THE BEST Guide to Slots and Slot MachinesTHE FUNDAMENTALS of Collecting Casino Chips

Some of the blog posts I?m most pleased with here are the ones in my ?ultimate guides? series. Up to now I?ve written ultimate guides to USA lottery games, greyhound racing, and Atlantic City casinos.

Today, though, I?m writing about something a great deal larger?the king of casino gambling games.

Today?s post may be the ultimate guide to slots and slots.

My goal with this post would be to share everything you may need to know to play slot machines intelligently in a casino.

Here are the topics covered in this post:

The history of the games

Differences in gameplay in one country to another

How exactly to play slots in Atlantic City, NEVADA, Reno, or somewhere else

The way the payback percentage, probability and odds work

Which different types of games are available

The most used games

How slot machine game tournaments work

Which of those games are best for the discerning gambler?

Questions and answers

The History of SLOTS

If you?ve read anything about antique slots or about the invention of these games, you?ve heard about Charles Fey. He was a mechanic living in San Francisco. In 1887, he invented a game with 3 spinning reels. Each one of these reels had 5 symbols on them:

Diamonds

Hearts

Horseshoes

Liberty Bell

Spades

The Liberty Bell

You?ll notice a playing card theme here, nevertheless, you?ll also notice horseshoes?symbols of all the best. And the Liberty Bell is the symbol from which this prototypical slot machine game game gets its name. The game originally required an attendant to repay wins, but he continued focusing on and improving the machines. Eventually (by 1898), you could play a Liberty Bell slot machine game and win a whopping 50 cents from the device directly.

A Tradition of Outsmarting the Law

The games were quickly made illegal because of the gambling nature. But entrepreneurs are creative, and Fey (along with other imitators) got around these restrictions by paying down winnings in candy. That's where we get the ubiquitous fruit and bar symbols seen still on these games today. The fruit symbols used to represent the flavor of the candy won. The bar symbols represented sticks of nicotine gum.

In some ways, history keeps repeating itself. I live in Texas, and you also?ll find slot machines called ?8-liners? throughout the state. I?ve seen them in bars, in gasoline stations, and in ?game rooms?. Since slots are (strictly speaking) illegal in Texas, these games don?t pay off in cash.

Instead, you obtain points which you can use toward prizes. I spent some time in a casino game room in a small town in Texas where you could literally cash in these points for canned goods like corn. They also had a cheap set of gardening tools available.

I?ve also played 8-liners in bars where in the event that you won you had to go to the owner of the bar on Friday to get ?an envelope?. This envelope had your cash winnings inside it. But God forbid you ask for an envelope if the dog owner didn?t know who you were.

These are just examples from my own experience of clever entrepreneurs skirting anti-gambling laws to continue to offer slot machine games to their customers. In that respect, things have changed little since the 1890s.

Actually, these gambling machines changed hardly any for many years, although they did become fixtures in the casinos. For years, these games were considered a distraction for the wives of the ?real? gamblers?the men who were playing blackjack, craps, and poker. These were within the places in the casino where in fact the management thought they?d be more likely to attract the attention of these women.

Bally Technologies, Money Honey, and New Electro-Mechanical Games

Things began to change on the market in the 1960s with the introduction of the initial electro-mechanical slot machines. Bally Technologies invented a game called Money Honey, which incorporated a combination of electronic components. These gizmos enabled the designers to simply accept multi-coin bets. These games also ran faster.

Faster games with higher payouts increased the popularity of such machines, but they didn?t dominate the casino floors immediately. This has been a gradual process that hasn?t stopped. However the invention of electro-mechanical machines like Money Honey was step one in that direction.

Video Slots Like Fortune Coin and Megabucks Change Everything

The industry took off with the invention of video slots in 1979. The significance of the developments made in the 1980s can?t be overstated. The initial of the was called Fortune Coin, and it was soon acquired by IGT, the biggest manufacturer of casino games on the globe. Believe it or not, it was initially distrusted by gamblers. They assumed that a game powered by computer animation would inevitably be rigged and impossible to win.

By 1986, these computerized games managed to get possible to link multiple games to exactly the same ever-increasing jackpot. These games are now called progressive slots, and the initial?and still most famous?exemplory case of these games is named MegaBucks. The jackpot for this network of games regularly surpasses $10 million.

These larger jackpots became available as a result of lack of restrictions on amount of symbols on each reel. With a mechanical slot machine, you?re limited by probably 20 symbols per reel max. And since this type of game is mechanical, it?s hard to adjust the probability of a symbol coming up. Each stop had an equal chance of happening.

But with a computerized game, it is possible to program one symbol to come up once every 20 spins and another to come up once every 40 spins. The games now use PARs sheets to delineate those probabilities. The designers and the casinos know what the odds are on these games. The general public doesn?t get access to this information, though.

During the last 30-40 years, slot machines have become typically the most popular game in the casino. Just a decade ago, you?d often start to see the following factoid online:

65%-70% of a casino?s revenue comes from the gambling machines.

But that?s changed. I read a book recently which claimed that in most casinos, slots make up 80% or more of this casino?s revenue.

That is a seismic shift in gambling practices in a casino.

