Can You Explain the Growing Number of Bonus Slots?

A growing number of slot machines use the same concept of visually adding to something (fish, pigs, bowls, etc.), triggering the bonus once full. As slot machines are based on random number generators where prior spins have no impact on the current spin, are these machines really just new gimmicks to entice customers to continue playing in hopes of hitting the bonus? Or is there some correlation between past and future spins? I think it is a gimmick given that bonuses are sometimes given on even relatively empty items.

[Editor's Note: This QoD allows us to introduce our new slot expert, Ben Rosenthal. Ben's full-time job is "grinding" bonus slots or, in technical terms, exploiting “variable state” or “accumulator” machines, in which the games are abandoned by unknowledgeable players while they’re in a “state” to return more than 100%. Ben is among a new breed of slot APs and his book, soon to be published by us, is tentatively titled Breaking the Slot Code -- Beat the Machines through Advantage Play. In this answer, Ben explains that these accumulator machines are anything but a gimmick, as long as you know exactly what you're doing.]

Excellent observation and question, though the "once-full" aspect isn't always what we're looking for.

Yes, the "pigs" example is as straightforward as you suggest, in a popular game called Rich Little Piggies, where the blue pig is the only one of the three you should focus on. But some slot machines display, for example, various bowls that fill up with coins that have no bearing on how close you are to triggering a bonus. In fact, if you click on the rules tab of the slot machine, you can sometimes see that in writing.

Still, you're on the right track. A growing number of slots, considered advantage-play machines, can and do reach a point in their cycles at which they provide a positive return to the player. A number of APs seek out such machines and carve out a living for themselves, playing them at optimal times. I should know. I do this myself all over the country and on cruise ships.

Often, the first question someone asks me is, why would any casino allow something like this to happen? The short answer is these types of machines will still provide the casino with the same return as any other over a large sample. These AP machines have also proved more effective at prying money from the player base than your run-of-the-mill one-armed bandit.

An example I like to give is Ocean Magic, one of the earliest of the AP machines. As you note in your first sentence, some spins will provide that visual cue: bubbles, in this case. If you have a bubble on the screen in any of the first three columns — as long as it's not at the top of the reels — the game is in an "advantage state." The more bubbles you have, the greater the advantage, but all you need is one in the first three reels for the edge. Now, you can still lose on some spins when the game is positive, just like you can win on spins when the machine is in a negative state, but you'll come out ahead when your "sample size" grows, i.e., play more and more games when they're positive.

With Ocean Magic and all advantage-play machines, the trick is this: You need to be a finder, not a builder. If you use your own money to "build" a machine into advantage-play territory, you'll lose long term. That's why if you're observant, you might have noticed people in a casino bouncing from machine to machine, clicking a few buttons before moving on. They aren't doing that randomly; they're looking for advantage plays and leaving if the machine isn't at a favorable point in its build.

Yes, all machines of the past were "based on random number generators where prior spins have no impact on the current spin." But slot manufacturers correctly reasoned they could shear the player sheep a little more with these newer slots, where even a novice gambler can see they're progressing toward something, with each spin the continuation of the one prior.

To hopefully clear one thing up, it's not always a bonus at the end of the rainbow when I'm getting ready to play a machine. Sure, sometimes the bonus is the only thing I'm chasing on a particular machine, such as with Regal Riches or Prosperity Pearl. If I get exceedingly lucky and hit a bonus, that's great. But it's not the game plan going in and I'm no more likely to get a bonus on a favorable slot screen than a dry one for that AP machine and many others. To go back to our Ocean Magic example, I usually play it for just a few spins in the base game, hoping to net a bit of a profit.

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Comments

sjritt00 Oct-18-2024

Might Lose Comps

I saw the other day where one of the big Strip chains (MGM?) sent out notices to identified AP slot players restricting their comps.  Might be a sign of things to come?

O2bnVegas Oct-18-2024

Dragon Link machines

A buddy of my BFF told her to look for the Minor bonus having already reset after hit(s).  In his opinion (and I think it has been discussed here) the Major jackpot (of the Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand) has a good chance of hitting. So the last trip she lost her day 1 budget scouting those out (and she plays high), never hit. She hits all the time, really, but that day the strategy didn't work for her.

