Bonus Game- You will get a bonus game only when certain conditions are met. This is a secondary part of playing slots and it allows you to get a payout by doing something different from spinning the reels.

Buy-A-Feature- This refers to the possibility of getting a bonus feature but only if you bet multiple coins.

Buy-A-Pay- This refers to the certain payouts that are available only when betting multiple coins. You will receive payouts on certain symbols combinations only when betting multiple coins.

Cash back- After playing for a certain amount of time the casino will give cash paybacks to those players. You must be part of a slots club in order to receive these paybacks.

Coin-Free Play- This means that you do not have to use coins in order to play these machines. Instead you will use tickets or tokens.

Coin Size- This refers to how much you can bet per spin. Most machines allow you to bet more than one coin per spin.

Coins per Spin- This refers to how many coins you can bet on each spin.

Fill- Sometimes the hopper will run out of coins. In this case a casino employee will refill the hopper with coins from the cashier.

Hit Rate- This refers to the average amount of time that passes between winning spins and losing spins.

Hold- Out of all the money you spend playing slots, the house will always retain a certain percentage. This is how the house makes money. This percentage can be anywhere between 3% and 15%.

Hopper- The coins inserted into slots machine by players are collected in a special device called a hopper. Most of the times the hopper contains so many coins that it overflows. That is why the casinos must place buckets underneath the hopper. All the coins that fall into the bucket are considered house profit and the casino will take that money.

Max Bet- This refers to the maximum number of coins that you can bet on a spin.

Linked Progressive Jackpot- A percentage of all the bets you make is added to the jackpot.

Multicoin Slot Game- You are allowed bet more than one coin for each pay line.

Multi-line Slot Game- This refers to a slots machine that offers more than one pay line. You may get a winning symbols combination on several pay lines.

Multiplier- For every coin that you bet the payout is multiplied by a given amount. The more coins you bet, the higher the payout becomes

Multisite Progressive or Wide Area Progressive- This refers to slots machines that are connected to the same network. The network spans to several casinos and sometimes throughout a large geographical area. All the people playing these machines are contributing to the progressive jackpot.

One-armed Bandit- Slot machines are also known as one-armed bandits. The machines got this name because of the lever that resembles a arm and because most slots machines

Payline - The most common payline is the one in the middle of the window or screen. But there are also machines that have 3 paylines or even 5 paylines. If you get winning symbols in a payline then you will receive a payout.

Payout Percentages - You will not find the same payout percentages from one casino to another, not even from one machine to another. They vary a lot so always make sure to look at the payout percentage displayed on the machine. Some machines offer a payout percentage as high as 98.2%. This is of course calculated for the long run and not the short run. All the payouts the machine gives and the jackpots are also taken into consideration when calculating this percentage.

You will find that most of the times you will not get a 98.2% payout. This simply means that you have not been lucky enough to get such a payout and not that the percentage is wrong. Someone could bet on just one spin and get a jackpot. The payout that will receive will be a lot greater than 98.2%, but on average the machine will payout 98.2%. This percentage is calculated as an average.

Pay Cycle - Slot machines must follow a certain programming. That programming must ensure that the machine has a required payout percentage. That is why most players believe that a machine will start to pay out after a certain amount of coins have been introduced in order to respect those required percentages.

Pay Table or Pay Schedule- This refers to the table or list on which the payouts corresponding to all winning symbol combinations are displayed.

Progressive Jackpot - A jackpot is the best payout a player can get. A progressive jackpot is a jackpot that keeps growing. As more gamblers play progressive slot machines, the bigger the progressive jackpot gets.

Progressive Slots - Progressive machines are connected to the same network. Every time you place a bet on a progressive machine, a percentage of that bet is added to the jackpot. When playing a progressive machine you will need a larger bankroll because there are two jackpot levels and you should always place the maximum bet of at least 3 coins.

Random Number Generator (RNG) - The RNG program is embedded into all the computer chips found in slot machines. They are continuously generating random numbers every millisecond. They do this even when nobody is playing the machine. The position where the reels will stop is determined by these random numbers. The instant that you pull the lever or push the button the number generated by the RNG will determine how many times the reels will spin and where they will stop. This process is completely random and is in no way influenced by things like the amount that has been bet, the way you pulled the lever or pushed the button, the number of payouts the machine has given or not given or even if you are using your slot card or not. It all depends on you being lucky enough to get a random number that will correspond to a winning symbol combination.

Reels - Most machines have three reels, they are the round spinning pieces on which the symbols are displayed. There are machines with just two reels and machines that have even more than four reels. Remember that your odds are smaller with each reel that is added. So the more reels a machine has, the worst your chances of winning are.

Scatter Pay- You will get a jackpot payout even if the winning symbols do not line up on a single pay line.

Second Screen Bonus- This is a bonus game. You will get to play a Second Screen Bonus if you play a multi-line machine and certain conditions are met. You will actually get another screen to play in this bonus round.

Slot Club or Players Club- If you join such a club you will get a member card. This card is used by the casino to keep track of how much money the members of the club spend in the casino. When a player will have spent a certain amount of money he will receive a casino comp or complementary item. These comps range from free drinks, free meals to cash prizes or special events to which only club members can participate.

Slot Tournament- If you join a slot tournament you will get to play specially programmed machines for a given amount of time. You will play for credits and not real money, but when the tournament ends the winner will get a cash prize.

Volatility- The relation between how often you will get a jackpot compared to how big the jackpot is.

Symbols - This refers to the representation or image depicted on the reels. The manufacturer's imagination is the only limit to what these symbols can represent. They can be representations of anything we want: cherries, lemons, bars, oranges or any other symbol. Fey's "Liberty Bells" machine used playing cards symbols, horse shoes and Liberty Bells.

Take Cycle - See the paying cycle presented above. This is its opposite. So if you believe in the pay/take cycle theory, then it is only logical that a pay cycle will be followed by a take cycle. In that case your chances of winning are minimal. The machine will only take your money in a take cycle.

Tilt - There are several reasons why a slots machine will tilt. These reasons can vary from an empty hopper to a blocked coin to any other technical malfunction. The machine will stop and the "tilt" light will come on. Do not worry about your coins. The machine remembers how many coins it must payout. You will get your coins after the problem with the machine is fixed. To our knowledge slots machines always give correct payouts.

Top Prize - This refers to the best payout that a player can receive when playing a non progressive machine. Remember that you must always place a maximum coins bet in order to get such a payout.

Winning Combinations- This refers to all the possible winning outcomes on the pay table.

Wild Symbol - Jokers for example can take the place of any other symbol. They multiply when playing other types of slots.