The Internet Changes Everything Again

In the 1990s, the Internet became a thing. It didn?t take long for gambling entrepreneurs to realize you could use similar computer technology to own same kinds of games over the Internet. THE NET also allowed these operators to provide their games to players in areas where gambling was illegal. (Remember?that?s a tradition in the market.)

The thinking is an offshore casino is regulated by the laws where it?s located. If gambling on the internet is legal in Costa Rica, for example, it?s legal for someone in Texas to gamble online there. Their contention is that the wagering is taking place where in fact the server in Costa Rica is.

The federal government in america requires a less enlightened stance on this idea. They?ve made it clear that offshore companies offering gambling games to USA players are breaking regulations. They?re less close-minded about if the players are breaking the laws.

The Future

As Criswell highlights in the fantastic Ed Wood movie Plan 9 from SPACE, we?re all interested in the near future, because that?s where we?re likely to spend the rest of our lives. But who knows what the future holds for slot machine gambling?

It?s clear to me that we?ll continue to see innovations which will make these games a lot more compelling and addictive. The legal climate in the usa appears to be trending toward legalization. Just in my lifetime, I?ve seen gambling become something that people had to fly to Nevada or to New Jersey to accomplish. Now I can just drive an hour north to the Winstar Casino to spin the reels and try my luck.

Slot machines are likely to continue to are more interactive and profitable for the casinos. Eventually, I?m likely to predict they?ll become too interactive and addictive. At that point, the government might start restricting gambling on a legal basis again. The pendulum seems to swing backwards and forwards with such things, at least in the USA.

The majority of the research because of this section was done using Wikipedia.

How to Play Slot Machines at Casinos in Atlantic City, NEVADA, Reno, or SOMEWHERE ELSE

Slot machines will be the easiest games in the casino to play.

You insert money, push a button or pull a lever, watch the spinning reels, pay attention to the sounds, and collect your winnings (if any).

Actually, slots are so easy to play that it almost seems silly to create a guide about them.

But like any other gambling activity, playing slots has subtleties that aren?t apparent.

In practical terms, here?s what you need to know about playing these games.

When you?re considering one of these games, you?ll notice that it looks a lot like a traditional coin-operated gaming in an arcade. Only most slot machines have a lever on the side.

And in fact, modern slots have more in common with video gaming than other things. 50 years ago slots were mechanical and powered by springs and gears, but modern slots are powered by computer programs and video screens.

Once you?re facing the machine, you?ll see the name of the game and its logo at the top. Underneath that are the spinning reels that define the game. On many modern games, these spinning reels are animated.

If it?s an old-school machine with actual physical spinning reels, a pay table will undoubtedly be printed on the glass above or even to the side of the spinning reels. This pay table shows the possible winning combinations of symbols and how much they pay in the event that you hit them.

On newer machines with animation, you can access the pay table via the controls on the screen. (The controls and the pay table are both section of the animation, usually, even though some machines have physical controls on the console.)

Most slot machine games still have a lever privately, but it?s just for show. When slots were purely mechanical affairs, you?d use the lever to start out the reels spinning. Now you have the choice of pushing a button on the console to start out the reels spinning. There?s no advantage to using either option, although you?ll play slower if you use the lever instead of the button.

Beneath the spinning reels is where you put your money in to the machine. Some modern machines only have bill changers, but some still also accept change in a coin slot. When you input your money, the device updates electronically and displays how many credits you have.

Beneath where you input the amount of money is really a metal tray called a hopper. In the old days, this is where your winnings would spill out. These were paid in coins, and casinos used to possess big plastic buckets located throughout to utilize to place your coins in.

Most modern slot machines use a ticket in/ticket out system now. You cash these tickets in at the cage in the cashier area, like everyone else would profit clay casino chips. The bill changer on modern slots may also read your tickets?it is possible to insert them just like cash.

The ticket in/ticket out system has a lot of advantages of the casinos, the biggest being breakage. That?s just a fancy word to spell it out tickets that don?t get claimed. Many gamblers don?t desire to spend your time standing in line at the cage to cash in a ticket that might only be worth a couple of bucks.

The casino reaches keep this money if the players don?t claim it.

And a couple of bucks per person matters a lot when you?re dealing with thousands of people each day.

The specific mechanics of playing are simple, though. You insert your cash, choose how much you want to wager per spin, and wait to see what your outcomes are. Once you?re ready to cash out, you push the button to cash out and take your ticket.

Some games do pay more in the event that you play max coins, but others don?t. Browse the pay table to determine beforehand. If the overall game has higher jackpots for playing max coins, you?ll probably wish to accomplish so. When you can?t afford to, you need to move to less denomination machine.

These games are played in the same way regardless of where the casino is. Slots in NEVADA play just like the games in Atlantic City. The games in Reno are the same, too. The insides might work differently from one locale to some other, but that difference is more-or-less opaque to the ball player. I?ll write more about the different varieties of innards slots have in the next section.

I referred frequently to this article when I researched this section.

World Slot Machines

These games aren?t just played in the United States. They?re popular in other countries, too. In fact, in some countries (ahem, Australia), they?re practically a national pastime.

But most countries call them by another name.

In England, they?re called ?fruit machines?.

In Australia, they?re called ?pokies? (short for ?poker machines?).

In Norway, they?re called ?kronespill?.

In Scotland, they?re called ?puggys?.

