Deconstructing Lionfish

In another thread, someone was asking how slot machines determine the win. I've deconstructed slot machines a few times before by logging every sequence of symbols on every reel and then doing the math between the symbol frequency, pay table, and any other pertinent rules. It was a while ago that I did the last one -- Deconstructing Hexbreaker. So, I recently decided to crack a common slot machine game found on many Game Maker machines. The results can be found in my new page:

Deconstructing Lionfish

These deconstructions are quite time consuming so please have a look.

As always, I welcome questions, comments, and especially corrections. The question for the poll is which statements do you agree with? Multiple votes allowed.

Also, what are the symbols in the 2nd and 4th positions on the bottom row in this picture. I call them a sea urchin and a shrimp but they are just educated guesses.



I am also open to ideas of other slots to deconstruct. However, they pretty much can't have free spins, because they usually use separate reel stripping and I would have to play a ridiculous amount of time to get enough bonuses to put them together.

Pretty sure the 4th reel symbol is intended to be a mollusk (shellfish) shell called a nautilus. The coolest thing about a nautilus is that it grows in a spiral, with ever larger chambers spiraling as the mollusk ages, in.proportions that form a fibonacci sequence.

Can't tell what the 2nd symbol is. My guess is red coral.

Quote: Wizard

Also, what are the symbols in the 2nd and 4th positions on the bottom row in this picture. I call them a sea urchin and a shrimp but they are just educated guesses.

The fourth position looks like a Nautilus shell. I can't make out the second position due to the glare, and that the picture doesn't lead to a larger image when I click on it.

A Nautilus


Maybe the image in the second position is a Sea Anemone?

Wizard, I assumed that many of the "themes" (Buffalo, Wolf, Fish, Egypt, Greece, China, etc.) from the same manufacturer are actually the same "game" (maths wise) with different skins on them. Is this so, or is the math behind every "theme" different?

I noticed a small typo in the first paragraph "bound round" instead of "bonus round".

An enjoyable read.

Thanks for the comments thus far. Yes, a nautilus seems pretty obvious for the "shrimp." As for the other, here is a video of the game. It starts by panning over the pay table, where you can see the symbol in question between the starfish and the K.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Wizard, I assumed that many of the "themes" (Buffalo, Wolf, Fish, Egypt, Greece, China, etc.) from the same manufacturer are actually the same "game" (maths wise) with different skins on them. Is this so, or is the math behind every "theme" different?

I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me. I think all those games are known for stacked symbols. Games with stacked symbols are hard to deconstruct because it is hard to tell how many symbols are in a stack without a huge sample size.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Wizard, I assumed that many of the "themes" (Buffalo, Wolf, Fish, Egypt, Greece, China, etc.) from the same manufacturer are actually the same "game" (maths wise) with different skins on them. Is this so, or is the math behind every "theme" different?

For the most part, they have different math, but I'm sure it varies by manufacturer. I know some who love to skin games because they don't have to pay for new math. IGT (they made Lionfish) rarely did any pure skins, with the exception of 3 reel slots.

I'm changing my guess on the reel 2 picture. I think it's a red sea anemone, which is an animal that looks like a flower (hence the name) called a polyp, which is a cousin to coral. It clings to rock or coral and the petals are stinging tentacles that paralyze prey if they brush against it, then guide the disabled prey to the center, which is a mouth.

If you saw Chasing Nemo (you have kids, so you saw it 100 times), clownfish hide in them for protection. The fish has a protective coating that protects them from the stinging toxin, and the anemone eats scraps from the clownfish prey as well as catching their own.

Excellent analysis, Wizard!

Your review of Lion Fish showed a total return of 90.010%.

The Lion Fish settings for Game King 4.3 software include these payback percentages:
97.47%
94.98%
92.53%
90.01%
87.57%