What is a Slot Machine?

Another specific type of casino game is the slot machine. Traditionally slot machines are operated with a coin once inserted to the machines having three reels or more. These reels spin when the player pull the lever on the side of the machine.

Slot machines have currency detectors which tells if the coin or money inserted to play the game is acceptable or not. Because of its traditional appearance and its ability to leave the player penniless, one-armed bandit is another name for the slot machine.

Slot machine is name of the game in American English. In British English it is known as the fruit machine. However in Autralian English it is called the poker machine. When the slot machine stops on based pattern the player will receive pay off according to the pattern.

Many variations on the slot machine concept was made from modern computer technology. Nowadays, slot machines are the most popular methods in the casinos.

A gambler buys the right to play by putting cash, coins, or in later innovated machines, a paper with bar-code ticker called ticket in/ticket out machines into a designated slot. It is then activated by means of a lever or button. In newer machines the player simply presses the touchscreen on its face.

To win money from the machine is the object of the game. These involves matching symbols. Some slot machines have reels that spin and stop to reveal the symbols, some have video screens. Symbols such as images of fruit, shapes that are simple likes bells, diamonds, or hearts are normally colored brightly and can be recognize easily.

Often posted on the face of the machine is a variety of winning combinations of symbols. A slot machine pays the player cash or some other sort of value when a player gets a combination according to the rule of the game.

In places such as Las Vegas, there are many kinds of gambling slot machines. An example is a video poker machine. Players can play one or more hands at one time depending on the machine. Another kind of slot machine is the multi-line slots where the slots have more than one payline.

A new slot machine have been introduced in the previous years of gambling. It is usually known as the "multi-denomination." An idea where one player can buy one token is equivalent to one credit or more and this is largely known as "tokenization".

Some casinos have chosen to take advantage of this. Through this system a casino can modify slot machines of many different denominations to for gamblers can insert many kinds of tokens.

In the not-too-distant past, slot-machine players were the second-class citizens of casino customers. Jackpots were small, payout percentages were horrendous, and slot players just weren't eligible for the kind of complimentary bonuses commonly given to table players. But in the last few decades the face of the casino industry has changed. Nowadays more than 70 percent of casino revenues comes from slot machines, and in many jurisdictions, that figure tops 80 percent.

About 80 percent of first-time visitors to casinos head for the slots. It's easy -- just drop coins into the slot and push the button or pull the handle. Newcomers can find the personal interaction with dealers or other players at the tables intimidating -- slot players avoid that. And besides, the biggest, most lifestyle-changing jackpots in the casino are offered on the slots.


Nearly all slot machines are fitted with currency acceptors -- slide a bill into the slot, and the equivalent amount of credits is displayed on a meter. On reel-spinning slots, push a button marked "play one credit" until you've reached the number of coins you wish to play. Then hit the "spin reels" button, or pull the handle on those few slots that still have handles, or hit a button marked "play max credits," which will play the maximum coins allowed on that machine.