Atlassino Academy · Slots · Lesson 1
Reels, lines and what a spin costs
The big number on a slot machine counts credits, and a credit is not an amount of money. Here is where the panel says what one credit is worth, and how to work out what your next press takes.
The glass on the slot machine says your bet is 200 credits. How much money is that?
The short answer
Nobody can tell you that from the number of credits on its own. Two hundred credits is 2.00 units at one machine and 200.00 units at the machine four seats along it, and the glass says two hundred credits at both of them. What a press takes is three numbers multiplied by one another, and the count of credits on the glass leaves one of those three numbers out.
Credits on a line, times the lines switched on, times what one credit is worth, makes what the press takes.
What one credit is worth is the number people walk past.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
I worked a floor where a whole wall of machines looked alike, and one press on them ran anywhere from a hundredth of a unit to a couple of units. None of that was hidden from anybody. All three numbers — how many credits sit on a line, how many lines are switched on, and what one credit is worth — stood on the glass the whole time, and anyone could read them.
Two of those three numbers are yours to set, and a machine will let you set them both without your noticing that you have. That is why I ask people to read one bet panel slowly, line by line, before the first press of the evening. Read one panel properly and you can read every panel on the floor, because all of them carry the same three numbers.
The three numbers
A line is a run of symbols that pays if it comes up. How many lines are switched on is yours to choose, and every line you switch on is charged for separately, so switching on more lines raises what the press takes.
BET PANEL
The press takes 0.50 units
On every line that is switched on you put credits, on most machines from one to five. The panel multiplies the credits on a line by the lines switched on and shows the bet in credits: 2 credits on each of 25 lines is why the bet reads 50 credits.
The third number is what one credit is worth in money, and it is printed on the panel as well — usually in the smallest type there. At a machine you have not sat at before, look for what one credit is worth before you look at anything else, because until you have that figure the bet in credits tells you nothing about the money.
| One credit | 1 line1 credit on each | 9 lines5 credits on each | 25 lines5 credits on each |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.01 units a credit | 0.01 units | 0.45 units | 1.25 units |
| 0.05 units a credit | 0.05 units | 2.25 units | 6.25 units |
| 0.25 units a credit | 0.25 units | 11.25 units | 31.25 units |
| 1.00 units a credit | 1.00 units | 45.00 units | 125.00 units |
The same reels at twelve prices: each row is what one credit is worth, fixed in the cabinet; each column is the lines and credits on each line you set. Amounts are in betting units, not pesos: a unit can stand for any amount, and the arithmetic is the same at any scale.
The big number is a count, not money
A credit is neither a coin nor a press. A credit is the unit the machine counts in, and every machine decides for itself what one of its credits is worth in money. The machine counts your bet in credits; your pocket pays for it in money.
The machine by the door
BET200CREDITS
One credit here is worth 0.01 units
So the press takes 2.00 units
The machine four seats along
BET200CREDITS
One credit here is worth 1.00 units
So the press takes 200.00 units
A machine is described by what one credit is worth on it, never by what a press on it takes. The rules we read ask for the denomination to be clearly shown on the machine, and for the pay table to say whether prizes are counted in units of denomination, in legal tender or in some other unit.
The max bet button raises both of your numbers
Max bet raises both of the numbers you control — how many credits sit on each line, and how many lines are switched on — as far as that machine allows, in one tap. One tap multiplies what the press takes twice over.
THE LOWEST SETTING THIS MACHINE OFFERS
The press takes 0.01 units
AFTER THE MAX BET TAP
The press takes 1.25 units
What you can read before you pay
Everything that decides what your press does can be read before you bet.
- The paytablewhat every symbol pays, line by line
- The rules of the gamehow the game works, in full
- What each feature doeswhat the extra rounds advertised on the glass actually do
On a slot machine you reach them through the screen or the help menu: every combination that pays and what it pays, beside the credit balance, the current bet and the denomination.
- A bigger bet does not buy a better share coming back. A machine has to clear its payout floor at every setting it offers, the lowest bet included. More lines buy more of the same share, not a better one.
