Slot Machine Terms

Coin Size
This is the size of each bet. You can play more than one coin per spin.

Coins Per Spin
This is the amount of coins that you can play for each spin.

Fill
When hoppers run out of coins, a fill is called for which simply means an attendant gets a bag of coins from the cashier and refills the empty hopper.

Hit Rate
The average distance between winning spins and non winning spins.

Hold
The Hold is the percentage of coins played that are kept by the machine, or the house. On average, I've been told that, it is between 3% to 15%.

Hopper
This is where the coins are held in the machine. Often hoppers are filled to overflowing by players, so they don't only run empty they sometime are overflowing. When this happens the excess coins drop into a bucket underneath the hopper. This is the profit the casino takes.

Max Bet
The maximum amount of coins that can be played per spin.

One-armed Bandit
A one armed bandit is simply another name for a slot machine. Origin of the term - the single pull lever is the 'one arm', the fact that they used to be rigged to never win is the 'bandit'.

Payline
Most slots have a single (or multiple) horizontal line at the middle of the visible playing section. If a proper combination falls on that line, you get paid. Hence, this line is the payline.

Payout Percentages
Payout percentages vary from Casino to Casino and even from slot to slot within a particular Casino. You will often see signs posted regarding the percentage of payout particularly at the dollar carousels. You might see as high as 98.2 % payback - however this does not mean that for every 100.00 you play you will get a return of 98.20, hardly. What it does mean is that over the "long" haul the machine will pay back the posted percentage. Calculated in all of this are the small wins and the jackpot wins. You could put $500 into a dollar slot machine and get very little back perhaps a hundred or two and even less. This does not mean the percentage payout is incorrect, it simply means that you have not experienced the 98.2% payback. The next guy coming along may feed a few dollars into the slot machine and win a jackpot. In his case the payback far exceeded 98.2% posted on the carousel. And so you can see that over a longer period of time it all averages out to the posted percentage.

Pay Cycle
A pay cycle is defined as a period of time following a minimum number of bets (or coin 'takes') during which the machine pays out coins in larger percentages. This cycle is usually programmed into the slot machine's software to meet the minimum payout schedule as per State law.

Pay Table
The listing of available winning combinations on a slot machine.

Progressive Jackpot
A top prize which grows, giving much larger possible prizes.

Progressive Slots
This type of slot machine offer growing jackpots dependent on the amount of money that was played. A larger bankroll is required and all progressives are at least three coin max slots with two jackpot levels.

Random Number Generator (RNG)
This is the computer program that determines which symbols line up on the reels. Its sole purpose is to generate a sequence of numbers in milliseconds. Each random number it generates corresponds to a reel combination. Even when a slot machine is not being used, the RNG keeps doing its job of generating numbers. Whatever random number was generated the split second you pull the handle (or hit the "bet one" or "max bet" button) will result in the corresponding reel combinations that appear on your screen. The RNG doesn't care how much you bet, whether you bet one coin or five, whether you pulled the handle or hit the spin button, whether it's your first play or last, whether you are winning or losing, or whether you are playing with or without your slot card. It just continually generates random numbers. If you happen to be the lucky player that plays the very split second the RNG generated a number corresponding to a jackpot reel combination, you'll be a big winner.

Reels
The reels of a slot machine are the cylindrical spinning pieces around which all of the symbols are displayed. Most slot machines usually have three reels but sometimes you will find a two reel, or four reel or even higher. The more reels in the machine, the more permutations or possible combinations are able to hit the payline. This means, in a multiple reel machine with a single jackpot line (to hit it big you need to get just the right combo), your chances of hitting that combo are slimmer than normal.

Symbols
The symbols are graphics, pictures, images, or icons that are spread around the reels. They can be cherries, lemons, bars, oranges - any one of many simple recognizable images. Originally, Fay's first machine featured Liberty Bells, and our common card symbols such as hearts and spades.

Take Cycle
The take cycle is the opposite of the pay cycle. If you follow the pay / take theory, then you might be inclined to assume that a pay cycle is followed by a take cycle, whereby you may get the odd small return. But ultimately I believe that slots end up taking for the great majority of the time. But hey, it's great fun and you could get luck and hit it big time one day.

Tilt
Slots tilt usually because they have run out of coins, it happens, or because a coin is jammed in the mechanism. They stop paying and the tilt light comes on. Coins owing the player are held in the slots memory and will pay after corrections have been made to the problem.

Top Prize
The top payout, in coins on non progressive slots, playing max coins.

Winning Combinations
The amount of possible winning outcomes on the pay table.

Wild Symbol
Like a joker will count as any other symbol and on some slots multiply.