How Do Pokies Work? The Mathematics Behind Online Pokies
Pokies (or slots) remain the single-most popular casino game in the world, and you’ll find them everywhere, from land-based casinos and arcades to, of course, online casinos. With so much of our lives centered around technology, it’s easy to take for granted things like pokies – and they’ve come a long way since the early days of one-armed-bandits you’d see in petrol stations around Las Vegas!
Today, pokies are very technical pieces of software, with built-in mathematical reel-sets, volatility models, RTPs, to ensure fairness and randomness. Whether you play them at the casino around the block or play online pokies in New Zealand with real money, understanding the mechanics behind them enables the player to make informed decisions.
How Do Pokies Work?
Inside every pokie machine lies a random number generator – also known as a RNG. This is a very advanced piece of software that generates millions of random numbers every second – and when the player playing a pokie presses the “spin” button, the RNG pauses at a particular point – and the result is then displayed on the screen. This is the exact process that makes every pokies spin 100% independent from the last – and it’s also how casinos and software providers ensure that there’s no way to predict or exploit a pokie.
Of course, that’s just a surface-level introduction of how it works – but let’s dig a bit deeper. Where it gets interesting is that every mixture of the symbols on the reels is assigned a value in the RNG system. When the reels stop, the pokie simply identifies what mix it was – and whether that mix is a winning combo or not. The machine then displays a visual animation, which you see as the reels spinning – but in reality, the result of that round has already been decided.
Another thing to understand is Return to Player – RTP, for short. This is a percentage figure that shows the theoretical amount of money that will be returned to players in the long run.
Symbols and Paylines
When you play pokies online, you’ll see usually one of two things: either, the slot uses old-school imagery – think bells, cherries, BARs, Red 7s, and so on. In other cases, the symbols are theme-specific; for example, if the game was Egyptian-inspired, it may have ancient books, a shinx, an anubis, and so on. Usually, you need to line up a certain number of these symbols to form a win – but that’s assuming the game’s a payline slot. The main types include:
- Paylines: These are the classic setup, and you form wins by landing matching symbols on fixed patterns – patterns that run across the reels. There can be as few as one payline, up to 100 in modern day pokies.
- Ways to Win: Often seen as 243-ways-to-win, 1024-ways-to-win, or 4,096-ways-to-win, ways-to-win games do away with paylines entirely. Instead of needing to land symbols on a matching line, you, instead, simply need to land (usually) 3+ symbols on adjacent reels, from left to right.
- Cluster Pays: In cluster pays slots, symbols can land anywhere – as long as they are ‘touched’ by 5 or 6 others. So, you form wins by landing clusters – and the larger the cluster (usually) means the larger the win.
- Scatter Pays: In scatter pays slots, the symbols can land anywhere; the only thing that matters is the number of symbols in view.
Pokies Bonus Rounds
Bonus rounds are hugely important in modern day pokies, and they form pretty much the core backbone behind what makes slots so much fun to play. Whether it’s free spins or Respins, to progressive jackpots, there’s a huge variety of bonuses today – and I’ll walk you through some of the most common ones below:
- Free Spins: This is by far the most common type of bonus, and you usually trigger it by landing 3+ Scatter symbols anywhere in view on the screen. Once you do, the game gives you a set number of – free games – that don’t cost you anything. Plus, in a lot of pokies, there are special enhancements during the free spins – which can include multipliers, expanding wilds, sticky wilds, symbol upgrades, or even extra reels.
- Pick-and-Click Bonus: Another pretty common type of feature is a “Pick me Bonus” – and interactive round where you choose from hidden objects/symbols on the screen. Each pick can reveal a prize, multiplier, jackpot – or even entry into another bonus round – like free games.
- Respins: A re-spin feature gives you another spin (or spins) under special conditions; often with certain reels or symbols locked in place. Respin features are more common during the base game rather than as a standalone feature – but they can appear during Free Spins bonuses, too.
- Wheel Bonuses: Some pokies trigger a prize wheel – think Jackpot of Fortune – and this wheel then spins to determine your prize. Depending on the game, this wheel could award cash prizes, multipliers, jackpots – or entry into other features. Some games have higher-tier wheels, too, which bigger prizes.
- Hold and Win Bonus: This is one of the most common types of bonus formats found in newer online pokies, and usually you need to land a certain number of special symbols or scatters to trigger it. Once activated, those special symbols typically lock in place, and most of the time they contain cash values. You usually get three re-spins, and at any time a new cash symbol lands, it locks in place and resets the re-spin counter back to three. This process continues until you either fill the screen or run out of re-spins.
Now, that’s just a very brief overview of the bonuses and features found in online slots today. It’s pretty hard to do a definitive list, because every software provider offers something new – and today, bonuses are more complex than ever! Still, it’s a fairly good overview – and you’ll recognise the above mechanics in a lot of online pokies today.
The Mathematics Behind Pokies: Volatility and RTP
If you want to understand how a pokie actually plays before you spend any money on it, the two most useful things to check are RTP and volatility – things every pokie is designed around.
RTP, or return to player, is the theoretical percentage of wagered money a game is expected to pay back over a long period of time – RTPs are calculated over millions or, sometimes, billions of spins. If a pokie has an RTP of 96%, for example, it will, on average, pay back $96 for every $100 wagered; however, this figure is calculated over millions or billions of spins – and doesn’t guarantee anything in the short or even mid-term.
