Regular readers know that the pots, bags, firecrackers don’t matter when it comes to how full they are. A reader asks a question that aims to go a step further:
Are there any fill the pot slot machines where it makes a difference if the “pot” is really full, or is all just random?
Lou S.
We’re not aware of any slots where the fullness of the pot offers any indication as to how close a bonus is. The psychology of some players is that a machine must be “due” to hit because of how full the pots are, but instead it’s “perceived persistence,” meaning they don’t actually offer any visual help as to whether a slot is due to hit.
Instead, it’s more likely to be an indicator of how long it’s been since the last bonus, but since the outcome of any slot spin is random, the odds of that next spin awarding the bonus is the same, even if the last 100 or 1,000 did not. In that way it’s not unlike the roulette outcome board showing the most recent spin results – it acts as helpful information but it isn’t.
The only time where the fullness of the pots offer information is when it’s connected to counters that grow over time, and with that growth the potential for extra value. This could be the number of wilds awarded during a bonus, or a multiplier when a certain symbol is involved in a bonus round win.
While this information can’t help you know when a bonus will happen (that’s still random), they are similar to progressives that if you’re going to pick a machine and there’s one machine with bigger counters than another, you should pick the machine with the bigger counters since if you do get the bonus, you’ll have better resources during them.
Otherwise, no, we haven’t seen an example where the bags are offering anything useful. They’re simply for show, and in the process lasso in players who think they really do mean something.
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