Those full pots surely look enticing, and so a player had a question accordingly:
Should we target machines which are showing overflowing pots or ready to explode rockets or huge pigs on the screen when trying to select a machine to play? Does that really provide any insight into how soon before it will “hit” again?
J. Timothy
Targeting a machine with overflowing pots will offer no advantage over a machine with empty pots. That’s because they’re what’s known in the industry as “perceived persistence,” or an element that evolves in a way that looks like something’s approaching, but offer no actual value to the player.
They’re effectively an illustration of what has happened – a bonus has not hit in some period of time – but are not an indicator of what will happen – how soon before a bonus arrives.
Any outcome is available to a slot machine at the time the spin button is pushed, because the Random Number Generator is generating numbers hundreds of times a second within a range of possibilities for the machine. So the odds of hitting a bonus on any given spin, full pot or not, is always the same.
So why do the pots exist? Because they’re remarkably good at drawing in players enticed by the full pots, and who keep playing as the pots get fuller because it can’t possibly be much further away from a bonus, can it?
So it’s beneficial for the slot makers to put these elements on there because they know it has a positive impact on how much a machine will get played. But there’s no actual benefit to the player in terms of what will happen playing the game.
So, the odds don’t change, and a dry spell can continue on if the bonus remains elusive. Instead of looking for full pots, we recommend other indicators that can be advantageous for a player, such as sitting at a machine with the biggest progressive values within a bank, when machines have different numbers on them.
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A random person at casino told me To remember your name Brian. I bave since been really enjoying you.
9,
We’re glad you remembered Brian’s name and have enjoyed our content so far! Stay tuned for more to come!
Kinda like false advertising, eh?
Hey Ray – not really, because slot makers have never said that these indicate anything. In fact, their pay tables indicate the opposite as they explicitly spell out the size of the pot does not indicate a bonus is getting closer. Instead, it’s players who don’t read the pay table, or just make assumptions. It’s certainly not a practice we’re a fan of, but players who don’t read the pay tables may make assumptions that aren’t accurate about a game.
have you done a video on how to read payables, if so, where do I find it?
Brian hasn’t done anything like that so far. Here at Flip The Switch we have written about paylines here and will definitely put a pay table article on the list for the future!
So true , size makes no difference. I have hit three pots in a row (all the same color) and they were not really big
Yesterday we got a triple pot bonus, and on the very next spin (pots of course smallest) got a double pot bonus. They can be absolutely the smallest and still close!