An hour of pressing
A machine with mechanical reels runs at about 10 presses a minute, the pace the study behind this figure measured; a video machine can go faster. Here is what that means for one hour of unbroken pressing.
- One press2.00 unitsforty lines switched on, five credits on each line, at 0.01 units for one credit
- One minute of pressing20 units10 presses
- One unbroken hour of pressing1,200 units600 presses
That last figure is the money passing through the machine, not the price of the hour to you: some of it comes back as credits and gets pressed again, and what stays with the room is a share, which is the next lesson.
Take 120 units as the money you brought for the evening. Divided by what one press takes, it gives the number of presses that money pays for.
This is a division, not a forecast: how far money actually carries at a machine is two lessons further along this track.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Decide how much money the evening gets while you are still at home, and then let that amount choose the machine and the setting for you. Do it the other way round — sit down, set the machine, and then watch what the evening does to the money — and the machine has chosen the amount for you.
What a press takes is the one part of this you hold in your own hand. It decides how much money leaves you on every press, and it decides nothing at all about how much comes back.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. Minimum entry age: each province sets its own. Where we found the rule or regulator that sets it, we cite it on the page; those we found set it at 18. More on responsible gaming.
Show all provinces
If you are thinking about suicide, call 135 or 0800 345 1435 from anywhere in the country
Practice: read the panel
First a bet panel stands in front of you and you say how much money the next press takes. Then the money you brought for the evening decides how high you are allowed to set a machine. Then two machines stand side by side, and one of the two takes more money a press than it looks as though it does.
Nothing spins here. There are no reels in the practice run, no outcome and no money coming back, because a machine has no decision left in it once the button is down. Every decision you get to make happens before the button goes down, and those are the decisions worth practising.
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Level 1 · Read the panel
BET PANEL
What will the next press take?
- 0.25 units 1 credit on each of 25 lines makes 25 credits, and one credit on this machine is worth 0.01 units.
- 25.00 units That is the count of credits on the glass read as an amount of money. A credit is worth whatever this cabinet was set to, and the panel prints that figure — usually in its smallest line.
- 0.01 units That is what one credit is worth on this machine. The press is buying 25 credits, not one credit.
Three numbers multiplied together: how many credits sit on one line, how many lines are switched on, and what one credit is worth in money. The credits on a line and the lines switched on are the two you set yourself. What one credit is worth was set into the cabinet before you sat down at it.
La apuesta y el premio se representarán en créditos y podrán adquirirse al valor en moneda de curso legal fijado por el opera dor de juego y previamente aprobado por el InProJuy. La carga de los créditos en la máquina y sus premios podrán realizarse “pulsos, "billetes" y/o cualquier otra modalidad previamente autorizada por el Instituto.Free translation: The bet and the prize shall be represented in credits and may be purchased at the value in legal tender set by the gaming operator and previously approved by the InProJuy. Credits may be loaded into the machine, and prizes paid out, by “pulses, "bills" and/or any other method previously authorized by the Institute.
Boletín Oficial de Jujuy N° 144 (INPROJUY) · Resolución 00296-P/2023: Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas · section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy · readLa denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Los vidrios de pago o display de vídeo deberán indicar claramente si los premios están designados en unidades de denominación, monedas de curso legal o alguna otra unidad.Free translation: The pay glass or video display must clearly indicate whether prizes are designated in denomination units, legal tender, or some other unit.
IPLyC Buenos Aires (Sistema de Normas) · Resolución 705/13: requisitos para máquinas electrónicas de juegos de azar · section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4) · readLevel 2 · The bet you meant to make
BET PANEL
You have decided that one press should take no more than 0.50 units. What is the most you can put on each line, in credits, and still stay inside that?
- 1 credit on each line — 0.25 units a press A press at this setting is inside the amount you decided on, and so is a higher setting on the same machine. The question asks for the highest one that still fits.
- 2 credits on each line — 0.50 units a press This is the highest setting the panel offers that still keeps one press inside the amount you decided on.
- 3 credits on each line — 0.75 units a press A press at this setting takes 0.75 units, which is more than the amount you decided on.