In Canada (and frequently in the U.S.) they?re called ?slots?.

Each of them feature spinning reels. That's, actually, the defining aspect of such a game.

But they also feature different gameplay options and variations depending on where you live.

Fruit machines, for example, differ slightly from regular slots. Actually, they resemble the 8-liners within bars in Texas. They resemble video poker machines, in a sense. That?s since they almost always provide you with the option to hold some symbols and take another spin on a number of the reels. This doesn?t imply skill helps in any way. The results are still randomly controlled by way of a random number generator, and no amount of so-called strategy will improve your odds.

Pokies, alternatively, usually include a massive amount of pay-lines and a lot of bonus features like scatters, wild symbols, and bonus games. The most recent innovation in pokies will be the games with 243 ways or 512 ways to win. These basically get rid of the idea of pay-lines entirely. Any winning combination from left to right results in a win.

I should point out to that one of the biggest and most popular gambling destinations on the globe now is Macau. But slots aren?t a big draw there. In fact, baccarat occupies the position in the casinos there that slots hold here in the U.S. Over 80% of a Macau?s casino revenue is generated from baccarat, not slots. That?s a substantial cultural difference, to be certain.

I consulted this page when researching this section of the post.

Slot Machine Games and Variations

The original slots developed at the turn of the final century were mechanical devices with actual metal reels inside them. When you pulled the lever, the springs set those reels to spinning. Symbols were printed on leading of the reels, so when they lined up, you have paid off.

For example, you might put a penny into such a machine, pull the lever, and see three cherries fall into line across the center of the reels. That line over the center of the reels is named a pay line.

Modern slot machines often have multiple lines, but you pay to activate each line. Old-school games had only three reels and one payline.

This type of games still exist, however they?re no longer powered by springs and reel stops. Their email address details are determined by a computer program called a random number generator. These are called classic slots. They might seem boring compared to a number of the newer, flashier, and glitzier games.

But they usually provide best odds in the casino (at the very least as far as slots go).

Newer slot machines also often feature five reels instead of three. To accomplish all these extra reels and pay lines, the slot machine game manufacturers use animation and computer programs. Five reel slots and multi-line slots are often video slots. That just refers to what the game looks like.

These games often include lots of bonus features and games. Some of these bonus games have even skill elements. Others are completely random.

Among a game with a bonus feature is Wheel of Fortune slots. In the event that you?ve spent any time within an American casino, you?ve seen and heard this game. It?s based on the popular game show. In the event that you get certain combinations of symbols on the screen, you can spin the wheel.

On most Wheel of Fortune games, the wheel is smaller and is situated on top of the machine. I?ve seen versions which are huge and invite multiple people to sit round the wheel itself. Most players love getting to spin the wheel.

And of course, you get a bonus payout based on where the wheel lands.

These games often likewise incorporate wild symbols. If you play poker, you?re probably familiar with the idea of a wild card. It?s just a card that can substitute for a card that could make a winning hand.

A wild symbol on a slot machine game works just as. It substitutes for a reel symbol that you'll need to have to accomplish a winning combination.

Modern slots also often include scatter symbols. They are symbols which don?t have to be on any specific pay line to attain a winning combination. No matter where they appear on the screen, if the proper number and type of scatter symbols arrive, you get paid off.

Slot machines change from most other gambling games. You can actually list the number of poker variations or blackjack variations on a single page. But slots come in a staggering array. That?s because dozens of manufacturers create new games constantly.

In fact, you can get several ways to categorize these games. Here are a few of these ways:

Legally, slot machines can be categorized by how their algorithms work. These categorizations are Class II and Class III. They matter since they affect which kinds of games the casino can legally offer. In states which allow tribal casinos, the restriction is frequently that they can only offer Class II slots. These games are based on a bingo algorithm. All of the games are networked together with a central computer that is constantly running bingo games. The payouts derive from the bingo results, and the spinning reels are simply for show. Class III slots, on the other hand, have individual random number generators inside each machine.

Progressive slots have jackpots that grow constantly when you play. You?ll visit a jackpot ticker at the top of such a machine which tells you what the top jackpot is. Flat top slot machines, on the other hand, have a set top jackpot.

Traditional slots have 3 reels and usually 1-3 pay-lines. These games look mechanical, even though the results are still powered by way of a computer program called a random number generator. Video slots will often have 5 reels (or even more) and at the very least 5 pay-lines. They cost more to play as you pay to activate each pay-line. Nevertheless, you have more opportunities to get at least small wins.

Video slot machines are often the games with all the current bonus features like bonus games, scatter symbols, and wild symbols. All these bells and whistles bring about lower payout percentages for the player, though. You have a choice. Play the fancier, more pleasurable game. Or play the more boring game which provides you a better possiblity to win.

I leave it to you to decide which of those options is better for you.

I used several pages to analyze this section, including this one which one. You?ll also look for a page with a far more comprehensive treatment of this subject right here on this website.

The Most Popular Slots Games

I read a book about gambling once that compared the popularity of slot machines with a quote from the Beatles. At one point, they claimed to be more popular than Jesus.

And when slots are that popular, specific games occupy high positions of popularity within the category. This section of the post looks at the most popular games and how they got there.