Candy

Candy

O2bnVegas Oct-18-2024

Jackpot Party

I miss the "yoooo hoooo" that Jackpot Party used to call out randomly as people walked by, even when not being played.  That was years ago for sure.  Lately I think I've seen a newer version of Jackpot Party or something close to it, but no yoooo hoooo.  Boooo hoooo, we liked it calling to us...LOL.  Though it never tempted is to play the machine.

Candy

David Sabo Oct-18-2024

WRONG!!

AP Machines have been around for a very long time. Fort Know and Wild Cherry were some early titles andvthey were decades before Ocean Magic. In fact. Charles "safety pin" Lund wrote the original AP Books.The both were basically called Robbing the one arm bandits. Granted, Huntington Press didn't publish either book but acting like this is breaking new ground is pure poppy cock.

David Sabo Oct-18-2024

Correction

Fort Knox not Fort Know

Anthony Curtis Oct-19-2024

Poppycock?

I continue to be amazed by the statements of some who seem to live to find fault. Where, in any part of this answer, do we claim to be "breaking new ground"? Lund self-published Advantageous Slot Machines in 1998 and it did, indeed, inform on how to play several advantage play slots. We give Lund full credit for this in our book. But what does that have to do with this answer?

Ben Rosenthal Oct-19-2024

'AP Machines have been around for a very long time'

You are right that a few have, and perhaps I could have noted that. But the vast majority of them have come out within the last five years, and Ocean Magic was one of those early ones in that "second wave" if you want to call it that.

Ben Rosenthal Oct-19-2024

AP Machines

"Some" instead of "a few."

David Sabo Oct-21-2024

My reply to AC

"An example I like to give is Ocean Magic, one of the earliest of the AP machines." Sorry AC but this is simply not true and by definition is poppycock. Poppycock means nonsense and this statement is nonsense. Ocean Magic is a video slot from the IGT portfolio. It was launched in 2019. It is not an early AP game. I can't remember the really early titles but Piggy Bankin' was launched in 1995 by Williams. Fort Knox was launched by Silicon Gaming in 1996 in their high tech Odyssey game cabinet which also contained the AP games, Lady of Fortune, Riddle of the Sphinx, and Buccaneer Gold. 
Charles Lund's first book was actually published on January 1 1999. I always thought the book was published by Rge publishing but since you are claiming it was self published I must be wrong.
Sorry but when I see glaring errors I reserve the right to state my opinion. Big timing and intimidation techniques will not silence the truth. Sorry. Your readers would prefer to have factual information.

Ben Rosenthal Oct-21-2024

Ocean Magic Reply

I agree with what you're writing, David. I should have tweaked this line: "An example I like to give is Ocean Magic, one of the earliest of the AP machines." It was not one of the earliest AP machines, but the point I'm going for is it's one of the earliest AP games you'll actually find these days with any regularity. The ones you list from the '90s would be exceedingly rare to come across these days. This article sums up what I should have noted above: "Advantage slot play would not be possible without the presence of persistence games, which are machines that, as their name suggests, reward extended play with the increased prospect of riches. While these types of machines first appeared on casino floors in the mid-‘90s, they vanished for a while and didn’t catch on en masse until about five years ago." https://www.usbets.com/is-there-really-advantage-slot-player/ Anyway, I appreciate the comments, and thanks for keeping me honest!

David Sabo Oct-21-2024

Thanks Ben

I appreciate your comments. I also commend you for not making them personal or attacking. I now fully understand what you were trying to say. AP banking games never really vanished completely. There were always some of them out there. NYNY used to have a small bank of giant King Kong games that were fun. They vanished during the pandemic. Golden Egypt is still around and actually quite easy to find. Golden Egypt has been earning money for IGT since it's October 2017 launch. Konami's Rock Around the Clock is still around and it was launched at G2E in 2010. I could go on and on but I think you can see that AP banking games have been around non stop for a very long time. I especially liked that you made the change in your comment from a "few" to "some" in your comment. The definition of some is an unspecified amount of! Very clever!! At least you now know Ben that somebody is actually reading your answer. I personally wept like a child when all the skill based slot machines were removed.

Ben Rosenthal Oct-22-2024

Golden Egypt

Golden Egypt would have been another great example of an advantage game in that second wave that you'll see all over the place. I never got a chance to play King Kong or Rock Around the Clock. I did look up a few videos of Rock Around the Clock, and it looks fun! It's possible I walked by it without noticing it too. The skill-based slot machines were just before my time, but I heard some epic stories about them. Keep the comments coming! There should be future posts on the subject.

Question of the Day - 18 October 2024

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