the directors aregoing to give up a little bit in payback on some machines, they certainly will want to get their money's worth and ensure that these machines are in locations where they'll be played, be seenbeing played, and entice other players to play. Slot floors have only a limited number of high visibility areas. Slot directors won't want to waste any of their high-paying machines in the morenumerous less visible areas, where the machines won't be encouraging other players.
Now I'd like to share some anecdotes I've heard at panel discussions during the big gaming show (first the World Gaming Congress, then the Global Gaming Expo) that's held in Las Vegas eachyear.
First, one slot director described an experiment he conducted in his casino. He had a carousel of 5 Times Pay machines that all had the same long-term payback. He ordered new chips to lower thepayback percentages on a couple of the machines to see if anyone would notice. The machines with the lower long-term paybacks received just as much play as the higher-paying machines. Noplayer, furthermore, ever complained that some of the machines in the carousel were tighter than others.
In another seminar, a slot director shared the philosophy he used to place some machines that he had inherited from another property. These machines, he said, had lower long-term paybacks thanthe payback he usually ordered for machines on his slot floor. He said, 'I read the same books that the players read. I put these lower payback machines in the spots that the books said shouldhave the high payback machines.'
My last anecdote is about a decision made by the slot director at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas many years ago. He was ordering 10 Times Pay machines for his slot floor and he was concerned aboutthe low hit frequencies available for those machines. (Machines with multiplying symbols tend to have low hit frequencies, and usually the higher the multiplier, the lower the hit frequency.)The slot director was afraid that his players would think the machines were very tight because they hit so infrequently. He said that he ordered higher paybacks than he usually does for thosemachines in an attempt to offset the low hit frequency. The machines would still have a low hit frequency, but at least the average value of a hit would be a little higher than if he hadordered a payback percentage nearer the percentage he usually ordered. He hoped that would be enough to keep his players from thinking these were tighter than the other machines on his slotfloor.
Although I think these anecdotes are the exceptions that prove the rule that some casinos at least order the same long-term paybacks for machines of a particular denomination, there is evidencethat some casinos may not. In the first edition of Casino Operations Management, for example, Kilby and Fox list a number of 'general philosophies that influence specific slot placement'including: 'low hold (loose) machines should be placed in busy walkways to create an atmosphere of activity' and 'loose machines are normally placed at the beginning and end of trafficpatterns.'
They then say that 'high hit frequency machines located around the casino pit area will create an atmosphere of slot activity.' I'm not sure whether they're saying high hit frequencyshould or shouldn't be placed near the pit. In any case, note that one philosophy said that loose machines create an atmosphere of activity and another said that high hit frequency machinesalso create an atmosphere of activity. This is the perfect segue into what I think puts the final nail in the coffin about loose machine placement theories.
There is no correlation between long-term payback and hit frequency. A low hit frequency machine can have a high long-term payback. High hit frequency machines, in addition, can have lowlong-term paybacks. Larry Mak, author of Secrets of Modern Slot Playing, recently queried the Nevada Gaming Control Board to find out the payback reported on penny machines. The Board said itwas 90.167%. Most of the penny video slots have very high hit frequencies, yet the overall average long-term payback is very low.
The usual reasoning behind putting loose machines in highly visible areas is so slot players can see other players winning. Maybe we should be more precise here and say that players will seeother players hitting and assume that they are winning because they are playing loose machines. But because there's no correlation between hit frequency and long-term payback, these players canactually be playing machines with low long-term paybacks.
I don't put much stock in loose machine placement theories, but I do believe slot directors may follow a hit frequency placement philosophy. Slot directors may try to place high hit frequencymachines in visible areas to encourage play. This philosophy says and implies nothing about the long-term payback of the machines.
John Robison is the author of 'The Slot Expert's Guide
to Playing Slots.' His website iswww.slotexpert.com
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Blazing 7s is a Hybrid game. The first coin buys the Bar combinations. The second coin buys the 7 and Blazing 7 combinations. The third coin multiplies the payouts on the 7 and Blazing 7 combinations bought with the second coin.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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