Wheel of Fortune slots are the undisputed kings of the gambling machine parts of casinos in the United States. I read a book about slots recently that claimed that IGT, the game?s manufacturer, were so wanting to duplicate this game?s success that they surveyed the players to learn why it had been so popular.

They got a range of answer, needless to say. But one answer was common.

Most of the people who loved Wheel of Fortune slots said that the overall game reminded them of watching the overall game show on TV making use of their grandmother if they were young.

How will you beat that as a formula for success?

Actually, Wheel of Fortune isn?t just a single slot machine game game anymore. It?s a brandname. Several different games use the branding, and all of them has different gameplay features. They all have two things in common, though:

The sights and sounds related to the game show.

The spinning wheel bonus game.

Wheel of Fortune isn?t the only real game to borrow elements from a popular game show. You?ll find plenty of them scattered through the entire casinos: THE PURCHASE PRICE Is Right, Jeopardy, The $20,000 Pyramid, Deal or No Deal, and Who would like to Be a Millionaire have all spawned slot machine game games.

The Simpsons slots are like this, too. It?s more about branding than specific gameplay features. Multiple slot machine games share the branding, sound effects, characters, and iconography. The most recent version is a big flashy monstrosity of a casino game. The TV show has been on the air for over 27 years now.

Notice a trend yet? Experiencing existing intellectual properties and brands is really a smart move for game manufacturers and casinos. People love familiarity. You?ll discover that most of the most popular gaming machines utilize this tendency.

And The Simpsons isn?t the only real cartoon to spawn its own gambling game. The Pink Panther has been popular for years. South Park slots are also hugely popular. At one time, using a cartoon as the basis for one of these games was controversial. The regulators felt such as this was a way of enticing under-age gamblers. But modern cartoons aren?t even targeted at children.

Elvis slots are a big deal, too. Just like the other games I?ve listed, several different machines share this branding. You will discover slot machine game games featuring skinny Elvis, fat Elvis, and Elvis singing different songs. (?Burning Love? is really a favorite.)

He?s essentially the most iconic singer to get a popular slot machine game game, but other singers come in on the action, too. Dolly Parton slots are popular. Cher has her very own slot machine, too. You may also find slots based on Hee-Haw, a country western music themed variety show that was on the air for many years.

In short, whatever summons nostalgia on the list of right demographic is really a potential theme for a popular gambling machine. The popular the brand and intellectual property, the more popular the game.

SLOT MACHINE GAME Tournaments and How They Work

A slot machine tournament is an opportunity for you to compete against other gamblers. It?s also an opportunity to get a good little bit of action without spending lots of money.

Here?s how most slot machine tournaments work:

You pay an entry fee. For that, you obtain a certain amount of credits on a slot machine game. Another players do likewise.

Once the tournament starts, the casino sets a timer, and you also get to make as many spins as you possibly can before one of the following happens:

You go out of credits.

The timer runs out.

Once the timer runs out, the player with the most credits is the winner.

Usually this gives you a chance to get a large payout for a minimal buy-in. A number of these tournaments can be found as freerolls by the casino to attract clients.

I researched a few of the information for this section by using this page.

Probability and SLOTS ? The way the Payback Percentage Works

All casino games have this in keeping?they pay off significantly less than the odds of winning. For instance, if you place a bet that pays off at 10 to 1 1, you can bet that the chances of winning are worse than 10 to at least one 1. The casinos come in business to make a profit. This mathematical edge is how they take action.

Here?s a specific example of how that might utilize a simple slot machine game:

You?re playing a casino game with 3 reels and a single payline. Each reel has 8 symbols onto it. The probability of obtaining a specific symbol on a particular reel is 1/8. The probability of getting that symbol on all 3 reels is 1/8 X 1/8 X 1/8, or 1/512. This means that the odds of winning are 511 to 1 1. If that bet takes care of at 500 to 1 1, the casino expects to win money in the long run.

Let?s assume you?re playing for $100 per spin. You lose $51,100 on your losing spins. Nevertheless, you win $50,000 on your own winning spin. Your loss is $1100 on the 512 spins, which means you lose an average of $2.14 per spin.

This means the casino has an edge of 2.14% on this bet, and the payback percentage (the total amount they expect to pay back on every bet) is 97.86%.

Of course, modern slots tend to be more complicated than this. They often have more than 8 symbols on each reel. They might have 15 or even 20 symbols.

And since they?re not mechanical but computerized, they are able to weigh the probabilities of some symbols approaching differently than others. Some symbols might come up typically once every 40 spins, while others might come up typically once every 10 spins.

These numbers are determined by the designer and the PARs sheet for the game. However the casino and the manufacturer know the exact expected payback percentage for each slot machine on to the floor.

In fact, in nearly every case, the gamblers don?t have the information needed to calculate what the payback percentage is for a specific game.

This makes the slot machine the only real game in the casino where it?s impossible for a new player to know what sort of house edge he?s facing.

I used some information presented on Gamblers Bookcase when researching this section.

Which Slots Games Are Best for the Smart Player

The best slots games for the smart players are no slots games at all. These games will have a house edge that can?t be overcome. If you play any of these games long enough, you?ll lose all of your money.

So some games can be considered less worse than others, though. The low the house edge, the higher. Concurrently, if a game has a low payback percentage but isn?t fun, it?s probably not worth playing, either.

