Slot payouts based on previous spins

I was playing the Game of Life slot at Mohegan Sun the other day, and was curious about one element of its payouts. The game features "life tokens" that are awarded on some spins, and that change the payouts, as follows:

1) Certain symbol combinations on the reels cause those "life token" counters to increase. The amount of the increase is multiplied by the current bet amount. The game requires all paylines to be played at the same time.
2) Some symbol groups have their payouts increased based on the value of those counters. The base pay amount is not changed, but an amount is added equal to the value of the counters.
3) A third set of symbols causes all of the counters to reset to zero.

So I actually think that the house edge on this game is dependent on ones betting style. Since the counters are reset on any spin matching combination (3) above, regardless of bet, and since the increased payout in (2) is based on the bet amount from previous spins that hit (1), it seems to me that it would be advantageous to make larger bets when the values of the counters are low, to get the counters to increase as quickly as possible, then reduce one's bet size to try to minimize the amount bet while trying to maximize the number of times you hit (2) before hitting (3) at which point the counters reset to zero and you start over. In this way, you'd get the reward from the previous larger bet sizes more times while risking less.

According to the game's pay table, if you cash out while the value of the counters are above zero, it will add a bonus amount to your payout based on their value, that is "less than their expected value in-game."

I don't remember the exact multiplier amounts so I haven't tried to write a simulation of different betting styles for this, but I might try to make one this weekend to see if a betting strategy described above has a different house edge than flat-betting. Any thoughts?

Quote: pianojosh

it would be advantageous to make larger bets when the values of the counters are low, to get the counters to increase as quickly as possible, then reduce one's bet

Any thoughts?

I think that many of the slot machines with stuff "on the side" reset the side meters when the bet size changes.

Quote: Dieter

I think that many of the slot machines with stuff "on the side" reset the side meters when the bet size changes.

I tested that. They did not reset, and I confirmed that their values did not change when I changed by bet size either. The amount they changed based on (1) did indeed scale with bet size, as did the resulting payouts in (2).

If you scroll through the rules screens, it's probably written somewhere that you are more likely to hit the paying combo if you bet more. That's how most of these work.

Quote: AxiomOfChoice

If you scroll through the rules screens, it's probably written somewhere that you are more likely to hit the paying combo if you bet more. That's how most of these work.

Interesting possibility. Would that fly in Nevada? Mohegan is in CT, and is a Native American casino, so I'm sure they are free of some of Nevada's strict rules anyhow. Next time I'm there, if the machine is still there, I'll take a closer look at the rules screens and see if I can find that.

Quote: pianojosh

So I actually think that the house edge on this game is dependent on ones betting style. Since the counters are reset on any spin matching combination (3) above, regardless of bet, and since the increased payout in (2) is based on the bet amount from previous spins that hit (1), it seems to me that it would be advantageous to make larger bets when the values of the counters are low, to get the counters to increase as quickly as possible, then reduce one's bet size to try to minimize the amount bet while trying to maximize the number of times you hit (2) before hitting (3) at which point the counters reset to zero and you start over. In this way, you'd get the reward from the previous larger bet sizes more times while risking less.

I'm not sure I follow your logic here. If you have "bonus payouts eligible" wouldn't you want to bet maximum in order to maximize your bonus payout? Like if these bonuses increase your payback by 10% wouldn't you rather that be 10% of $4 instead of 10% of $.40?

Also I don't understand why you think reducing your bet size would maximize the number of times you hit (2) before hitting (3) unless you're talking about running out of money. It doesn't change the frequency of (3) occurring.

In fact there is added incentive to bet max and spin fast - you can get your game of life multiplier up to 40X. If you were to simply bet max but not at a fast pace your multiplier would be 10X. If you were to bet minimum at a slow pace your multiplier would be 1X.

But even with all that I doubt there's any edge available on this game.

Quote: pianojosh

Interesting possibility. Would that fly in Nevada? Mohegan is in CT, and is a Native American casino, so I'm sure they are free of some of Nevada's strict rules anyhow. Next time I'm there, if the machine is still there, I'll take a closer look at the rules screens and see if I can find that.

it seems unlikely that the manufacturer would spend the time and energy to make different versions for different markets. I think there's usually just a handful of available payback percentages, and the casino's control is limited to picking the percentage that they want to use.

Quote: BTLWI

But even with all that I doubt there's any edge available on this game.

You hit it there, it is a licensed game that factors all of this into the final payout. There may be slight changed based on betting patterns, but nothing that would get it above 90% in my opinion.

Quote: BTLWI

I'm not sure I follow your logic here. If you have "bonus payouts eligible" wouldn't you want to bet maximum in order to maximize your bonus payout? Like if these bonuses increase your payback by 10% wouldn't you rather that be 10% of $4 instead of 10% of $.40?

Also I don't understand why you think reducing your bet size would maximize the number of times you hit (2) before hitting (3) unless you're talking about running out of money. It doesn't change the frequency of (3) occurring.

In fact there is added incentive to bet max and spin fast - you can get your game of life multiplier up to 40X. If you were to simply bet max but not at a fast pace your multiplier would be 10X. If you were to bet minimum at a slow pace your multiplier would be 1X.

But even with all that I doubt there's any edge available on this game.

Sorry, should have been more clear, the bonuses are a *fixed* amount. That fixed amount is higher or lower based on the bet on the previous spin that caused the bonus reel to tick up, but when you hit it the symbol combination that triggers it, it pays out a fixed amount based on the bonus reel value, regardless of the bet on the current spin.