VIDEO SLOTS AND THEIR HISTORY

WHY PLAYERS AVOIDED EARLY VIDEO SLOTS

It’s said that nothing in the universe above quantum level is truly random, but random number generators are close enough that players can’t discern any repeating patterns, and the long-term percentages are those you would expect from randomly occurring outcomes. Here are a few key points about the RNG:

• Imaging was flat and low-resolution. The screens weren’t attractive.
• Games used three video reels and came across as pale imitations of mechanical slots.
• There was no animation nor were there sound effects and bonus events to set the games apart.
• Players didn’t trust computers, and they thought video results could be fixed against them.

KEY MOMENTS IN VIDEO SLOTS’ RISE

The success of Reel ’Em In served notice to other gamemakers that they’d have to go video if they were going to keep up with a shifting market. For the next several years, three-reel games remained the most popular U.S. slots, but innovations from multiple manufactures helped video slots built momentum. Among the important pieces that fell into place for video gaming were:

MULTI-TIERED JACKPOTS:

COMMUNITY-STYLE SLOTS:

MULTIPLE BONUS EVENTS:

POP CULTURE THEMES:

ANIMATION, VIDEO CLIPS AND SOUND EFFECTS:

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND MOTION CHAIRS:

PENNY SLOTS:

• Video slots have been around since the 1970s, but didn’t really take off in popularity until the late 1990s.
• Success of video slots on the Pacific Rim encouraged U.S. slot manufacturers to develop their own games.
• Today, video slots put an emphasis on entertainment and interactivity, regardless of whether you win or lose.

VIDEO SLOTS AND THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR

• Video reel strips take no space and can be as long as a programmer needs.
• Video slots almost always have more paylines than mechanical-reel slots.
• Video slots have more winning combinations than mechanical-reel slots.
• Nearly all video slots include bonus events, which must be accounted for in game math.

This is a very basic game compared to those you’ll actually see in a casino. Most have many more potential combinations, often with A-K-Q-J-10 symbols in addition to character symbols. The maximum wager here is 100 coins, but you’ll often see 300, 400 or 500-coin maxes on casino slots. There is only one bonus event here, and many video slots have multiple bonuses.

• You don’t need to have a winning symbol on every reel.
• Some winning spins pay less than your bet.
• Payoffs are proportionate to bet size, with no bonus for betting the max.

All of those things are important to the video slot experience. On five-reel video slots, you don’t need the winning symbol on every reel. You’ll get some return for lining up a symbol on reels 1, 2 and 3, with bigger payoffs if you also have that symbol on the same payline on reels 4 and 5.

You’ll also see on the pay table above several winning combinations that pay less than your bet. If you bet one coin on each of the 20 paylines for a 20-coin bet, two hawks or three mice bring five coins, and three raccoons bring 15.

MULTIPLE PAYLINES, MULTIPLE PAYOFFS

The multiple paylines also are important to the experience. It’s possible to have winners on more than one payline, and even have the same symbols pay on multiple lines. Let’s say four of our paylines look like this:

Now let’s say what we see on the reels is this:

Then on the first three payline samples above, you have two Hawks, and on the fourth you have four mice. You get the five-coin two-hawk payoff three times and the 15-coin four-mouse payoff once. In that example, your 20-coin bet at one coin per line brings a total of a 30-coin return. Those multiple pays have to be accounted for in the math of the games and the random number sets designers and programmers use. There are other factors to be taken into account, including these:

• Wild symbols and expanding wilds.
• Scatter pays.
• Bonus events.

WILD SYMBOLS

Wild symbols are matches for any symbol, usually excluding scatter symbols or bonus symbols. Let’s say that in the above example, the mouse on the third reel was a wild symbol instead, as follows:
In that case, the mouse pays remain intact, but now you have four hawks on the payline that looks like this:

Instead of a five-credit pay for two hawks, that’s a 250-credit pay for four hawks. With expanding wilds, when a wild symbol lands on the payline, it grows to fill all three spaces in a column. Let’s try putting two wilds in the above example:
 

With expanding wilds, the symbols would grow so your screen looked like this:
 

SCATTER PAYS

Scatter pays do not have to line up on any particular payline. On many games, bonus symbols are scatter symbols, so that if you get three of them anywhere on the reels, you launch a bonus event.
Other games use scatter symbols for payoffs without going into a bonus. Let’s say our game builds in a treasure chest symbol that pays 100 coins if you get three of them, 250 for four or 1,000 for five. Then you can get a 100-coin pay that looks like this:

The treasure chest spaces would not constitute a winning combination with other symbols. They do not line up on a left-to-right payline, starting at reel No. 1. But with scatter pays, having enough symbols triggers a payoff, no matter where they land.
 

SLOTS BONUS EVENTS

We’ll look much more closely on bonus events later in this guide. Bonuses can be free spins, pick-a-prize events, wheel spins and more.

Their effect has to be accounted for in game math and random number sets.
One gamemaker told me that on his company’s games, about a third of payback comes from bonuses. So a game that returns 90 percent returns only 60 percent to players on the base game, but adds 30 percent on bonuses.

