Slot Machine: Admiral: Mills Novelty Co. Slot Machine / Upright: Airship Profit Sharer: Jentzsch & Meerz 1929: Slot Machine / Wall game: Aitkens Front: Mills Novelty Co. 1946: Slot Machine / Bell: All Jackpots: Space Manufacturing Co. 1965: Slot Machine: All Star Comet: Pace Manufacturing Co. 1936: Slot Machine / Bell: All-Star: Pace Manufacturing Co. 1946: Slot Machine / Reel.

The slot machine is by far the most popular and profitable casino game, and with slot machines dominating the online, mobile, and social markets, there’s been a resurgence in interest in the one-armed bandit. This glossary covers terms used by slot players and the slot machine industry. We’ve included an example of each word used in a sentence. Newcomers to the world of slot gaming should familiarize themselves with the terms below before they head to the casino.

243 Ways to Win slot:a game that doesn’t consider pay lines when determining wins and payouts. Instead, winning combinations of symbols can appear anywhere on the screen.

“Spend a little extra time reading the pay table of that game – it’s a 243 Ways to Win slot.”

Action:refers to a gambler’s total amount played, plus any amount they’ve won or lost for a given session.

“Your slot club card rewards you with comps based on your action.”

Other Names For Slot Machines

All pays slot:a category of games that don’t use the traditional pay line system to determine winnings.

“If you’re bored with traditional games, look for one of the new all pays slots available online.”

Basic slot:games with few features, a single pay line, and a fixed top jackpot.

“Fans of retro gaming will find themselves drawn to the classic styling of the casino’s basic slots.”

Bet Max:to place a wager equal to the largest possible bet for a particular slot. Many slots also have a “bet max” button on case that allows gamblers to quickly place the game’s top per-spin wager. Often required to gain access to a game’s largest payouts.

“You can squeeze in a lot more playing time if you wager using the Bet Max button.”

Betting unit:refers to hitting a slot’s top-paying combination of symbols.

“Managing your slot bankroll starts with working out how many betting units you can afford to spend per hour.”

Big hit:refers to hitting a slot’s top-paying combination of symbols.

“You should have seen the slot hosts come running after Aunt Mary got that big hit.”

Bonus feature:a side game or other special activity distinct from a game’s regular mode. Can include things like wild symbols, scatter symbols, and free spins.

“More and more, slot designers are producing games with skill-based bonus features.”

Buy-a-pay slot:a game in which each coin you wager activates a new tier of payouts. Placing the maximum number of coins leads to the largest payouts.

“The buy-a-pay slot is the most misunderstood game on the casino floor.”

Carousel:a name for a group of slot machines sharing a common feature, usually denomination.

“The first thing I look for when I walk into a new casino is a penny slot carousel.”

CICO: (Coin In, Coin Out)an industry term referring to the total number of credits played in and paid out of a machine.

“You can get an idea of your total CICO for a given slot by analyzing the points on your slot club card.”

Coins:another term for “credits.” Slots accept credits in a variety of denominations, from a penny to five dollars and more.

“This game’s bonus feature pays a special multiplier prize based on the total number of coins wagered.”

Coin size:refers to a gambler’s chosen denomination, the amount that each coin (or credit) is worth.

“Some slots allow you to select your coin size, others set a fixed-price value for each coin.”

Comps:short for “compensated items,” comps are freebies given to slot players by the casino as a reward for their loyalty. Players must join a slot club and swipe their card before playing each machine in order to have their action tracked. Comps range from free drinks and room upgrades to larger prizes, depending on how much a player spends.

“Earning slot club comps shaves a tiny fraction off the casino’s built-in advantage.”

Console slot:games with built-in features designed to be more comfortable for the player. These days, console slots have screens which can be placed in different angles, built-in seats, and customizable brightness settings.

“Grandma said she prefers to play the console slots, even though they’re a little more expensive.”

Credits:another word for “coins.” When gamblers insert a $20 bill in a slot machine, that cash is converted into credits, based on the coin size of the game.

