Online Slots Terminology
Slot Machine: “One Armed Bandit” ring a bell? For obvious reasons, that used to be the most commonly used name for slot machines. Playing the “slots” is often a term that is used by players. In a land-based casino, the machines are physical entities that receive deposits in the form of coins through a slot. Thus, “slot machine”. Modern video machines have eliminated the arm, and online slots are played from money deposited with the cashier via credit card for the most part, so the slot is gone too. But the basic premise is still the same, and the name has remained.
| Carousal A group of slot machines. |
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| Coin Size The denomination of the coin that you must play at a machine. |
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| Hold Percentage The amount of money (in percentage form) that the house hold backs from players over time. |
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| Hopper The area where the money is stored in a slot machine. |
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| Loose Slots The dream of every slot player is to find loose slots – those machines that return a high percentage to the player. |
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| Low Level Slot machines at seating level position – where a person can sit and play. |
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| Multi-Denominational Slot machines that accept a few different coin denominations. |
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| Multi-Line A slot machine with more than one pay line. |
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| Max Bet The maximum number of coins that can be played per spin. With most progressive slot machines, the max bet must be played in order to qualify for the big jackpot prize. |
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| Mechanical Slots Traditional mechanical slot machines that have actual reels inside. |
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| Payback The percentage of winnings a machine will pay out in relation to the amount of money put in. |
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| Pay for Play Machines One-two-three coin option slot machines with staggered payoffs – the more coins played, the higher the potential winnings. |
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| Pay Line The line at which the symbols must align to determine a win or not. |
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| Pay Table A table or board on the slot machine showing the payoff for each winning combination. It will also indicate bonus features, max bet options. |
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| Progressive Slots A group of slot machines linked together which have a communal big jackpot. |
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| Progressive Jackpot A big jackpot that grows progressively as more people play and more money is deposited. For every spin, another small amount is added to the jackpot total. Generally the progressive jackpot is linked with other machines. |
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| Progressive Ticker A section on the slot machines that indicates how much the current progressive jackpot is worth. |
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| Random Number Generator (RNG) A device that generates new numbers on a completely random basis and controls the spinning of the slot machine reel. The RNG is used in many casino machines to provide absolute randomness. |
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| Reels The rotating narrow barrels on which the symbols appear. Slot machines have between 3-5 reels. |
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| Slant Top A type of slot machine which is wider and shorter than normal machines, and which are becoming popular is casinos, replacing the traditional ones. |
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| Slot Club Member A loyalty program run by many casinos (online and land casinos) which provides regular players with extra points and bonuses. |
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| Stand Up Slot machines that need to be played standing up. |
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| Stops Anywhere that a real stops – between or on symbols. |
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| Symbols The pictures or graphics on the reels that need to line up in order to win. |
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| Take/Pay Cycle The cycle of slot machine whereby it is expected that the machine will payout after a certain amount of coins have been fed into it. |
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| Tight Slots Slot machines that pay back a low percentage of the money played into them. |
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| Tilt A malfunctioning machine. |
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| Video Slots Slot machines without reels, but rather a video screen that generates a picture of reels spinning. |
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| Wild Symbol A joker type symbol that will act as the required symbol to make up a winning combination in a pay line. |