Pokie Machine Terminology Explained

• Strategy
• 19. 08. 2024.
• Marija Misita

Pokies are easy to play. Yet, as a novice, you might need an introduction to the terminology used in these casino games.

Whether you want to become an experienced pokie player or you simply wish to understand how your favourite slot works, you should be familiar with these terms. Hence, we’ve listed all the crucial words and phrases related to slots on this page, along with their meanings.

#

1,024 Ways to Win – A winning system in 5×4 slots where 3 or more matching symbols pay as long as they land on adjacent reels left to right.

243 Ways to Win – A winning mechanics in 5×3 slots where 3 or more identical icons on consecutive reels left to right award a cash prize.

4,096 Ways to Win – A winning system in 6×4 pokies that pays whenever 3 or more symbols of a kind land on neighbouring reels left to right.

3-Reel Slot – A pokie that uses 3 reels.

5-Reel Slot – A pokie with 5 reels.

A

Active Payline – A horizontal line that requires a bet to deliver a payout. Most slots have fixed paylines, meaning they are all active during a spin and a maximum number of coins is required.

Adjustable Paylines – Slots with adjustable paylines allow players to decrease the number of active paying lines, with the number of coins per spin changing accordingly.

All Ways Win Slots – Also known as Ways to Win pokies, these slots have no fixed number of paylines and pay as long as you land matching icons on consecutive reels left to right. In some cases, they pay both ways.

Autoplay – A functionality allowing players to activate a preferred number of autospins and play the game without interruption.

Autospin – Another term for autoplay.

Avalanche Reels – A slot game engine that lets players form multiple wins in a single spin. It removes winning symbols from the reels and allow new ones to drop into empty spots. It’s also known as Cascading Reels, Tumbling Reels or Rolling Reels.

AWP – A British term that stands for Amusement with Prize, often used to describe a fruit machine.

B

Bar – A traditional pokie symbol.

Basic Slots – Slots with a single payline.

Bet – The amount of money you wager per spin.

Bet Level – A number of coins placed per line or spin. It determines the size of the player’s bet and works as a multiplier applied to the coin value.

Max Bet – The maximum amount you can wager per spin.

Min Bet – The minimum amount you can wager per spin.

Bet Per Line – The amount of money players bet per line. When multiplied by the number of active paylines, it determines the total bet value per spin.

Bonus Feature – An additional feature that allows players to win payouts without risking their own money or boosts winning chances and prizes in the base game. It can come in different forms, such as free spins, respins, multipliers, Wilds and more.

Bonus Wheel – A bonus feature that lets players spin a wheel to win a prize. It can award a set of free spins, multiplier, instant cash reward or access to a bonus round.

Branded Slots – Slot games based on famous films, TV shows, board games and other franchises.

Bonus Buy Feature – A feature that allows players to buy their way into a bonus game.

C

Cascading Reels – A feature activated after hitting a winning combination. Winning symbols get removed from the grid, with new ones replacing them to create another opportunity to win. They are also known as Avalanche Reels or Tumbling Reels.

Certified Slots – As the name implies, these are slots that have been certified by a regulatory body as provably fair.

Classic Slots – Traditional slot games that usually have 3 reels and a single payline.

Clusters – A group of symbols that appear next to each other on the grid and deliver payouts in Cluster Pays slots. A minimum number of symbols required for a win varies from game to game. The more symbols in a cluster, the bigger the payout.

Coin – A representation of the money you can wager while playing the game. Coin values can be changed to adjust the bet.

Coin Value – A coin denomination.

Cold Slots – Slots that don’t pay out frequently, also known as tight slots.

Collection Symbols/Feature – Collection symbols are special icons you must land on the reels to gain access to a Collection Feature. Sometimes, you must fill a corresponding metre with them to activate the feature.

D

Demo Game – Also known as demo play or free play, the functionality allows players to see a pokie in action without spending their money. It lets them spin the reels for free and check out the game’s features without claiming any wins.

E

Expanding Reels – A feature that adds extra rows to the grid.

Expanding Wilds – Wild symbols that expand across an entire reel.

F

Feature/Bonus Select – The functionality that lets players choose between different options after triggering the bonus feature.

Five-Liner – A pokie with 3 reels and up to 5 paylines.

Fixed Jackpot – A jackpot prize that pays out a fixed amount of money.

Fixed Paylines – A slot that doesn’t let players choose the number of paylines.

Free Spins – A bonus feature that lets players spin the reels for free.

Fruit Machine – A pokie featuring fruit symbols.

G

Gamble Feature – An extra feature that unlocks after a winning spin and lets you increase your winnings by playing the game of guessing the right outcome. If you fail to guess correctly, you lose your gains.

H

Hit – A winning spin.

High-Value Symbols – Also known as premiums, these are the icons that pay biggest prizes. Sometimes, you may need just 2 of these to create a winning combo.

High Volatility – A low payout frequency, which indicates that a slot can pay higher prizes less frequently. Highly volatile or high variance slots involve higher risk.

Hit Frequency – The probability of hitting a win expressed as a percentage.

Hold Percentage – Another term for a house edge.

Hot Slots – Slots that pay out more frequently.

J

Jackpot – A maximum payout awarded by a pokie.