“Fifty credits per spin is too rich for my blood.”

Denomination:the value of each credit. Some games feature fixed credit values, others allow you to choose your denomination.

“The only benefit to using a higher denomination is a larger set of possible payouts.”

Double symbol:a symbol (or set of symbols) that doubles a payout when it’s part of a winning combination. Triple symbols are also common.

“Slots that use double symbols and triple symbols are perceived as more exciting than slots that don’t.”

Fixed-value slot:games in which the betting amount and/or coin size cannot be altered. Some of these games allow for multiple credit wagers, which gives the player some control over the size of each spin.

“Fixed-value slots make it easier to manage your slot bankroll, though they limit your options as a player.”

Free spin:a bonus feature in which the player earns one free round of play.

“Wouldn’t you know it – I spent all that cash and then finally hit a jackpot during a free spin.”

Fruit machine:UK slang term for slot machine. Most games of this type are basic slots with few features.

“I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the classic fruit machines found in British pubs.”

Hit frequency:a theoretical number referring to how often a given slot machine pays out a prize of any amount, relative to the total number of games played.
Hold percentage:a theoretical number that refers to the amount of a player’s money a slot machine retains.

“Theoretically, a machine programmed to have a 95% hold percentage will keep 5% of all the money a player feeds into it.”

Jackpot:either the highest-value prize paid out by a given slot machine, or (used more generically) any prize paid out by a machine.

“You have to bet five coins per spin to gain access to the jackpot – it’s a buy-a-pay slot.”

Line bet:the number of active pay lines on a given multi-payline slot.

“I try to always place a max line bet on progressive slots.”

Linked progressive slot:a slot that pays out an ever-increasing top prize connected to a network of two or more games. These games produce larger progressive jackpots because more players are paying into them.

“Linked progressive slots are placed prominently on the casino floor to attract attention.”

Low-level slot:any game that includes a built-in seat or chair.

“You don’t find nearly as many low-level slots in Atlantic City as you do in Las Vegas.”

Multiplier:a specific type of bonus slot feature where a payout is increased, usually between 2x and 10x.

“I like this slot’s multiplier feature – I just wish it came up more often.”

Near-miss:player slang for a result that’s incredibly close to a payout.

“I needed five cherry symbols for the jackpot, and only got four. Talk about a near-miss.”

Nudge slot:games that include a particular bonus feature in which near-miss combinations are occasionally bumped into a winning combo.

“Nudge slots are exciting because it seems like you win more often, even though the odds are adjusted to take the nudge effect into account.”

One-armed-bandit:popular slang for a slot machine.

“I got robbed by the one-armed bandit all weekend.”

Another Name For Slot Machines

Payback percentage:a theoretical number that refers to the amount of money a particular slot machine will return to a player. Because this number is based on an infinite number of wagers, it should be used only as a guide.

“Progressive slots and games with lots of bonus features generally have a lower payback percentage than traditional slots.”

Pay line:an invisible line that moves across the reels of a slot. Winning combinations only pay out prizes when they appear on one of these invisible lines. Must be activated by the player, usually with a wager. Sometimes spelled “payline.”

“If I had all fifty pay lines activated, that last win would have paid my mortgage for six months.”

Payout:the amount paid by a slot for a specific combination of symbols. Sometimes spelled “pay out.”

“Reading a slot’s pay table is a simple matter of finding a winning combination and reading the payout listed next to it.”

Pay table:a chart posted on the slot machine’s case (or on the display) that indicates the payout for various winning combinations, as well as any specific game or bonus rules.

“You can tell how much variance a slot has by reading its pay table and comparing the payouts to one another.”

Penny slot:a slot which accepts pennies as its basic denomination. Because of the cost of activating multiple pay lines, most modern penny slots don’t really cost $0.01 per spin.

“If you don’t have a lot of money to waste, there’s a penny slot on the casino floor with your name on it.”

Pokie:Australian slang term for “slot machine.”

