Slot Machine Variability
Quote: MonkeyPawI think I understand that slots have an RNG chip that is set to yield a certain payback percentage and that many Casinos set all of their machines to the same percentage and that some mix it up a bit, but that "finding a good machine" in terms of payouts is usually a matter of findng the right property to play at. At least in terms of payout. But my question is: do some machines have greater or lesser levels of volatility (like JOB vs. DDB in VP)? where they have the same ultimate RNG-determined payback percentage as the slots nearby but are pay smaller amounts more frequently or larger amounts more infrequently? If so, can you point me to some machines I could find on the strip that will satisfy my desire for infrequent bigger wins or frequent smaller?
There is a wide range of volatility in slot machines. But, I can't point to specific machines. Essentially, you try different games and you will end up going back to the ones that hooked you with the right amount of volatility.
To vary the volatlity yourself, you can wager fewer lines with more credits bet per line to increase the volatility, or play all lines at a lower wager to reduce it. For instance, on one of my favorite games, Money Storm, you could play 15 lines at a nickel and get the Free Storm Bonus about every 100 games or you could play one line for a dollar and get the bonus about every 1500 games, but the payout would be about 15 times higher.
No it was not a dumb question.Quote: MonkeyPawWas this a dumb question?
There are two aspects to the payback on a game - the first is the house take and the second is the variance. A lower house edge means on average you'll lose less per unit wager (and on a fruit machine, presumably per hour), a larger variance means you're more likely to have bigger wins less often and hence more likely to run out of money faster if you're not lucky enough to get one.
Sometimes all the information is available, such as Blackjack, Roulette, Video poker etc. and you can calculate the various payouts and their probabilities. With fruit machines it isn't so obvious, so you can probably only have an educated guess whether it pays lots of small prizes (e.g. single cherries) or doesn't start paying out until something good happens (e.g. three Bars).
Your question probably asks whether some fruit machines have a lower variance, i.e. you're happy to accept you're bound to lose but want to know whether you get a regular trickle of wins or less often big ones. The former give a better chance of your money lasting longer, although you're more likely to lose in the long term, whereas the former might give a good win but if you don't get one you're likely to lose faster. A comparison might be betting one single number at roulette versus playing dozens.
In essence if the machine seems to be giving lost of small wins, then the variance is low, whereas if it doesn't give anything and then suddenly a nice win then the variance is high. The paytable should be a guide to which of these two it is - but it's only an educated guess.
Mark
Quote: MonkeyPawThanks alot CP that really was a helpful answer. I was hoping that there was some conventional wisdom out there that a particular game - I don't know, say "Blazin' 7s" - was known to be a low variability game, but some other game is high. Or that big video-driven games like Batman are mostly many small pays/few big, but older reel games tend to be higher V. That way I could I could look for specific games by name to fit my mood. Maybe it just doesn't work like that.
I think the paytables and design will be a big indicator. Single-line slots are generally more volatile, with bonus multipliers and high jackpots indicating higher variance. Single-line slots with wilds and moving symbols may be lower variance. Multi-line slots are lower variance.
