Slots
Terminology
The
traditional historic name for slots was
"The One Armed Bandit" and it
is easy to understand why they got that
name. But slots machines have graduated from
those early Western times and gained "some"
more friendly names, the most popular of
which is simply "slots" or slots
machine. They have also gained in status
from "machine" to high tech slots
that have entered the computer age with
a vengeance.
Credit
Meter: When
the player slides a bill into the coin acceptor,
the credit meter will record the number
of tokens the bill represents. For example,
a $20 bill will record 80 credits on the
credit meter of a quarter slots machine.
Electronic
Gaming Machines:
This term includes all coin operated casino
games such as slots, video poker, flip it
games, horse racing games, and all other
coin operated electronic games.
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.
Hold:
This is the opposite of a payback percentage.
It is the percentage of money played that
is retained by the casino. If a machine
is set to payback 86%, the hold is 14%.
The hold can range from 1% or less on large
denomination machines to as much as 25%
to 30% on penny or nickel machines at certain
casinos.
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. The buckets are usually
emptied in the early morning hours when
the traffic is light.
Hopper
Fill:
When there are not enough tokens in the
hopper to service the player, a hopper fill
is required. Casino personnel open the slots
machine and fill the hopper with tokens,
usually stored in a cabinet underneath the
slots machine itself. When you witness a
hopper fill, note that the casino employee,
after emptying the clear plastic token bag,
will hold the bag up to the security camera
so that the camera can record the fact that
the bag is empty.
Loose
slots:
This refers to any slots machine that is
paying off. It is "loose" with
its money. Also known as a "hot"
machine. The opposite of a tight slots.
Payback
Percentage:
This is the percentage of money bet on a
machine that is returned to the players
over time. If a machine is set at the factory
to pay back, say 86%, it will pay that percentage
back to the players over several hundred
thousand pulls.
Pay
Cycle:
It is a widely held belief that slots go
through pay cycles which means that, after
taking in a number of coins They must pay
out in order to meet the percentage payout
that has been programmed into the software.
Pay
Line:
Usually the line in the middle of the slots
window but also it can be three lines or
even five lines. Only winning symbols on
a pay line will drop coins in the tray.
Pay
Table:
This table is usually located above the
reels. It describes the amounts paid off
for different combinations at different
bet levels. This is a very important aspect
of slots and players must be aware the pay
table of individual machines. On electronic
machines the pay table appears on the monitor
when called by the player.
Progressive
Meter:
This is a large electronic display placed
above the linked progressive machine that
displays the amount of the progressive jackpot.
Progressive
Slots:
This is a group of machines linked together
to produce a bigger jackpot. The machines
may be in one casino or may be located in
several different casinos. A small portion
of every pull is added to the large "progressive"
jackpot. They are so called because, as
time goes on, the jackpot gets progressively
larger. Generally a progressive jackpot
only pays off with a max coin pull.
Pull:
The casino considers one spin of the reel
to equal one handle pull.
Random
Number Generator:
This function of the central processor unit
of a slots machine mother board produces
a random number used by the slots machine
software to "seed" the program
that decides where the reels stop.
Reels:
The reels upon which the symbols are displayed,
usually three reels but sometimes you will
find a two reeler and four or even higher.
The more reels the machine has the harder
it will be to hit the jackpot.
Stops:
Also
known as symbols. These are the images of
fruits or bars or even blanks where the
reels "stop".
Symbols:
This refers to the images of fruits or bars
or Betty Boop's that decorate the reels
on a slots machine. The combinations of
these symbols that rest on the payline when
the reels stop determine the payout. Symbols
are also referred to as stops.
Take
Cycle:
This is the opposite of the pay cycle. If
you subscribe to the pay/take philosophy
then you believe that a pay cycle is followed
by a take cycle, whereby you may get the
odd small hit but essentially it's feeding
time for the slots.
Tight
slots:
This is a machine that is "tight"
with its money, it is not paying off too
much. Also known as a "cold" machine.
The opposite of a loose slots.
Tilt:
Slots tilt usually because they have run
out of coins, 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. I have never seen a machine that
didn't give out the correct number of coins,
regardless of a tilt.
Window:
This is the glass cover behind which the
reels spin. The pay line is usually painted
across this window.
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