What?s a good slot machine player to accomplish?

Here are some advice on which games, in general, provide best odds. I also offer some personal observations about how useful each tip is.

Flat top games are better than progressive games. If you don't?re determined to win an enormous life-changing jackpot, you?re better off going with the games that have a fixed top prize. (They are called flat top slot machines.) Progressive jackpots, on the other hand, offer worse odds overall, because a tiny percentage of each of one's bets goes toward increasing how big is that jackpot.

The games with the cheapest jackpots probably offer better odds. This probably seems counter-intuitive. After all, in case you have two slots games that cost $1 per spin to play, wouldn?t the game with the bigger jackpot provide better odds? The short answer is not any. You take two factors into account when determine a gambling game?s odds: 1) the payoff and 2) the chances of winning. On a slot machine game, the larger the top prize, the not as likely you're to win it.

Higher denomination games usually offer better odds than lower denomination games. The reason behind this is simple. A game that you play for a nickel can be more profitable for a casino than a penny game having an even higher payback percentage. Let?s say the penny game has a payback percentage of 90%. That means the casino wins 10% (typically) of the money put through the game. At 600 spins per hour at a penny a spin, that?s $6.00 per hour in action, and 60 cents per hour in expected profit. Let?s say the nickel game includes a payback percentage of 95%. That means the casino wins an average of 5% of 600 spins at 5 cents each. That?s $1.50 each hour. The nickel game gives you MUCH better odds of winning, but the casino still makes more profit per hour. The casino WANTS one to play the bigger denomination machines.

Max coin doesn?t matter so much. On some gambling machines, it makes an improvement, but this isn?t carved in stone. In fact, it?s in the same way common that it doesn?t matter at all. That is one of the major differences between most video poker games & most slot machines. You should ALWAYS bet max coin at video poker due to the increased payout for the most notable jackpot. This is simply not true of all slots games. Check the pay table on the overall game you?re looking at to know for sure.

There are also a lot of bad advice about how to find the best slots games. Here are a few examples of advice that isn?t accurate:

If anyone lets you know Where in fact the highest-paying games are, just smile knowingly and ignore them. 22 years back, Frank Scoblete published a book called Break the One-Armed Bandits. The advice he gives in that tome is to look for games on the ends of the aisles. The idea is that the casinos desire to attract players to the games, in order that?s where they put the loosest machines. That?s not how it operates, though?at the very least, not in real life. Most casinos with identical games have games with identical payback percentages. The ones that don?t place their games randomly throughout the floor of the gambling machine area.

There?s nothing you can do to improve your likelihood of winning. That is true in a sense, because in the event that you play long enough, you?ll probably lose. But you can choose games which offer better odds for a while than others. For instance, avoiding progressive slots and only flat top slots improves your likelihood of winning. Choosing traditional 3-reel slots with an individual payline improves your chances of winning compared to choosing 5-reel slots with a dozen or more paylines.

Games get hot or cold. The idea behind this is a game is either due to pay out or that it?s cold and on a cycle of losing spins. This is an example of the gambler?s fallacy doing his thing. The idea is that you can take advantage of an absolute streak or a losing streak, however the reality is that each spin of the reels can be an independent event. The results of previous spins have nothing to do with the result of your next spin. Yes, you will see winning and losing streaks. But you?ll only see them in retrospect. And there?s no way to predict if they?ll begin or end. There?s no chance to benefit from what?s already happened.

A lot of the details about improving your chances of winning at slots was found at Michael Bluejay?s excellent page on the subject.

Slots Questions, Answered

Per my rigorously scientific (not) research on Google and Bing, these are some of the most commonly asked questions about slots and slots. Lots of people seem to want to know the answers to these questions. I?ve answered them succinctly and included links to other resources that answer them in more detail.

Which slot machine strategies are winning strategies?

Okay, which means this one might not be a word-for-word question many people ask, but this is actually the one that gets to the point a lot of people care about. How can you win at slot machines? Is there a smart way to play?

The short answer is that none of the slot machine game strategies you?ll read about online are winning strategies. Slot machines?and almost every other casino game, for example?have an unassailable house edge. Mathematically speaking, nothing you do can enhance your odds of winning.

The best you can do is try to choose games with a minimal house edge. You?ll at least get more entertainment for your money.

But if you play long enough, whatever strategies you utilize, you?ll eventually lose all your money.

You will discover comprehensive information about slot machine game strategy in this page on this site.

Can you play slots for free?

Yes, it is possible to play slot machines for free, but not at traditional brick-and-mortar casinos. Free slot machine games are available at most online casinos. These companies want one to try free versions of their games, hoping that you?ll upgrade to playing for real cash.

You can even buy software and download apps which have free slot machine games.

I?ve never seen the point in playing such a game. After all, aren?t you just pushing a button and watching a meaningless animation?

The only thing that gives a slot machine game any meaning at all is the money that you have at risk, isn?t it?

The only reason I could see for playing a free of charge game is to try the casino software to see if you believe you?ll desire to play the true money games there.

You can find detailed reviews of casinos offering free slot machines here on this website.

Are slots addictive?

