A slot machine accepts paper tickets with a barcode or cash. You place the coins into the slot and the machine spins the reels. If you land a winning combination, you’ll earn credits in accordance with the paytable. Each slot machine has different symbols and bonus features. Traditional symbols include fruits, bells, and stylized lucky sevens. Many slot machines feature bonus games aligned with a specific theme. You can win big by matching three or more of these symbols.

While the return to player is an important statistic to look at, the probability of a winning combination is equally important. Consider the example of a slot machine with a dozen pay tables. Suppose, for instance, that the odds of winning anything are zero except for the biggest payout. If the slot machine pays out every time you input the same amount every time, the probability of winning that prize is one in four thousand. If this were true, the game would be boring for most people and the house edge would be modest.

Modern slots are based on microprocessors and assign different probabilities to symbols. Because they’re programmed in computers, they’re more flexible. The size of each reel is also different. Mechanical slots could only have so many symbols per reel, but modern computer-powered slots allow up to 20. This means that players can be sure that they’ll win every time, even if the payout percentage is slightly off. So, how can a machine change its payout percentage?