A common scenario in a casino is for a bank of slot machines to be ‘linked.’ While we’ve defined the term here in the past, we get other questions about what sort of linking is possible, such as this one:
My question is are the machines all linked together on the same row. Meaning does one trigger the other.
James D.
The concept of linked slots doesn’t have anything to do with one machine interacting with the other when it comes to line hits or bonuses. By design, Vegas-style slots with a random number generator (RNG) are designed to function as a whole on its own, meaning the outcomes are coming from within the machine and not interacting with the other machine.
Instead, what is linked is generally prizes, generally progressives, that can be won within a bank of machines. Each machine has an equal chance of winning it presuming the same setup and the same bet level.
Each machine contributes to the growth of the prize, and more machines contributing means it grows faster than a standalone prize of the same game. Of course, each machine can also win the prize, so it resets more often, on average, as a result as well – four machines means on average it’s won four times as often, but also resets four times as often.
The one exception to this would be the concept of a community bonus, where a part of the payback of machines within a bank come from a community element. These concepts are less common than they were awhile ago, but your wager would effectively make you eligible for the community bonus for a period of time, and the slot itself was still self contained.
If the community bonus was triggered and you had an active timer making you eligible for the bonus, you’d win the prize, multiplied by the multiplier you had active at that time (which was established based on your bet level and how many spins you’d taken).
In this scenario you’re effectively betting on the main slot and a separate ante bet towards that community bonus (not unlike how you can buy in for an extra bonus on some slots too).
But in none of these situations is your gameplay triggering anything on someone else’s machine, and as such the linking doesn’t come from outcomes, but mostly shared prize pools.
Not all machines in a bank are necessarily linked – if they’re different games, or each have their own prizes, they’re likely standing on their own.
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