Some people are from the school of thought that says you can?t be addicted to slot machines because you?re not ingesting anything into the body. Slots aren?t like drugs or alcohol. How will you become dependent on them?

Those individuals are wrong.

Addiction is more difficult than that. Gambling game designers do their best to make these games addictive.

If you know anything about behavioral psychology or the way the brain reacts to video games and gambling games, it doesn?t take you long to understand that slot machines are addictive.

Does this mean you?ll turn into a mindless slave to these games in the event that you play them?

Not necessarily.

Addiction is more complicated than that, too.

The best thing that can be done is look for warning signs that your gambling has gotten uncontrollable. The most important danger sign is a insufficient joy in the activity.

In the event that you?re compelled to play these games but don?t enjoy them, you might have an addiction.

Get help.

Read an in depth guide to gambling addiction in general here on this website.

Can you buy and/or own your own slot machine?

The answer to the depends on where you live. In some states, slot machine ownership is completely illegal. In others, you?re allowed to own such games if they?re old enough to qualify as antiques. How old such games should be varies predicated on state law. However in all states, you must have a gambling license to own such a game and offer real money play to customer onto it.

You can find a far more detailed question and answer section elsewhere on this website.

Do casinos change the chances of winning on a machine that?s gotten hot or cold?

The random number generators on a slot machine are programmed to repay at a particular percentage on the life of the overall game. But in the short run, anything can happen. Casinos understand this. They don?t have to re-program these games. They just let them run before long-term expectation kicks in.

I am hoping you found this definitive guide to slots and slot machine helpful.

Would you do me a favor now?

Leave a comment below and i want to know what you think of the guide to slots.

What did I omit that I should have included?

What questions are you experiencing that I didn?t cover?

Did you see any mistakes?

I?d be thankful for the feedback, and I?ll update this guide accordingly.When I took the plunge, and made a decision to hit the tournament circuit a few years back, I was like every other poker player who thought that they had what it takes.

I put in my time studying online, and I patiently applied those skills in the live setting, all while hoping to catch that elusive ?good run? at the proper time. And at the risk of tooting my own horn, I did much better than the common amateur turned aspiring poker pro. Made several final tables, pocketed decent prize money, and also had to be able to win a World Group of Poker Circuit ring before losing an extended, heads-up match.

Alas, it had been not meant to be ultimately. I came across that what truly separates the pros from the rest of us isn?t understanding of the game, but dedication to the grind. I just didn?t have it in me, and following a year or so spent traveling from casino to casino, I tucked my tail and returned to the ?real life.?

And when I did so, I realized that I?d acquired a new hobby on the way ? collecting casino chips.

I?m not talking about the chips I tried to win at the tournament tables, as taking those home is a crime punishable by property-wide bans if caught. No, I began pocketing the typical casino chips used at in cash poker or in table games like blackjack and craps.

Whenever I entered a casino for the very first time, I wound up playing cash game poker or hitting the table game pit, and invariably I?d keep a single $1 chip as my own before leaving town. At first, I was simply seeking a memento from the brand new experience. Eventually, though, I realized that each casino used slightly different, and singularly unique, chip designs.

And from there, I was hooked.

These chips are yours as soon as you purchase them from the cashier?s cage ? or better yet, win them ? at the tables. Indeed, casinos are more than happy to enable you to take home chips as a souvenir. The home has already collected profit exchange, sufficient reason for the chip safely saved in your shoebox somewhere, they do not have to settle up.

Based on an inventory of my burgeoning chip collection, I?ve visited at least 60 casinos during my travels. Those include megaresorts like the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip to a dusty little cardroom called Bucky?s in Prescott, Arizona. Some of my chips aren?t even issued by way of a proper casino, because so many of the ?underground? card clubs and private games etch their branding on a stock chip.

The point is, this collection provides me with a window back in time, and a tangible connection to my many poker memories. One look at any of them instantly reminds me of a location and time ? a smoky room at Harrah?s Cherokee casino in NEW YORK, a huge bad beat jackpot hit at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, or perhaps a bachelor party at Atlantic City?s crown jewel, the Borgata.

In light of the enjoyment I?ve found collecting chips, I?d prefer to introduce readers to the fun new hobby. I?ll begin with a basic rundown of my approach to collecting, before offering you a few handy tips to make the most of your casino chips.

Red, White, and Blue

The first aspect of your collecting style to decide on concerns the denomination of every chip.

Every casino runs on the standard system of chip denominations, you start with the $1 unit. These ?singles? are nearly always colored in white or blue shades, plus they?re obviously the cheapest way to get in the game.

Chips also come in $5 units, and these are invariably colored red. Beyond that, you may find $10 chips at a few casinos, especially in the poker room, but these aren?t always available. And upgrading the ladder, you?ll find $25 chips (usually green), and $100 chips (usually black) to play with.

Personally, I collect the humble $1 chips purely as a cost-cutting mechanism. Remember, you?ll need to pay the cash equivalent to get yourself a chip from the cashier?s cage ? and the amount of money spent essentially becomes a sunk cost. In other words, once you part ways with profit exchange for a collectable chip, you won?t be seeing those funds again.

Sticking to the $1 chips keeps my accounting easy and simple too. When I count my casino chip stash and see 60 of them, I understand I?ve spent just $60 on a spare time activity that has spanned many years. Upgrading to $5 chips multiplies the expense of collecting in kind, and I?m not sure I?d enjoy spending $300 on a single hobby.

