Are Slot Machines the Way to Go?

By John Grochowski on Tuesday March 9, 2010

gaming, slot-machines

Slot machines are the most popular games in today’s casinos, and also the easiest to play. But even slot machines require a little attention if you’re going to get the most for your money. You’ll find information painted on the machine glass on reel-spinning games or on the help menu on video games that can help you avoid some costly mistakes.

I once saw a woman land three, jackpot symbols on the payline of a slot machine, then kind with three mechanical reels and a single payline across the center. She screamed, her friends jumped around her … and nothing happened. No lights, no bells and whistles, no payoffs. On the machine she was playing, the jackpot symbols weren’t activated unless three coins were wagered. She’d bet only one coin. It was just another losing spin.

In the slot machine industry, such machines are called “buy-a-pays.” They’re designed to induce you to bet maximum coins. On three-reel games with three-coin maximum bets, you might find the first coin making you eligible for payoffs on bar symbols, the second adding the 7s, and the third making you eligible for a progressive jackpot.

It’s a format that has been used successfully for more than 30 years by Bally’s Blazing 7s slots. It’s designed as a rapid-hit progressive — the progressive jackpots are smaller than on many games but hit fairly often on Blazing 7s, so fans of the game bet the max and hope for the big one.

Playing the game with minimum bets, though, is not the way to go. If you’re going to play, you want to be eligible for the best the game has to offer.

If you want to make smaller wagers, choose a different game.