If you’ve been looking for a strategy that will allow you to win on slots every time you play, you’ve… come to the wrong place. But then, there is no right place – there is no strategy that will allow for this to happen since there is no way you can predict how the symbols are going to fall in any slot game. They run on a random number generator (RNG) system which is entirely automated and which has billions of possible variations. It would simply not be possible to work them all out, and you can’t cheat at slots in this way – learn more here;.
What you can do, though, is to have a strategy based on statistics which, although it obviously can’t guarantee a win, can help you to make it more likely. You’ll need to decide whether the effort of working out the sums and the calculations required to do this is worth it for a slot game which you still may not win, but that’s down to you. It’s good to have the choice, at least.
Calculating Probabilities
Because it’s literally impossible to predict where the symbols are going to fall when the reels stop turning, your next best option is going to be working out the probability of a winning combination appearing across the reels. That way, you won’t miss out on the fun of the game itself, but you’ll have a better idea of how likely it is you’re going to win. You can then decide whether it is worth playing that particular game or not, and if not, you can move onto the next and work out the probability of winning that one and so on.
The first thing you’ll need to know is what the probability of winning on the slot you want to play is. And you’ll need to know how much you’ll receive (this should be found in the pay table which is a legal requirement). So the second number is easily found, but the first is more difficult. It can be done, though.
You need to start with how many reels the game has. Multiply that by the amount of symbols found on each reel, and by the number of stops on every reel. Three reels with five symbols would therefore be a calculation of 3x5x5, which is 125. So, on this kind of game, there are 125 different winning combinations.
The next step is to work out how likely it is that you’ll get one of these winning combinations on any one particular spin. This requires a little more work. Take the three reel game again for simplicity’s sake. Let’s assume that to win you need to have three different symbols lined up, and there is only one of these symbols on each reel. You’ll need to calculate 1/5×1/5×1/5 (it’s one symbol out of the five that are on the reel, and there are three reels so its needs to be multiplied three times). The answer is 0.008, which is your percentage change of winning.
Now these examples were done using the most simple of slots; you’ll need to make some changes if there are more reels and if the symbols you need to win have greater quantities across those reels.
Can It Really Be Done?
In a literal sense, yes, this working out can be done – we’ve just shown you how above. But actually taking the time to do it and then using the knowledge about how likely it is you’re going to win isn’t something that many people are willing to do. Especially when the sums are going to give you pretty poor numbers, and the RTP of each game is right there for you to use in the same way – as a means to determine whether you are going to bother playing or try a different game.
So yes, it can really be done. Only it’s not a good use of your time.
