As technology has evolved, so too have slot machines. Classic mechanical designs have given way to electrical models that work on a similar principle, but with more bells and whistles. In both cases, the basic idea remains the same: The player pulls a handle that activates reels with pictures printed on them. When the reels stop, if certain pictures line up along a pay line running through the middle of the viewing window, the player wins credits according to a predetermined pay table.
In addition, newer video slots often come with several different pay lines, each with a specific payout, or bonus games that can be played based on how many paylines are activated. These features give players more ways to win and make slot games much more fun than their older, one-dimensional counterparts.
Another important aspect to consider when playing a slot is the number of stops that each symbol can occupy on the physical reels. In traditional mechanical machines, each reel had only 22 possible symbols, limiting the potential jackpots and making it more likely that a particular symbol would appear on the pay line. In modern electronic machines, however, each symbol can occupy multiple spots on the visible reels, which makes it less likely that the machine will hit a specific symbol.
Finally, it is also worth mentioning that the outcome of each spin of the reels is actually determined by the random number generator inside the machine. The physical reels are just there to display what the RNG has already picked, so it can be difficult to wrap one’s head around the fact that a machine “cancels” out winning combinations when the reels are spinning.