Computerized Slot Machines: How Do They Work?

Slot machines have been around for more than a century. There have been numerous variations of these gambling machines, each offering something different. The older slot machines were powered by mechanical devices whose working principles differ from the more prevalent slot machines of today - the computerized slot machines.

Because of the way computers work, slot machines controlled by computers are considered to be more flexible and simpler. As an example, mechanical devices are controlled by the movement of the reels, for some computerized slot machines a single button press is enough.

The player's losses and wins can also be recorded easily not just by the player alone, but also for the casino where the machine is installed.

But how exactly do these modern machines work? For the more common three-reel variety, the process involved will be shown below. When the player pulls down the handle, the result is the computer will make a record of the first three numbers derived from a random number generator.

The positions of the three reels will be based on the three numbers recorded from the random number generator. The location of the first reel is based on the first number, the second reel from the second number and the third reel from the third number.

To further demonstrate how this process actually unfolds, let's make an example. The number 123,456,789 will be used as our first number. This number is a random number that the computer has derived from the random number generator.

To ascertain the location of the first reel, a pre determined value is divided from our example random number. Computerized slot machines usually divide by 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512.

For our example, we shall use the number 64. Upon dividing our random number by 64, the remainder of the quotient is recorded by the computer. The remainder from our example is 21. Since we used the number 64 for our example, the remainder should not be less than 0 or more than 64.

This would mean that the calculation will only have 64 possible results at the end. These possible values, 64 in our example, will act as the stops on a virtual reel.

Each stop on the actual reel will have an assigned virtual stop from the 64 stops that the computer has determined on our example. Due to the fact that there are only 22 stops in an actual reel, some of these actual stops will have more than one assigned virtual stop.

Since computers can be easily configured, computerized slot machines are now more preferred over the mechanical ones. Although for nostalgic purposes, nothing can beat the slot machines of yore.