Slot Machines: What Makes Them Tick?

Slot machines are just about the only game machine invented by man that has become so popular across so many different cultures and people of all walks of life living in different countries throughout the world. It is interesting to see how such a widely popular machine could be so enigmatic to so many of its players.

So many myths, beliefs, superstitions and misconceptions abound about how slot machines really work and why they give off a shower of coins to the lucky player. Some people yank so hard on the lever almost pulling it off its socket; some, for unexplainable reasons wear surgical latex gloves while pulling on the handle; some give the machine a good smack just before its reels stop spinning; some players feed the machine ice-cold coins; and, still some heat up the coin with a cigarette lighter before dropping it in. If you are a slots fanatic, read on to destroy your silly misconceptions about slot machines before you get prosecuted for wantonly destroying one.

Today's third generation of slot machines is a computerized version of yesterday's mechanical slots. Their computerized brain lies in a micro chip that controls the other parts of the machine like the reels, coin hopper, bill and coin reader, etc. It houses a simple software called a Random Number Generator, or RNG that churns out random numbers every nanosecond non-stop even while the machine is not being played so long as the slot machine's power is turned on.

The RNG chooses the random number at the precise moment when you pull on the lever or hit the spin button and your winning destiny is decided right there and then. The reels, which are only for show to simulate the slot machines of yesteryears, are then instructed by the computer chip to stop at the reel combination corresponding to the chosen random number. That's why you don't have to feel bad when the person who took your seat hit the pot when you went on a bathroom break. To win the pot, assuming you didn't leave the slot machine, would have required you to hit the spin button at the precise nanosecond that he did when he won.

While it has a computer brain, the slot machine has no logical reasoning or artificial intelligence that would enable it to remember past events and accordingly change its present and future course of events. Simply stated, it does not remember that you had just won the jackpot a minute ago so that it should start tightening up for the next tens days or so, or that you've had a losing streak for the last hour and that it should start giving you a few small payouts. The slot machine is nothing of that sort.

Its past events are completely random and are independent from present and future events such that it could give out a jackpot five times in a row or give no payout at all for the next ten days. Anything is just possible with the random number generator. In the same token, there is nothing you could do to influence the outcome of the random numbers. You could pull on the lever, hit the spin button, feed hot or cold coins, slap or caress the machine all day, but in the end it's the RNG that will decide your fate.