Slot machines are actual free-standing "machines" easily identified by their spinning reels and pull handles. The concept is simple, drop in some coins, pull the handle and hope the reel symbols line up. Different symbols win different amounts, and there's usually a jackpot available to be won. Slot machines are a total game of chance. There are no rules to learn, and the outcome is totally random. The ease of play, the potential huge payoffs, the noise and the excitement level around the slot area all contribute to a high entertainment value for some. Slot machines come in a variety of forms with diverse symbols on the wheels and numerous payout systems. Slot machines can have from three to five reels/wheels and one to five payoff lines. In all of them the basic idea is the same, to line up particular symbols on the payout line. The less likely a combination is to occur, the greater the payoff. The most basic slot machines require you to bet one coin (a fixed amount such as a dollar), they have only three reels, only one payout line, and pay a multiple of the bet coins value (e.g. Three cherries on the payout line will result in a payout 300 times the bet coins value). The player inserts the coin and pulls a handle (or presses a button on the front panel) and waits for the wheels to stop on the payout line to see if, and how much they have won (the payout symbols and payoff values are posted on the front of the machine). The more complex machines accept more than one coin (up to five), can have up to five wheels, and many also have up to five payout lines (three across and two diagonal). .

If you hit big on a machine you won't hit again. Not true! - Slot machines have a computer chip that operates the random number generator that causes a variation from 1 to several billion combinations in a matter of milliseconds beginning the second you spin. Whatever the number the random number generator is on in that split second that you spun is what you see on the screen. This number is compared by the computer chip, to a table in the memory and the result is the combination you spun. The casino can, at will, loosen the slots or tighten them up. Not true! - The payout rates are set and can not be changed by the casinos and these rates are audited by outside companies insuring fair play. You must consider that a reputable casino puts it's reputation on a very high set of standards and even attempting to change the payouts would risk the integrity that the casino has built for itself. If a machine hasn't hit in awhile it is due to hit. Not true! - . The games are totally random due to the Random Number Generator and do not 'remember' when it hit last and does not predict when it will hit again. I have played at land based casinos and sat at a particular machine for hours several days in a row and it never hit. And on the same train of thought, I have hit a particular machine two or three times in one sitting. If you get up from a machine and someone else sits down and hits the big one, this means that if you hadn't moved you would have won. Not true! - No matter whether it's you or the next person in line, the spinner must hit the spin button at the precise time that the Random Number Generator lines up with the winning combination. The odds of you hitting the button at the same millisecond as the 'next' player are not calculatable. You are least likely to win at a slot machine. Not true! - . Slot machines have among the highest payouts of any video gambling machines. Odds are changed to pay higher on weekends or other high traffic times. Not true! Again going back to the integrity of the casino and the ability to change the payouts, the casino has no control over this as it is all done with the Random Number Generator and in the case of land based casinos, the machines arrive at the casino with the Random Number Generators preset. All winning combinations have an equal chance of being hit:. Not true! -. The larger the payout on a win, the smaller the chance a player has to get that win. Therefore, a player most likely will win many small combinations in a sitting, and winning the actual big payoff has a much less probability of being hit. This is why it is called gambling, you're taking a chance and have no assurances of winning but you do have the promise of a fair chance. Name of this page is Around The Slot.