That can differ from game to game and manufacturer to manufacturer, but it must be accounted for by game designers and programmers.

With so many possibilities available, designers must work with large number sets.
Because the reel s and symbols don’t exist in a physical sense, there is no need to keep reel strips small enough to fit inside the machine casing. If the programmer needs the reel strip to be 100, 500, 1,000 or any other number of symbols long to yield the optimal number of combinations leading to the desired game odds, that can be done.

• Video slot results are determined by a random number generator.
• Bonuses, scatter pays, wild symbols and multiple paylines open new possibilities for game designers.
• Game designers work with very large number sets to account for all the possibilities opened by game features.

PAYLINES, AND SLOTS WITHOUT PAYLINES

Slot machines payoffs traditionally have been built around paylines. On three reel mechanical games, the most common configuration has been one line down the center:

 

When five-reel video slots rose to popularity in the 1990s, the breakthrough games had five paylines, with three horizontal lines, a “V” and a chevron:

 

That concept has grown, and as we saw in Chapter 4.2, some paylines zig and zag across the reels, such as this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, 20-, 25-, 30- and 40-payline games all are common.

WHAT MULTIPLE PAYLINES DO FOR YOU

• It opens the possibility on of winning on more than one line on a single spin.
• It gives game designers a great deal of leeway in devising games of different volatility.
• It makes it easy to devise games with high hit frequencies.
• It gives players a wide range of betting possibilities.

Winning on more than one line on the same spin was discussed in Chapter 4.2. The potential for games of widely differing volatility is available because there are so many possibilities in a five-reel game.

If the programmer and designer are working with 100 random numbers per reel, there are 1 billion possible five-reel combinations. High, low or in-between portions can be winners. Very frequent small wins can yield a low-volatility game that keeps you in your seat for extended play. Putting more of the return into bonuses or bigger pays can yield higher volatility with a better shot at bigger wins, but also a better shot at a faster drain on your bankroll. Players have the opportunity to choose how much to bet per payline, and on many games also can choose how many lines to play.

When video slots made their breakthrough with five paylines, button panels offered options like this, along with a large “maximum bet” button to one side:

In that configuration, you could bet anywhere from one coin per spin to 25. Many games with more paylines also offer betting options all the way down to a single coin, although not all coin-line combinations are offered.
Here’s one from a 20-line game:

Such configurations worked well when video slots first broke through. They were most commonly in five-cent, or nickel, denominations, so the least anyone was going to bet was five cents, and most players were covering all the paylines to bet at least 25 cents. When penny slots rose to popularity in the 2000s and the minimum bet became just one cent, casino operators wanted to make sure players were betting enough to keep the games profitable. That led gamemakers to devise what’s known in the industry as a “forced bet” machine.

On a 40-line, forced bet game, the button panel might look like this:
The “Bet 40” option is simply covering all the paylines at one coin per line. On such games, you can no longer bet just one coin, but you can bet one coin per payline.

BETTING THE LINES

• On nearly all video slots, including online slots, payouts are proportionate to the number of coins wagered per line.
• Winning combinations are equally likely to land on any payline.
• Larger bets for covering all paylines are balanced by more frequent wins.

• On a hypothetical 20-line machine, three “10” symbols bring a five-coin payoff.
• Odds of the game are set so the three 10s occur one per 100 plays for each payline.
• If you bet only one coin on one payline, each three-10s win pays five times as much as your bet, but occurs only once per 100 plays.
• If you bet one coin on each of the 20 paylines, a three-10s pay of five coins pays one-fourth as much as your 20-coin bet.
• However, by betting all lines, you collect 20 three-10s pays per 100 spins instead of only one.

NO-PAYLINE SLOTS

If you buy just one reel, your potential winners look like this:

Potential winners with two reels bought:

With three reels bought:

And with four reels bought:

On most games, the hawks in that configuration would not form a payline. However, in Reel Power games, as long as the winning symbols are on adjacent reels, left to right across the screen, it doesn’t matter whether the symbols are in the top, middle or bottom positions. Such games yield 243 possible ways to win, and games from gamemakers other than Aristocrat are commonly called 243 ways to win games rather than Reel Power. Reel Power games typically use free spins as a bonus event, and are among the most volatile video slots.

One offshoot is games with reels that are four symbols deep instead of three such as this:

 

CASCADING REELS

• Multiple paylines give players a wide range of betting options, though some games now require you to cover all paylines.
• Winning symbols are equally likely to appear on any payline.
• Reel Power games, with 243 ways to win, don’t require winning symbols to line up on traditional paylines.
• With cascading reels, each winner brings new opportunities to win.

HIT FREQUENCY VS. PAYBACK PERCENTAGE ON VIDEO SLOTS

ENTERTAIMENT GAMES AND GAMBLING GAMES

On video slots, casino industry professionals make a distinction between “entertainment” games and “gambling” games.  

