Bonus is a special feature of the particular game theme, which is activated when certain symbols appear in a winning combination. Several items on the screen are presented to the player to choose. A number of credits is revealed and awarded to the player when items are chosen. A mechanical device, such as a spinning wheel is used by some bonuses. To display the amount won it works in conjunction with the bonus.
Candle is a light on top of the slot machine. It alerts the operator that change is needed, hand pay is requested or there is a potential problem with the machine.
Slot machines in a circle or oval formation are usually called Carousel.
Coin hopper contains the coins that are immediately available for payouts. It rotates coins into the coin tray when a player collects credits. When a certain preset coin capacity is reached, a coin diverter automatically redirects excess coins into a drop bucket, or drop box.
A visual display of the amount of money or credits on the machine is called Credit meter.
Drop bucket or Drop box is used for diverting exess coins from the hopper. It is generally used in low denomination slot machines. And a drop box is used for high denomination slot machines. A drop box contains a hinged lid with one or more locks whereas a drop bucket doesn't contain a lid. The contents of drop buckets and drop boxes are collected and counted by the casino on a scheduled basis.
EGM is a short-hand for Electronic Gaming Machine.
To denote a payout made by a slot attendant or cage, rather than the slot machine the term Hand pay is used. When the amount of the payout exceeds the maximum amount that was preset by the slot machine's operator a hand pay occurs. Usually, the maximum amount is set at the level where the operator must begin to deduct taxes. A hand pay can also be a result of a short pay.
There is Hopper fill used to record the replenishments of the coin in the coin hopper after it becomes depleted as a result of making payouts to players. The slip indicates the amount of coins placed into the hoppers, the signatures of the employees involved in the transaction, the slot machine number and the location and the date.
Low Level or Slant Top slot machines are equipped with a stool for you to sit and play. You can only stand playing Stand Up or Upright slot machines.
The term Optimal play is used to denote a payback percentage based on a gambler using the optimal strategy in a skill-based slot machine game.
A straight or zigzagged line that crosses through one symbol on each reel, along which a winning combination is evaluated is called Payline. Classic spinning reel machines usually have up to nine pay lines, while video slot machines may have as many as one hundred.
The term Rollup is used to mean the process of dramatizing a win by playing sounds while the meters count up to the amount that has been won.
Short pay refers to a partial payout made by a slot machine, which is less than the amount due to the player. It can happen if the coin hopper has been depleted as a result of making earlier payouts to players. An attendant will come and re-fill the machine or the remaining amount will be paid as a hand pay.
Theoretical Hold Worksheet is a document provided by the manufacturer for all slot machines. It indicates the theoretical percentage that the slot machine should hold based on adequate levels of coin-in. The worksheet also indicates the reel strip settings, number of coins that may be played, the payout schedule, the number of reels and other information.
Weight count is an American term, referring to the dollar amount of coins or tokens removed from a slot machine's drop bucket or drop box and counted by the casino's hard count team through the use of a weigh scale.

There are a lot of myths and superstitions about slots.
You can spot a winning slot machine.
The only way you'll spot a winning slot machine is when the bells are ringing and the money is dropping. Slot machines use random numbergenerator and that's exactly that. Random.
Casinos place loose slots near the cashier, aisle ways, etc.
In reality it is not to casino’s advantage to place loose slots at one and the same place, because in this case gamblers would play only these slots. The slots are mixed and nobody can say for sure whether this slot is a loose one or not.
Count the number of symbols on the reels to determine your odds.
This is mathematically impossible, remember the RNG (random number generator) determines the stops. Thereare literally millions of combinations on a 3 reel slot machine, so there is no way of determining odds by the symbols on the reels alone.
Casinos can tighten or loosen slot machines from the back office.
In order to change how a slot willpay out is by changing the computer chip. No casino can just flip a switch.
A slot machine that has not been paying is due to hit.
It is not so. With every game the chances of winning are the same.
Pulling the slot machine handle produces more wins than pressing the spin button and visa versa.
It is also a mistake. These things are only mechanisms for beginning the game. The machine knows whether you win or lose before the symbols begin to stop.
Playing with hot coins improves your chances.
It is false. Nothing can affect the outcome, the machine doesn’t care and doesn’t know whether your coins are cold or hot.
Casinos set slot machines to payback more on the weekends.
Wrong again. Your odds of winning are the same no matter if it's 4:00pm Monday, 8:00pm Saturday or 3:00am Wednesday. Casinos can not and do not do this.