- 5 credits on each line — 1.25 units a press A press at this setting takes 1.25 units, which is more than the amount you decided on.
- None of them — every setting on this machine takes more than I decided on The smallest setting on this machine takes 0.25 units a press, so the machine does fit inside the amount you decided on. The question is how high you can set it and still fit.
The amount you decided on at home is what chooses the setting on the machine. Do it the other way round — set the machine first, and then see what the evening does to the money — and the machine has chosen the amount for you.
Level 3 · Two machines
FIRST MACHINE
SECOND MACHINE
You want each press to take less money. Which of these two machines do you sit at?
- The machine where one credit is worth 0.01 units A press on that machine takes 2.00 units: 5 credits on each of 40 lines, at 0.01 units for one credit.
- The machine where one credit is worth 1.00 units A press on that machine takes 1.00 units: 1 credit on each of 1 line, at 1.00 units for one credit.
- Neither of them — a press on the two machines takes the same A press on the two machines does not take the same: 2.00 units on the first machine against 1.00 units on the second.
A machine that takes less money a press is not the same thing as a machine that costs less to sit at all evening, and nothing on either panel tells you which of the two gives more back.
Every press in the practice run is worked out the same way, from the three numbers standing on the panel in front of you: how many credits sit on one line, how many lines are switched on, and what one credit is worth. Nothing spins here and nothing comes back, because a machine has no decision left in it once the button is down. The practice stops where your decisions stop.
How the practice run works
Where the presses come from. Every panel in the practice run is three numbers — what one credit is worth, how many lines are switched on, and how many credits sit on each line — and what the press takes is those three numbers multiplied together, worked out when the page is built rather than written down anywhere by hand. The wrong answers are worked out from the same three numbers, and each wrong answer is one named mistake: the lines left out of the multiplication, the credits on a line left out of it, the count of credits on the glass read as an amount of money, or what one credit is worth mistaken for what the whole press takes.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one press of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a press you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Level 2 uses your own money. The amount is the one the plan lesson uses, and the right answer is the largest setting that still keeps a press inside that amount — not the smallest setting the machine offers. A machine whose smallest setting is already past the amount you decided on is a machine to walk away from, and walking away is one of the answers on offer.
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Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Five quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. Two hundred credits is a count of two hundred credits and nothing more than that, until you have found on the panel what one credit is worth at the machine you are sitting at.
Where the machines are, and further reading
18+ under each province’s rules · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Resolución 705/13: requisitos para máquinas electrónicas de juegos de azar · Instituto Provincial de Lotería y Casinos de la Provincia de Buenos AiresThe technical rules a machine must meet: independent random draws, no “near miss” tricks, a minimum payout set by law.
- Resolución 00296-P/2023: Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas · Instituto de Juegos y Casinos de Jujuy (InProJuy)Jujuy’s slot-room rules: a theoretical return of at least 90 %, and what a machine must display.
- PAR sheets, probabilities, and slot machine play · Kevin Harrigan and Mike Dixon, Journal of Gambling Issues (2009)What a manufacturer’s PAR sheet says about a machine: how often it pays, how much the payback swings, and the several versions of one game.
- Key terms relating to live return to player performance monitoring of games of chance · UK Gambling CommissionA regulator’s definition of volatility: the standard deviation of the game, and what “very large but rare” and “small and often” prizes mean.
How it's worked out
Numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every machine on this page is a cabinet standing in a room you can walk into. A screen at home multiplies the same three numbers, but it is asked for different things by a different book of rules, and it belongs to a track of its own.
Numbers. Every figure on this page is those three numbers on a panel multiplied together, or that product divided into the money you brought, and every one of them is worked out when the page is built. The hour uses the one pace this page names and no other pace, and it multiplies rather than predicts: an hour of unbroken pressing is the shape of an upper limit, not a description of how anybody actually sits at a machine.
