Slot Random Number Generators

At the heart of every slot machine whether it is an online slot or a land based slot machine is a random number generator, and it is this device which ultimately decides whether you are going to have a winning spin of a losing spin. In this slots article we shall take a closer look at the many different slot random number generators and how they all work.

A random number generator is simply a device that churns out, as you may have guessed from its name, random numbers. On slot machines this is used to decide what the reels should display once you have clicked the start button.

Each reel is divided into different positions and the number of symbols on each reel represents a different number. So let us say you are playing a simple 3 reel slot, you press the start button and then the slots random number generator picks three numbers, one for each reel.

Let's say there are fifty positions on each reel, then the random number generator will pick a number from and including 1 to 50 and the numbers it picks will be the place the reels stop at.

A slot machines payout schedule is worked out by giving each symbol a payout value when a player manages to spin in three alike symbols, so if, for example, a Bar symbol is the jackpot symbol and has been issued number one by the random number generator and then should the numbers it chooses be 1, 1, 1, then the reels will spin in a Bar one reel one a Bar on reel two and a Bar on reel three and you will win the jackpot.

The odds of you winning the jackpot in the above example are then 49/1 x 49/1 x 49/1 = 124999/1, so you would win a jackpot around $125,000 if the slot was $1 per spin. There will be more low value payout symbols on the reels which reduces the payouts for those spinning in, so there may be four Cherries on each reel meaning you are more likely to spin those in than Bars etc.

The slot random number generator therefore is the hub of any slot machine and there are several ways they work. One sort of slot random number generator is a white noise RNG, and this will monitor the background noise and use this random event to produce numbers.

Another sort of random number generator will use a mathematical logarithm to keep churning out random numbers, it will use a seed number then as the slot is played this number changes and thus new numbers and reel positions get worked out.

Years ago the old mechanical slot machines simply used the force of the slot machine handle to determine the reel positions put those days have long gone, which means slot players get a much fairer game that they ever would on an older slot machine.