Slots Rules: Understanding the rules of the game is always important, no matter what game you are playing. With slots the rules are very simple: Read the payout chart, insert coins, push button, (or pull handle), insert more coins. If the bells ring and lights flash, open up your pocketbook because you are in the money! Enjoy, but never gamble with more money than you can afford to lose.
Rules for playing Slots
Only slots have so simple rules. In fact it is so because there are no rules at all. All the player has to do is drop coins in the slot and pull the handle or push the spin button. The main objective is to match certain symbols on the paylines. But the player can do nothing to affect this. Slots machines have different betting limits. They can be as low as 5 cents and as high as 0.
Especially beginners like slots. They don't have to worry about rules and regulations, or being laughed at by the other players for making a bad play, all they have to do is try to hit the jackpot by matching the highest paying symbols on one of the pay lines.

It is true that slots are designed to be honest and not to deceive a player. What you can really doubt is the honesty of some manufactures.
In the old days, slot machines worked mechanically, with independent wheels spinning until they each stopped randomly. Modern slot machines differ form the old ones greatly. There is a chip inside of every slot machine, this chip is programmed to select numbers randomly. After selecting a number a corresponding symbol appear on the screen. There is a computer code. It generates the random numbers and determines whether the slot machine is loose or tight. The gaming inspector will examine the machine to make sure it will not deceive the player. The machine has to pay out either to the legal rate or better. Of course the latter happens very seldom.
It is next to impossible to say whether the chip is programmed not in a right way because the machine is not supposed to pay out with every spin. Before the machines are installed in casinos they are examined by inspectors. But you must understand that inspectors can’t examine every machine. They examine the brands. In the case of the approval of the brand the manufactures can produce the slot machines, even change them if it doesn’t go out legal bounds. Using their right to produce slot machines they insert different chips, which makes the machine pay less.
For example, the Nevada Gaming Commission caught American Coin using chips that did not allow poker royal flushes. Similarly, Universal Distributing Company was caught programming machines to show a “near miss” of a jackpot. One the one hand the machine would never have a jackpot and the player would keep on playing. If you think that you have come across such a machine you have a right to complain. In the case if the complaint the inspectors will visir the casino and check whether the machines have a legal chip. Manufacturers that cheat are fined or they can lose their license.

Meet the man who beat the slots.
It is not a secret that it is next to impossible to cheat a slot machine. But do you know that Tommy Glenn Carmichael managed to improve the payout of the machine to his benefit.
Tommy is now 53 and he can be said to have spent all his life inventing different devices to cheat slot machines. His first device was a kind of a top-button joint. By the way, for this device he was sent to prison. After the release Tommy began to invent new kinds of devices for cheating slot machines. His next invention was a slider, a guitar wire. He inserted it into the machine, which released coins form the hopper.
When the slots were computerized he needed a new tool. In some way he managed to fool the manufacture who showed him the inner construction of a slot machine. It was enough to learn everything that he wanted. His new inventions was a light want that blinded the sensor of the slot machine and as a result got winnings. Other gamblers liked his invention and he had a lot of customers, which allowed him to earn up to ,000 a day. Now he could afford the most expensive cars and several houses.
But as known good things can’t last forever. While using his devise Tommy was caught by the police. While charges from that incident were later dropped, he was caught under similar circumstances in Laughlin and later Atlantic City. By that time the police already have all necessary clues to prove that Tommy was guilty. He got three years’ probation and lost everything that he had bought before. He has been banned from entering any casino.