Basic Features of Pokie Machines and How they Function

Pokies machines are one of the most popular games at casinos. This is true for both online and physical casino machines. The great designs and the ease of use make them an amazing source of entertainment. Here are the basic features of pokie machines and how they function.

While there are some standard features that are common in most pokie machines, there are features that make playing the game a lot more enjoyable.

Due to these features, it becomes difficult to walk away.

Free spin and bonus rounds

Regardless of what pokie machine you play, you are likely to find bonus rounds or free spins. This is one of the basic features of pokie machines. Some pokie machines offer both. This is a great way for you to have an extra payout or to play additional rounds for free.

While most of us know the concept of the bonus round and free spins, it is necessary to understand that there are many options out there that are available. Not every pokie machine offers the same types of bonuses, so here are some of the more common ones.

1. Simple Bonus

It is the most commonly offered type of bonus. In this bonus, you are awarded for hitting some particular combination or symbol on the reels. Sometimes this may earn you additional credits or money. You may also receive additional spins or the wheel may continually spin until a monetary value is hit.

What separates this type of bonus from others is that you will clearly understand that you are winning. When it hits you will know what is going on and will feel a sense of joy and knowing you are about to win something.

2. Pick Game Bonus

Many people love this type of bonus as it guarantees you to win some type of prize. You don’t necessarily know what that is, but there is something coming your way. In these types of games, you can select certain rooms or symbols where prizes are hidden behind them. Whatever is hidden becomes your prize.

It is interesting that some pokie machines provide both the pick game and bonus spins. This may help you to select more than one prize, however, it is quite rare that you will come up as a winner. It’s great when you win, it just isn’t going to occur very often.

3. Skill-Based Bonuses

This is a different type of bonus. In this type of bonus, you actually play a major role in determining your prize. The wheels will spin, and it is your liability to press stop when you feel the reels will hit a winner for you.

These can be tough to play. Even the best videogame players struggle with this type of game.

4. Self-Playing

This bonus is one where the machine takes over for you. As per the number of bonus spins that you won, the machine will continually spin the reels with you winning each time the reels stop.

If you won six self-playing bonus spins, the machine would start to spin the reels. Each time that it stopped, you would win whatever prizes or credits were shown on the reels. You may win or you may receive big prizes. You will receive whatever the six spins give you.

Scatters and Wilds

This is yet another common feature on pokie machines. For wilds, these symbols represent another symbol that can make you a winner. It’s like having a joker in a deck of cards. A wild symbol in a line where you have three kings and the wild would make it four kings, which can get you a big prize.

The scatters help you win no matter where they appear on the reels. Even if you don’t have five in a row, the scatter acts as the missing symbol to make you a winner.

Ways to Win

This is becoming one of the most popular features on pokie machines these days. Usually, you won when you had a line of symbols directly across the screen.

But it has evolved over the years, as you can now play so that you can win if you have the right combination up-down, left-right, or even diagonally. Some pokie machines also allow you to win if there is any type of direct connection between symbols.

Paylines

This is also an important feature directly related to the ways to win feature is the payline. Several more popular pokie machines have anywhere between three and seven rows of reels that you can opt to bet on each time the wheel is spun.

By offering this option, it helps you to incorporate many different ways to win. If you purchased just the single payline, you would need that line to have the right symbols for you to win. However, if you chose all five paylines in a game, you would win if there were any of the right combinations of symbols in any direction.

This is a very popular option, but it is more expensive. If you are playing a $2 machine, for example, and you wanted to play all three paylines, you would have to pay $4 each time you spun the wheels. It’s a greater risk for a greater opportunity for reward.

Progressive Jackpots

This is the last feature that you will find in a pokie machine. It is also one of the basic features of pokie machines. This is not a feature offered at every casino, but it should be. Many people love this feature, as the jackpot increases as people play until somebody hits the right symbol combination. That may take a few days, it may take months.

What often happens is that these jackpots will reach a rather sizable amount before someone reaches the payoff. Some casinos have paid a lucky winner more than $10 million. Some of these progressive jackpots start at $1 million. If this jackpot is offered and you find a pokie machine you love to play with, you may want to sit down and play for a while.

The Role of RNG (Random Number Generators) 

As online casino gambling is such a remote activity, fair gaming is a mandatory requirement. Using random number generators (RNGs) allows online casinos to satisfy this requirement for online pokies. 

Online casinos generate random number generators from computer algorithms as a way to ensure that the outcomes of each spin are totally random. In order to accomplish this, it creates a sequence of numbers, which correspond to symbols on each reel, and that no one can predict except with chance. 

Types of RNGs

There are two kinds of RNGs, one is the Hardware Random Number Generator and the other is the Pseudo-Random Number Generator. 

• RNGs that generate random numbers via hardware are known as a hardware random number generators. 
• Meanwhile, pseudo-randomly generated numbers are those that appear to be random only.

How the RNG functions

First, with the software, a seed value is set up for the algorithm. As an underlying principle, anything that runs repeatedly must have a starting point. That value is called the seed value. A seed value is generated through a series of repeated activities or actions occurring in the computer. 

There can be several possibilities. It might be a process that is running, a pattern for a mouse-click, a pattern of keystrokes, or even the clock of the computer.

What is Return to Player Value (RTP)

RTP (return to player) value is another aspect of pokie machines in terms of science. Pokies, on average, pay out a certain amount of return over a period of time, which is called their RTP. 

Pokie machines have their RTP calculated and expressed in percentage terms; thus, a 96% RTP means that a pokie machine will pay back $96 for every 100 dollars wagered over the life of the machine. 

Pokie Machines and Their Prices

A player’s cost per spin represents the price. Therefore, for a 100-cent spin, the price that the player sees is exactly what the player pays. However, on the operator’s side, the price would also reflect house edge along with the cost per spin. 

If the house edge is therefore 7%, the operator’s profit is mainly determined by the 7% they collect on each spin over the course of time.

Synopsis

Undoubtedly pokie machines can be a lot of fun to play with all the above basic features of pokie machines. It can be even more enjoyable when there are features that pique your interest and keep you playing.

Hopefully, this piece of suggestion will help you to enjoy games more fully. It should also help to steer you toward games you may not have tried before.