Deciding which chip denomination to base your collection around is really a matter of personal preference, and depending on your financial situation, you may prefer to up the ante with $5 or $25 chips.

I enjoy the variety within $1 chips, however, as these are generally updated with new designs over time.

Many casinos even appeal to the collectors on the market with specially themed $1 chip designs. You?ll find chips commemorating the vacation season, the venue?s headlining show, or perhaps a casino?s 20-year anniversary running a business.

For the most part, these specially designed chips are limited to the $1 denomination, while $5 chips and up stick to a stock design. I enjoy grabbing a handful of white or blue $1 chips and examining their various themed designs, before selecting the one which speaks if you ask me most.

Set the bottom Rules

This facet of chip collecting is purely optional, but I find it offers a little bit of structure to the whole lot.

Basically, my ground rules for adding a fresh chip to the collection revolve around actual play. Simply stepping foot inside a new casino isn?t enough to warrant adding that venue?s chip to my collection. Instead, I must place at least one wager somewhere on the floor to make it ?count.?

Originally, I began collecting chips from any casino where I played poker, but that constraint became more trouble than it was worth. I realized many casinos don?t even offer a poker room, and regarding Las Vegas mainstays like Monte Carlo, the Luxor, and Hard Rock, venues have closed their poker rooms down recently.

With this thought, I expanded my ground rules to add any kind of bet. Typically, if the area is a poker-free zone, I?ll hit the blackjack tables and try to grind out a winning session. I also dabble in craps and roulette when I?m in the mood for pure gambling. Regardless, I always be sure to get change for a $5 chip, before keeping two $1 chips (the cleanest of the bunch) off to the side.

If the session goes poorly and I lose my stake, I have two $1 chips left at hand ? one to toke the dealer with, and one to bring house with me.

With regards to the situation, however, I?ve been known to slap a $10 bill down on the roulette table felt and bet $9 on single number wagers. If lady luck smiles on me that day, I hit the buffet with my $30 or so in profit. And when she?s not in the mood, I still have a lone $1 chip to pocket and polish later on.

Keep ?Em Clean

Why would I polish my casino chips, you ask?

In a 2009 op-ed penned for PokerNews, tournament reporter and author Paul McGuire posed a straightforward question: can touching poker chips cause you to sick?

McGuire had a good reason to ask too. As a roving tournament blogger, assigned to connect to poker players for 14 hours per day during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, he was on the front lines of poker?s germ warfare.

Within the op-ed, McGuire asked his local physician, Dr. Charles Stillman, whether contact with poker chips might increase his odds of contracting an illness.

?You may get sick from poker chips. It?s actually been studied across multiple casinos.

The most typical infection is Staph (Staphylococcus aureus). The true scary one is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) since it?s that ? resistant to the main antibiotic used to take care of it.?

Among the studies Dr. Stillman mentioned was conducted in 2007 by biologist Brian Hedlund and his research team at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). Commissioned by Bluff magazine, Dr. Hedlund?s study involved analyzing chips obtained from five casinos on The Strip.

In accordance with Hedlund?s findings, a single casino chip houses thousands of microorganisms, like the staph and MRSA germs.

Now, before you abandon the thought of collecting casino chips altogether, you should realize a large number of germs aren?t all that much of a threat. As of this very moment, your personal hands carry more microorganisms than the average casino chip.

As both doctors mentioned, the most common accumulation of germs found on a casino chip isn?t nearly enough to compromise a healthy person?s disease fighting capability. Unless you have problems with immunodeficiency issues of some sort, handling casino chips is perfectly safe.

Even so, I usually take the time to wash my hands after sourcing my latest chip. I?m not talking about a deep scrub with Purell or some other antiseptic, just a simple wash with warm water and soap. It?s better to be safe than sorry, after all.

And when I get my chips home for the very first time, I also apply a splash of rubbing alcohol with a wet cloth to finish the cleaning process. I really do this to remove the last traces of germs, first of all, which are evident in the black smudges that often accumulate in the contours of a chip.

But even if the chip was scanned with a microscope and found to be germ-free, I?d still give it an excellent wipe down before adding it to my display, simply to add some shine. Casino chips are employed and abused throughout their time on the tables, and a little bit of elbow grease goes a long way in restoring their natural luster.

Just be careful when cleaning chips affixed with logo stickers. Major casinos usually opt for laser etching or some type of permanent printing, but smaller operations often opt for stock chips and a simple sticker instead. If that?s the case, go as light as possible with the cleaning and prevent directly contacting the sticker with water or rubbing alcohol.

Show Your Stuff

You now have a pile of casino chips, and clean ones at that, disseminate or stacked on your desk somewhere. Where as long as they go next?

That?s another matter of personal preference, but also for my money, the best bet is really a display case frame that may be hung from your wall.

You can check out the eBay page for ?casino chip display? to acquire a better idea of what I mean. As you can see, these chip display cases come in all sizes and shapes, but most use a simple square design with circular cutouts where your chips go.

