Slot Machine Appendix 1

Last update: Aug 4, 2008

As I played I wrote down where the payline symbol on each reel. By also observing the symbols above and below it did not take long to piece together the exact order of symbols on each reel. Later I entered the outcome of each play into a spreadsheet and tabulated the results. The following table shows how often each symbol occured over the course of this experiment.

The following chart displays the number in the sample at each stop and for each reel. This may better show visually the range in sample.

Assuming these were the exact weighting the following table displays the pay off per coin based on two coins played, the probability of each paying combination, and the contribution to the total return.

The bottom row in the above table shows a theoretical return of 96.73% based on two coins played. The return with one coin played is 96.62%. Note also that the player can expect to win anything 9.76% of the time. The standard deviation based on maximum coins played is 8.54. It should be emphasized that these statistics are estimates based on actual results. I am not implying that these figures are exactly right. The purpose of this experiment was mainly to illustrate the concept of weighted reels as opposed to providing an exact return or wheel weightings.

Based on the actual distrubtion and assuming 128 virtual stops it can be approximated what the actual wheel weighting are. Following is an educated guess of the actual reel weightings.

Based on the approximate weightings the hit frequency is 9.77% and the return is 95.53% with 1 coin and 95.66% with 2 coins.