L

Local Jackpot – A jackpot type where players contribute to its value when playing at a specific online casino.

Locked Reels – Reels that remain in place for another spin, thus providing an additional opportunity to win or trigger a bonus feature.

Low-Value Symbols – Icons that award the smallest payouts. Typically, they are represented by playing cards or suits.

Low Volatility – A high payout frequency in slots, indicating that a game pays smaller prizes, but they land more often.

M

Medium Volatility – A medium payout frequency in slots, indicating a balance between the size of the payouts and how often they land.

Mega Moolah – A progressive slot nicknamed the “million maker” because of multi-million payouts it awarded over the years. It is one of the most popular slots ever made.

Mega Symbol – A block of identical icons that covers several positions in formations like 2×2, 3×3 and so on.

Megaways – A game engine that offers a variable number of symbols per reel, which results in a different number of ways to win on every spin. Created by Big Time Gaming, the Megaways mechanic enables up to 1 million ways to win in some slot games.

Mobile Slots – Slots that can be played on mobile devices.

Multi-Line Slots – Pokies with more than 1 payline.

Multi-Way Slots – Pokies with multiple winning ways.

Multiplier – A bonus feature that multiplies wins by a fixed number.

Mystery Symbol/Feature – A special icon that turns into a randomly chosen symbol in all instances where it lands. Sometimes, it can reveal a Wild or a Scatter symbol.

N

Network Jackpot – The jackpot with a prize pool which increases when players bet on a specific title across the entire network of casinos. Since many players contribute, network jackpots can reach multi-million amounts.

Nudge – A feature that pushes certain symbols up or down to help players create a winning combination or trigger a bonus feature.

O

One-Armed Bandit – A slang term for a pokie originating from mechanical slot machines with a lever pulled to spin the reels.

One-Liner – A pokie with a single payline, where 3 matching symbols are needed to produce a payout.

Online Slots – Video slots played on the internet.

P

Pay Anywhere – A game mechanic letting you create winning combinations by landing a specific number of symbols or matching them in a cluster anywhere on the grid.

Payline – A line across the reels on which symbols must appear to create a winning combination and award a payout.

Paytable – Part of a pokie that shows all the information regarding the gameplay, including symbol values and bonus features. It’s accessed via a button located on the game screen.

Payout – The amount of money players win when creating a specific winning combination.

Payout Percentage – Also known as a return to player or RTP, a rate that indicates how much of the wagered money a player can get back. It is a theoretical value calculated over thousands of spins and doesn’t apply to individual rounds.

Penny Slots – Pokies accepting bets of $0.01 per spin.

Pick-Me Feature – A bonus round where players can choose from multiple items to reveal instant prizes.

Pokie – A New Zealand term for a slot machine.

Progressive Jackpot – A type of jackpot that increases with each bet until it’s won.

Progressive Slot – A pokie that features a progressive jackpot.

R

Random Number Generator – Software that guarantees random outcomes.

Reels – Vertical sections of the grid that contains symbols and spin. Pokies can have 3 or more reels.

Respin – A feature that spins the reels once again after the initial spin has been completed. During a respin, certain icons, such as Wilds, can be locked thus boosting your odds of winning.

RTP – Another term for a payout percentage.

Rows – Horizontal alignments of icons.

S

Scatter – A special symbol that can award payouts and trigger free spins regardless of its position.

Scatter Pay – A game engine that lets you create winning combinations with symbols regardless of their position on the reels as long as a minimum number of icons show up.

Slots – Also known as pokies, slots are casino games with spinning reels that award payouts when matching symbols align in required patterns.

Spin – A rotation of the reels that determines the outcome of a round.

Stacked Symbols – A group of symbols covering a single reel.

Stacked Wilds – A group of Wilds that cover a single reel.

Substitution Symbol – An alternative name for Wild.

Symbol – Icons that appear on the reels to form winning combinations or trigger bonus features.

T

Three-Liner – Typically a 3-reel pokie with 3 paylines.

Tight Slots – Pokies that pay less frequently compared to other slots, also known as cold slots.

Total Bet – The total amount of money a player wagers per spin.

Tumbling Reels – A game engine that makes winning symbols disappear from the reels to make room for new ones, thus allowing players to hit multiple wins within a spin. They are also known as Cascading Reels or Avalanche Reels.

Two-Liner – Classic pokies with 2 paylines.

V

Variance – Variance or volatility indicates how risky a slot game is. Higher volatility means higher risk and higher yet less frequent payouts.

Video Slots – Another term used for pokies, typically used for online slots which, like video games, feature advanced graphics and animations and offer various extras.

Volatility – The same as variance, this term indicates a level of risk built into a pokie.

W

Wager – A bet made on a casino game.

Walking Wild – A symbol that substitutes for other symbols like regular Wild, but moves one position per spin across the reels until it completely disappears from the grid.

Wild – A symbol that replaces other symbols to complete a winning combination.

Wild Multiplier – A Wild symbol that can boost payouts by multiplying their values 2x, 3x, etc.

Win – A payout awarded by a winning combination.

Win Both Ways – The mechanics that lets players create winning combinations left to right and right to left.

Winning Combination – A combination of symbols that delivers a payout.