• Entertainment games have high hit frequencies but low jackpot probabilities.
• Entertainment games are designed to give players extended play.
• Gambling games offer enhanced chances at big payoffs, but have low hit frequencies.
• On gambling games, you can lose money faster when the big wins don’t come.

For a look at the arithmetic of hit frequencies and payback percentages, see Chapter 3.2, Hit Frequency vs. Payback Percentage. The examples are for three-reel slots, but the principles are the same. However, there are some special factors that apply to video slots.  

• Video slots and online slots have many more potential paying combinations.
• Only about two-thirds of overall payout is on the main game, though that varies by game and gamemaker.
• Bonus events must factor into both hit frequency and payback percentage.

 

CHANGING THE HIT FREQUENCY

• The numbers of mice could be enhanced on the first three reels.
• There could then be fewer mice on reels 4 and 5.
• The numbers of hawks could be increase on the first two reels.
• There could then be fewer hawks on other reels.

• There are 2.43 million total five-reel combinations.
• There is a payoff for hawks on the first two reels. There are 900 two-reel combinations.
• If there are five hawks on the first reel and four on the second, there are 20 two-hawk combinations.
• You would get a payoff on two or more hawks once per 45 spins.

• If there are two hawks on the first reel and three on the second, there are only six two-hawk combos.
• The only two-symbol payer on the game now appears only once per 150 plays.
• If we then put three hawks on the third and fourth reels and five on the fifth, there are 270 five-hawk combos.
• The top jackpot now pays once per 9,000 plays.

GAMBLING VS. ENTERTAINMENT SIGNPOSTS

On the example above, we haven’t changed the pay table at all. We’ve just changed the hit frequency on a low-paying winner by changing the number of hawks on the first two reels.

The difference is subtle, but in casinos, you’ll find games with much larger differences.

• Games with large jackpots often, though not always, are low hit frequency “gambling” games.
• Games that use stacked symbols, where you can have big wins on many lines at once, usually are gambling games.
• Games that have free spin bonuses as their main or only bonus event often are gambling games.
• Games that have pick’em bonuses as their main or only bonus event usually are entertainment games.

You can use big jackpots, stacked symbols and type of bonus events as guides to what the play experience is likely to be, but those aren’t hard and fast rules. As with any slot machine, if a game isn’t meeting your expectations, you can always move to a different game.

• Hit frequency does not necessarily correspond to payback percentage.
• Hit frequency can be increased or decreased by changing the proportion of symbols on the video reels.
• Casinos offer both high hit frequency “entertainment” games and low hit frequency “gambling” games.
• Bigger jackpots, stacked symbols and free spins are among the tools that can be used to create gambling games.
• High hit frequency and pick’em bonuses are among the tools that can be used to create entertainment games.

NETWORKED AND SERVER-BASED GAMES

• Under gaming board supervision, a casino employee unlocks and opens the slot machine door.
• The central processing unit is removed, the door relocked, and the CPU is taken to the back shop.
• Evidence tape is broken, and the game chip is removed.
• A new game chip is inserted a resealed with evidence tape.
• The CPU is placed back in the machine, the door locked and the game restarted.

• It takes much less time to change a game.
• It is possible to change games on multiple machines, even on large sections of the floor, all at once.
• Games can be put on a timer to automatically change to fill casino needs.
• Server-based units enable two-way communication between the casino and its players.
• Casinos can use server-based technology to bring players targeted bonuses.

LESS TIME TO CHANGE:

Operators and regulators, working together, can use a point-and-click method to choose games and paybacks at the click of a mouse. It can be done in seconds.

AUTOMATIC CHANGE:

This does not yet appear to be in use in the U.S., but server-based games have the capability to change according to specific casino needs.

If a casino finds it draws large numbers of video poker players in the daytime, but needs more multiline penny slots at night, it can set the system up to change at a specified time each day.

All this would require regulatory approval. One thing regulators I’ve spoken with have said they will not approve is any automatic change in payback percentages. Any casino that wanted to offer 92-percent games as an attraction in low-traffic times but drop to 85 percent on busy weekends would be blocked by regulators.
 

CHANGING MULTIPLE MACHINES:

TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION:

PROCEDURE FOR DELIVERING GAMES

• The casino subscribes to monthly game updates from the manufacturer.
• Games are put on a disc, which then is delivered to the gaming board.
• After the disc has been approved, it is delivered to the casino and installed in its server room.
• In the server room, a double-lock system is used.
• Both a casino employee and a gaming board agent must be logged in to load games onto machines.

• Players create an identity when they play.
• During game play, players unlock new bonus packages and graphics.
• The next time they play, they can log in and pick up where they left off.
• At home, players can log onto a free play site, interact with other players and game designers.
• During free play, players also can unlock bonus features that will be available on their next casino trip.
• Players also can earn badges they can display to their online friends.

• Server-based slots can dramatically reduce the time it takes to change slot game.
• All changes must be made with regulatory approval.
• Server-based systems open new possibilities for bonuses and communication with players.
• Networked games offer unlockable bonuses and the opportunity to extend the experience at home.