Volatility, on the other hand, tells you how a game tends to distribute those wins. A low-variance game will tend to produce lots of small, frequent wins, while a high variance game offers rarer – but larger – average wins. Neither style is better, necessarily, and it all just comes down to what you, as a player, actually want from a game.
Online Pokies vs. Land-Based Machines
At their core, online pokies and land-based machines work in a pretty similar way, and both rely on random number generators to determine their results. Both are also designed around the basic principles of RTP, volatility, and reel outcomes – details of which we covered earlier. Where online pokies tend to differ a lot is in their variety.
A physical pokie machine has, quite clearly, lots of limitations. It needs to fit inside a cabinet, work with fixed hardware, and appeal to as many players as possible – and online pokies just don’t have the same restraints. They’re much cheaper to produce, and software providers can, essentially, create one game, and just give it an unlimited number of skins – themes, if you will.
This is also why online pokies tend to feel so much more… dynamic. You’ll often see cinematic intros, feature-heavy bonuses, ways-to-win, jackpot mechanics, and more – and this is just because these mechanics don’t tend to translate as well to traditional machines.
How Modern Pokies Keep Evolving
Pokies have changed a heck of a lot over the years, and they’re no longer just simple reel-spinners with a few classic symbols and the occasional free spins round. Today, online pokies are built for mobile play, using HTML5 technology, and this means you can expect faster loading times, and more exciting gameplay. Instead of just competing on themes, developers are also now forced to experiment with mechanics – and we’ve seen that from studios like Big Time Gaming (BTG) with their Megaways mechanic, and ReelPlay with their Infinity Ways.
Some slots use cluster or scatter pays mechanics, others offer progress-based bonuses, and some even have incorporated gambling elements into the games – although these are restricted in some markets.
At the same time, developers are constantly trying to make games look and feel better – because better sound design, smoother animations, and faster mobile loading speeds is what actually helps to make the games appeal to players – and is what gets online casinos to feature the pokies in their lobbies!
What all of this means, essentially, is that modern pokies are a LOT more varied than they used to be. Sure, two games might have the same RTP – on paper – but they can still end up feeling totally difference once you begin to actually play them!
Are Pokies Fair?
This is one of the biggest questions players have, especially online, and the answer – provided you’re playing at a reputable online casino – is yes. When you play online pokies, every spin is totally random, and there’s simply no way for a casino to decide that you’re “due a loss” – pokies also can’t “go cold” because you hit a big win; every single spin is determined by the random number generator.
That said, fairness depends heavily on where you are playing, and a trustworthy online casino will only ever offer games from certified and licensed studios – think along the lines of Nolimit City, Hacksaw Gaming, Blueprint Gaming, Microgaming, Elk Studios, Pragmatic Play, and Push Gaming. Alongside that, all games also have to be tested and certified – and this is done by independent testing labs like as eCOGRA, iTech Labs, or GLI.
Choosing the Right Pokies to Play
The reality is there is no single best pokie for everyone, and a game that suits one player might be a totally wrong choice for another. The better approach is probably to think about what you actually want from the game. If, for example, you want longer playing sessions and more frequent small wins, look for games with a lower volatility profile. If you’re on the hunt for bigger bonus rounds and don’t mind more risk, then high variance titles will probably suit you much better.
You should also have a think about things like theme, bonus features, and max win potential, as these all have an impact on how the game feels and performs for you.
One of the best things you can do is try out pokies in demo mode, too. Most online casinos offer this, and it means you can play a slot for as many spins as you like, without having to use real money. If you decide you like the game, you can then register an account and make a deposit to play for real!
Final Thoughts
Pokies may look simple on the surface, but there is a lot going on underneath – and the developers and mathematicians who actually make pokies are incredibly skilled; some studios higher some of the top computer science engineers – that’s how technical developing pokies can be!. Every game is built around a lot of moving parts, from the actual mathematics, to the user interface, bonus rounds, mechanics, and more – and understand the basics, especially RTPs and volatility, can help to give you a much clearer picture of what to expect when you actually begin playing.
And, that, for me, is the most important thing – because tech-aside, the thing we, as players, care most about is having fun – and enjoy ourselves, right? That’s why I like to know how a pokie works – because it lets me get a feel for how things actually are when I’m playing – and I love exploring casino lobbies, trying out new games – and crossing my fingers in the hopes of a good win!
References
- DashTickets. Pokies in New Zealand. Retrieved from https://rating.dashtickets.nz/pokies/
- Department of Internal Affairs (June 2016). Discussion Document: Review of Class 4 Gambling [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.ttcfltd.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Class-4-review-discussion-document-2016.pdf
- Harrigan, K. (2015). Ontario Canada. Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation [Film].
- Productivity Commission (1999). Australia’s Gambling Industries, report No. 10.
- Department of Internal Affairs. Gambling Legislation Laws. Retrieved from https://www.dia.govt.nz/Gambling-legislation-laws
- GambleAware NSW. Retrieved from https://www.gambleaware.nsw.gov.au/learn-about-gambling/how-gambling-works/poker-machines
- Gambling Watch NZ. Retrieved from https://www.gamblingwatch.org.nz/pokies-know-the-facts-before-you-spin/
- eCOGRA. Retrieved from https://www.ecogra.org/
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