|
|
|
|
I've had a flurry of slot machine questions lately, via e-mail, by the phone and in person. That's no great surprise -- I get more questions about slots than anything else.
The move to online gaming hasn't stopped the inner workings of slots from being a mystery to players. Let's try to clear up a few.
Q. On five-reel slots, is the outcome on the bonus screen predetermined, or is payout determined by player choices. For example, on the Leprechaun game the player selects pots of gold until the leprechaun pops up. Then the second screen pops up -- again, is the outcome of the payout predetermined? I see players agonizing over the choice to make. Does it make a difference?
A. Yes, the choices by players make a difference. When the bonus screen appears, the possibilities are set, but not the final outcome. When you choose a pot of gold, you'll get the amount that the game's random number generator has assigned to that pot. The game doesn't switch the amount of "gold" in that pot just because you happen to select it. The question that usually follows is, "Is there any way to exploit that?" Unfortunately, there is not. One choice might bring us 100 coins, one might bring us 40 and another might bring us 10, but we have no way of knowing which is which until the choice is made and the awards revealed.
Q. Do progressive slot machines pay their jackpots less often than regular machines? They're not just giving away extra money for the same odds, are they?
A. Casinos aren't in business to give away extra money, although they need players to win often enough to keep them coming back. On progressive slots, a portion of each wager is added to the jackpot until somebody wins it. Afterward, the jackpot reverts to its rollover value, and begins building again. Progressive slots that pay bigger jackpots than the same games in non-progressive formats usually make up the difference somewhere.
That doesn't necessarily mean jackpots are less frequent. Often, the difference will come in less frequent small payoffs, leaving a lower overall payback percentage on non-top-jackpot spins on the base game.
Progressives, like all slot machines, come in many varieties. Blazing 7s, designed as a frequent jackpot game, still pays frequent top jackpots as a progressive game. On the other hand, the games with lifestyle-changing jackpots such as Megabucks and Quartermania can go months at a time without paying the big one. Those who play progressives should keep that in mind when choosing a game.
Q. When I play slots, I bet quarters on five-line games and always play max coins until I go through $40. Well, as the money rolls down, I'm usually left with three credits. I make one final three-credit bet -- and inevitably the fifth payline line hits, but I'm left with nothing since I didn't play five credits. Just the other day, after playing for over 50 minutes, I was down to my last three quarters. Sure as heck, line 5 came up with triple-triple-7. Is this coincidence? Do machines THINK, or are they fixed? It seems to me that something is amiss. This happened to me four times in a row. How can that be?
A. It doesn't seem like coincidence when this happens to you, but that's what it is. Not only do machines not "think," the part of the game that determines your reel combination doesn't even "know" how many credits you wagered. The random number generator, which continually runs through possible reel combinations, is on a separate computer chip from the program that counts the credits that you wager.
Odd streaks happen in gambling, and they really stand out in your mind when they happen in a small sample.
If you were really to put it to the test and play for an extended period, and keep track of the results, you'd find that winning combinations on the fourth and fifth paylines don't really show up more often when you're betting fewer coins. That's no solace when the winning combination shows up and you get nothing, but the odds don't change just because you've changed your bet size.
|
| |
<< back to articles |
|
| |
|
|
|
| Win an iPod Nano MP3 Player |
| Register for Casinocoinage.co.uk's Newsletter |
 |
| Register now |
|
|
|