“When he called the slot machine a ‘pokie,’ I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.”

Progressive slot:a game with an ever-increasing jackpot built from tiny portions of all the wagers played into it.

“This progressive slot has been taking my money for years – maybe today’s my lucky day.”

Real stop slot:a game that allows players to skill-stop each reel, one at a time. Rare on casino floors these days.

“The reel stop slots of the 1970s added a new skill dimension to slot play, but weren’t all that popular with players because of their reduced payouts and small jackpots.”

Reels:refers to the sets of symbols that spin and stop to determine winning combinations.

“Old-school slot machines had just three reels, while most modern games have five or more sets of spinning symbols.”

RNG: (Random Number Generator)a piece of software that produces random numbers within a certain range. Used by modern slot machines to randomize results.

“The use of Random Number Generator software gave game designers the freedom to produce increasingly complicated and feature-laden slots. “

Scatter symbol:a symbol that doesn’t have to appear in any specific combination or on any specific reels or lines in order to trigger a bonus feature.
Machines

“Usually, a specific number of scatter symbols must appear to trigger a bonus or prize.”

Second-screen bonus:an industry term that refers to video slot game features that take place on a separate screen from the standard slot game.

“Modern licensed games depend on video scenes and second-screen bonus games to attract players familiar with the brand.”

Short win:refers to hitting a combination that should lead to a huge jackpot, but doesn’t because of a low-credit or low-denomination wager.

“Sure, you can play nickel slots for a nickel per spin, but all your jackpots will be short wins.”

Slot club:member’s-only programs offered by casinos to track their play in exchange for comps and other rewards.

“Joining the slot club won’t cost you a thing and could lead to some nice freebies.”

Slot host:a casino employee whose job it is to assist serving customers at slot machines. Usually performs all necessary hand-pays.

“Tipping your slot host after a big win is considered proper etiquette – how much you tip is up to you.”

Slot machine:a gambling game that pays prizes based on random combinations of symbols.

“The slot machine is America’s greatest contribution to the world of gambling.”

Slot tournament:an event that brings slots players together to compete for a set of specific prizes on a pool of specific games.

“I love this casino’s promotions – especially the weekly $10,000 slot tournament.”

Spin:refers to one round of slot machine play.

“As a low-roller, I’m most comfortable betting about $0.50 per spin.”

Symbols:images on the reels of a slot machine that must be lined up in various combinations to win. Can be anything – traditional symbols include fruit, numbers, and playing cards.

“The best symbol on this game is the game’s logo itself, which acts as a scatter and a wild at the same time.”

Tilt:a slot malfunction that usually requires the attention of a host and possibly a mechanic.

“I was in a good rhythm and then the machine tilted and I had to switch games.”

TITO: (Ticket In, Ticket Out)refers to a specific type of slot game that prints a ticket with your winning amount when you cash out. Can then be inserted in a different machine to continue playing. Most modern casinos have switched to the use of plastic cards rather than tickets.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people leave behind tickets in TITO slots.”

Slang Names For Slot Machines

Total bet:refers to the total number of credits multiplied by the chosen denomination.

Slot Machine Name Generator

“I was betting a nickel per credit and betting the fifty pay line max, for a total bet of $2.50 per spin.”

List Of Casino Slot Machines

Video slots:refers to a category of slot games that use a video screen to display virtual reels. The vast majority of slots on modern casino floors are video slots.

“You hardly ever see anything but video slots these days – but I miss the spinning reels of the basic slots.”

Wide-area progressive:games with ever-increasing jackpots, linked between different online or land-based casinos. They the largest of all possible progressive payouts, since a huge number of people are paying into their jackpots.

“The largest jackpot in Vegas history was won on a wide-area progressive slot machine.”

Slot Finder By Name

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.

Names For Slot Machines

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 for a 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.

Finding Slot Machines By Name

John Robison is the author of 'The Slot Expert's Guide
to Playing Slots.' His website is
www.slotexpert.com