What is deliberately absent. There is no rate of return on this page, no hit frequency, and no figure for how long money lasts at a machine. Each of those three needs something this page does not have, and each of them has a lesson of its own further along the track. What the money you brought buys here is a division — the number of presses it pays for — and never a forecast of an evening.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. A slot machine is played against the house. Reading the panel tells you what a press takes before you pay it; nothing on this page makes that figure smaller, and nothing here says how an evening at a machine would end.
A bigger bet and the rate that comes back
Los requisitos del porcentaje mínimo deberán cumplirse en todo momento.Free translation: The minimum percentage requirements must be met at all times.
Los requisitos del porcentaje mínimo deberán cumplirse cuando se juegue en el extremo inferior de una tabla de pago de pago no lineal (esto es, en caso que una partida se juegue continuamente a un nivel de apuesta mínima durante todo el ciclo de juego y el protocolo en tiempo real teórico sea inferior al porcentaje mínimo, entonces la partida será inaceptable).Free translation: The minimum percentage requirements must be met when playing at the lower end of a non-linear pay table (that is, if a game is played continuously at a minimum bet level throughout the entire game cycle and the theoretical real-time protocol is lower than the minimum percentage, then the game shall be unacceptable).
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
What a credit is, and what a spin is
La apuesta y el premio se representarán en créditos y podrán adquirirse al valor en moneda de curso legal fijado por el opera dor de juego y previamente aprobado por el InProJuy. La carga de los créditos en la máquina y sus premios podrán realizarse “pulsos, "billetes" y/o cualquier otra modalidad previamente autorizada por el Instituto.Free translation: The bet and the prize shall be represented in credits and may be purchased at the value in legal tender set by the gaming operator and previously approved by the InProJuy. Credits may be loaded into the machine, and prizes paid out, by “pulses, "bills" and/or any other method previously authorized by the Institute.
Section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy
La denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Los vidrios de pago o display de vídeo deberán indicar claramente si los premios están designados en unidades de denominación, monedas de curso legal o alguna otra unidad.Free translation: The pay glass or video display must clearly indicate whether prizes are designated in denomination units, legal tender, or some other unit.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
What a credit is, and what a spin is
La apuesta y el premio se representarán en créditos y podrán adquirirse al valor en moneda de curso legal fijado por el opera dor de juego y previamente aprobado por el InProJuy. La carga de los créditos en la máquina y sus premios podrán realizarse “pulsos, "billetes" y/o cualquier otra modalidad previamente autorizada por el Instituto.Free translation: The bet and the prize shall be represented in credits and may be purchased at the value in legal tender set by the gaming operator and previously approved by the InProJuy. Credits may be loaded into the machine, and prizes paid out, by “pulses, "bills" and/or any other method previously authorized by the Institute.
Section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy
La denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Los vidrios de pago o display de vídeo deberán indicar claramente si los premios están designados en unidades de denominación, monedas de curso legal o alguna otra unidad.Free translation: The pay glass or video display must clearly indicate whether prizes are designated in denomination units, legal tender, or some other unit.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
How fast a machine goes
traditional mechanical reel slot machine games, the player can play approximately every 6 s, which is approximately 10 spins per minute, or 600 spins per hour.
What a credit is, and what a spin is
La apuesta y el premio se representarán en créditos y podrán adquirirse al valor en moneda de curso legal fijado por el opera dor de juego y previamente aprobado por el InProJuy. La carga de los créditos en la máquina y sus premios podrán realizarse “pulsos, "billetes" y/o cualquier otra modalidad previamente autorizada por el Instituto.Free translation: The bet and the prize shall be represented in credits and may be purchased at the value in legal tender set by the gaming operator and previously approved by the InProJuy. Credits may be loaded into the machine, and prizes paid out, by “pulses, "bills" and/or any other method previously authorized by the Institute.
Section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy
La denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Los vidrios de pago o display de vídeo deberán indicar claramente si los premios están designados en unidades de denominación, monedas de curso legal o alguna otra unidad.Free translation: The pay glass or video display must clearly indicate whether prizes are designated in denomination units, legal tender, or some other unit.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
A bigger bet and the rate that comes back
Los requisitos del porcentaje mínimo deberán cumplirse en todo momento.Free translation: The minimum percentage requirements must be met at all times.