Once you have enough chips to fill about half of the display ? the typical frame holds about 100 of them ? feel absolve to insert them and hang the thing already. Chip collecting isn?t a completist hobby by any stretch of the imagination, so you don?t need every space in the frame to be occupied before putting it on display. And even, seeing those empty spaces staring back at you provides a certain sense of motivation to keep adding new chips as time goes on.

For my very own chip collection, I try to arrange them based on geography. All of my chips from the NEVADA Strip are grouped together, while those from Downtown / Fremont Street have their own row. The ?Off-Strip? joints like South Point and Gold Coast get their own group, as do other regions like Atlantic City and Los Angeles.

Any chips obtained from an underground card club or private game obtain own row as well.

And as an Arizonan, I devote another section in the display to my hometown casinos.

That?s just my personal approach to installation of the chips, and I?m sure you?ll come up with a pattern or design that fits your personality. That?s all area of the fun that comes with collecting.

To help you find some inspiration on that front, check out a few of the more well-designed casino chip displays going swimming out there today.

Blast from days gone by

One of the most interesting areas of casino chip collecting may be the sheer scope of variety you?ll find.

Per the latest statistics published by the American Gaming Association (AGA), america houses 510 commercial casinos. Just a decade ago, however, that number stood at 455 ? meaning 55 new casinos have opened up within the last decade alone.

And the ones?re just the commercial casinos, mind you. When you add another 470 tribal casinos operated on Native American reservations, you?ll find nearly 1,000 venues on the map ? and that?s just the American market. Once the international casino industry is factored into the equation, collectors literally have a large number of options to choose from.

But what about the casinos which have come and gone?

The old Dunes on The Strip was imploded in 1994, replaced by the extravagant Bellagio. The Sands gave solution to the Venetian, the Hacienda became Mandalay Bay, and the Aladdin was transformed into Planet Hollywood.

While the buildings may be gone by now, these old casinos once had millions of visitors streaming through the doors each year. And when those guests headed home, casino chips invariably traveled from LAS VEGAS around the world.

Today, a thriving market for historical casino chips can be found online, where collectors turn to find their own personal ULTIMATE GOAL. Maybe it?s the casino your parents spent their honeymoon at, or the old card room where you once cut your teeth learning the game. Whatever the case may be, plenty of collectors out there specialize in sourcing difficult to find historical chips.

As you can plainly see by perusing the eBay page for ?old Vegas chips?, historical casino chips have huge variations with regards to price, appearance, condition, and even their use.

For just $5, you can purchase a vintage ?steak chip? issued by the Golden Nugget in the past when. Emblazoned on the chip is a message reading ?please present to line cook,? and I suppose these were handed out to friendly faces by floormen. With a steak chip at hand, a lucky player could sit down at the Golden Nugget restaurant, flick their token to the line cook, and enjoy a juicy steak dinner free of charge.

While I don?t collect historical chips myself ? not yet anyhow ? I can certainly appreciate the sentimental value these old tokens hold. Little stories from the golden era of casino gambling, just like the steak chip therefore numerous others, are gradually being lost as the older venues are imploded. With a casino chip which may be 50 years old in your collection, you?ll will have a link to those stories readily available.

Keep Free from Collecting Catastrophe

Up to now, I?ve centered on what to do as a casino chip collector, so let?s finish things off with a few words of warning.

Casinos are notorious for his or her tight security controls, and as the old saying goes, the ?eye in the sky? is always watching. I?ve already explained that pocketing a casino chip and taking it home with you is perfectly legal, and even encouraged by the home, so why worry about cameras?

It?s all about context in cases like this.

If you?re playing in a cash poker game, the home rules will almost always add a provision about keeping all chips in play on the table. In poker parlance, pocketing chips while still in the overall game is called ?going south,? and both the floor staff and fellow players won?t be happy should they catch you violating the rule.

Going south is prohibited for a number of reasons, however the main one involves game integrity. In case a player just doubled their $100 stack through you, it stands to reason they should have at the very least $200 in play on another hand. If they opt to go south with two of the green $25 chips, however, they?ll only have $150 in play that you can win back. That?s nearly fair, which explains why casinos frown on removing chips from the live poker game.

Now, if you?re removing a lone $1 chip from the table, nobody should offer you any guff. That deduction doesn?t affect the overall game dynamics at all, and even, players are permitted to use in-game chips to tip cocktail servers or the dealer.

Even so, I usually advise new collectors from the poker world to exercise caution and common sense. Just wait before game breaks and you?re racking up your stacks to snag that sweet $1 chip, and you also?ll avoid any possible drama.

And for tournament players, those chips are property of the casino always, and removing even the smallest T25 chip could be grounds for immediate disqualification. This exact situation occurred in 2015 during a major tourney in Italy, and although the player was simply joking with a friend, he was 86?d from the final table.

This rule holds true for table games too, although it?s not enforced in exactly the same strict manner. When you?re playing blackjack or craps, you?ll be moving chips to and from the table quite frequently, also to be honest, the dealer, stickman, and pit boss have significantly more important things to watch for when monitoring a table.

Once more though, it?s far better simply avoid any implication of cheating or malfeasance by maintaining your chips clearly visible while still in the overall game.

Collecting casino chips can be quite a fun and rewarding hobby. Follow the rules in the basics of collecting casino chips listed above and you will quickly get started and steer clear of a lot of the potential challenges.

토토사이트