Los requisitos del porcentaje mínimo deberán cumplirse cuando se juegue en el extremo inferior de una tabla de pago de pago no lineal (esto es, en caso que una partida se juegue continuamente a un nivel de apuesta mínima durante todo el ciclo de juego y el protocolo en tiempo real teórico sea inferior al porcentaje mínimo, entonces la partida será inaceptable).Free translation: The minimum percentage requirements must be met when playing at the lower end of a non-linear pay table (that is, if a game is played continuously at a minimum bet level throughout the entire game cycle and the theoretical real-time protocol is lower than the minimum percentage, then the game shall be unacceptable).
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
What a credit is, and what a spin is
La apuesta y el premio se representarán en créditos y podrán adquirirse al valor en moneda de curso legal fijado por el opera dor de juego y previamente aprobado por el InProJuy. La carga de los créditos en la máquina y sus premios podrán realizarse “pulsos, "billetes" y/o cualquier otra modalidad previamente autorizada por el Instituto.Free translation: The bet and the prize shall be represented in credits and may be purchased at the value in legal tender set by the gaming operator and previously approved by the InProJuy. Credits may be loaded into the machine, and prizes paid out, by “pulses, "bills" and/or any other method previously authorized by the Institute.
Section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy
La denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Los vidrios de pago o display de vídeo deberán indicar claramente si los premios están designados en unidades de denominación, monedas de curso legal o alguna otra unidad.Free translation: The pay glass or video display must clearly indicate whether prizes are designated in denomination units, legal tender, or some other unit.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
What has to be there before a bet
Toda información de las tablas de pago deberá estar accesible para el jugador, antes de que este se comprometa a una apuesta.Free translation: All pay table information must be accessible to the player before the player commits to a bet.
Cada juego que ofrezca características extendidas (Ej. Juegos gratis, giros adicionales, tabla de pago de bonificación durante los próximos N juegos, etc.) deberá mostrar el número de juegos bonificados durante cada jugada.Free translation: Each game that offers extended features (e.g. free games, additional spins, bonus pay table during the next N games, etc.) must show the number of bonus games during each play.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
A tal efecto, cada máquina deberá expresar de manera visible la tabla de ganancias en función de las distintas posibilidades ganadoras, la cantidad de crédito mínimo y máximo aceptado, la cantidad de créditos apostados, conforme lo prevé además el artículo Nº 56, Ante una apuesta ganadora, las máquinas deberán permitir al jugador la opción de percibir el premio o formular nuevas apuestas.Free translation: To that end, each machine must visibly display the table of winnings according to the different winning possibilities, the minimum and maximum amount of credit accepted, and the number of credits wagered, as also provided in article Nº 56. Upon a winning bet, the machines must allow the player the option of collecting the prize or placing new bets.
Deberá informar, además, mediante carteles o avisos ubicados en lugares de fácil visualización, el valor de los créditos, apuesta mínima y máxima y tabla de pago de premios, con sus respectivas combinaciones y la explicación del juego en idioma español y en inglés.Free translation: It must also inform, by means of signs or notices placed in places that are easy to see, the value of the credits, the minimum and maximum bet and the prize pay table, with their respective combinations and the explanation of the game in Spanish and in English.
Section Reglamento de Salas Tragamonedas, InProJuy
Where the odds are written
El saldo actual de crédito del jugador;Free translation: The player's current credit balance;
Todos los posibles resultados ganadores, o estarán disponibles como un ítem del menú o en el menú de ayuda;Free translation: All possible winning outcomes, or they shall be available as a menu item or in the help menu;
La denominación deberá ser claramente mostrada.Free translation: The denomination must be clearly displayed.
Section Requisitos de la máquina de juego, software: reglas de juego, generador de números aleatorios, porcentajes de pago, juegos con bonificación (4-1 a 4-4)
How fast a machine goes
traditional mechanical reel slot machine games, the player can play approximately every 6 s, which is approximately 10 spins per minute, or 600 spins per hour.