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Ho Ho Ho is a five reel, fifteen payline, and one hundred and fifty coin slot machine. The multiple paylines increase your chances of winning. Ho Ho Ho has a wild symbol, a scatter symbol, a Free Spins bonus game and a Gamble bonus game. The Santa symbol is a wild symbol. This means it substitutes for other symbols to complete winning combinations. The Santa symbol does not substitute for the Gift symbol to complete scatter winning combinations, or to activate the Free Spins bonus game.
Most modern slot
machines are designed to look and feel like the old mechanical models,
but they work on a complete different principle. The outcome of each
pull is actually controlled by a central computer inside the machine,
not by the motion of the reels.
The computer uses step
motors to turn each reel and stop it at the predetermined point. Step
motors are driven by short digital pulses of electricity controlled by
the computer, rather than the fluctuating electrical current that drives
an ordinary electric motor. These pulses move the motor a set increment,
or step, with great precision.
But even though the
computer tells the reels where to stop, the games are not pre-programmed
to pay out at a certain time. A random number generator at the heart of
the computer ensures that each pull has an equal shot at hitting the
jackpot.
Whenever the slot
machine is turned on, the random number generator is spitting out whole
numbers (typically between 1 and several billion) hundreds of times a
second. The instant you pull the arm back or press the button, the
computer records the next few numbers from the random number generator.
Then it feeds these numbers through a simple program to determine where
the reels should stop.
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You pull the handle or
press the button, and the computer records the next three numbers from
the random number generator. The first number is used to determine the
position of the first reel, the second number is used for the second
reel and the third number is used for the third reel. For this example,
let's say the first number is 123,456,789.
To determine the
position of the first reel, the computer divides the first random number
by a set value. Typically, slot machines divide by 32, 64,128, 256 or
512. In this example, we'll say the computer divides by 64.
When the computer
divides the random number by the set value, it records the remainder of
the quotient. In our example, it finds that 64 goes into 123,456,789 a
total of 1,929,012 times with a remainder of 21.
Obviously, the
remainder can't be more than 64 or less than 0, so there are only 64
possible end results of this calculation. The 64 possible values act as
stops on a large virtual reel.
Each of the 64 stops
on the virtual reel corresponds to one of the 22 stops on the actual
reel. The computer consults a table that tells it how far to move the
actual reel for a particular value on the virtual reel. Since there are
far more virtual stops than actual stops, some of the actual stops will
be linked to more than one virtual stop.
Computer systems have made slot machines a lot more adaptable, players
can simply press a button to play a game, rather than pull the handle.
For the manufacturers
and slot proprietors, one of the main advantages of the computer system
is that they can easily configure how often the machine pays out (how
loose or tight it is)
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I had a white rat named Elmo who didn't get fed until he learned to press
a bar in his cage. Whenever he pressed it, a pellet fell into his dish.
Elmo quickly learned to press the bar when he got hungry.
Then one day we (the professor and the rest of us budding psychologists)
changed the rules. Sometimes we gave Elmo dinner when he pressed the bar
- and sometimes we didn't. poor Elmo no longer knew when to expect his food.
So you know what he did? He pounded that bar relentlessly until the food
finally came. Sound familiar?
The biggest lesson we learned from Elmo was that if you want to make
behavior stick, don't reward it all the time - reward it now and then.
This strategy is called random reinforcement, and it's the same principle
at work on us when we play slot machines.
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Diamond Deal is a three reel, one payline, and three
coin slot machine. Diamond Deal has a wild symbol
and a Bonus Feature.
To qualify for the Bonus Feature, you must bet three
coins per spin.
If you bet three coins, and a Jewelry Box symbol
is displayed on the payline, you are awarded a diamond
segment.
This is added to the Bonus Diamond. Once you have
collected four diamond segments the Bonus Feature
is activated.When you receive a diamond segment, it
is stored until you have collected all four segments
required to enter the bonus screen.
If you bet two coins, the diamond segments you have
collected are stored until you bet three coins again.
You can then continue to collect the segments.
You do not lose the diamond segments you have collected
when you exit the game.
You must bet three coins per spin to qualify to play
the Bonus Feature. If you bet one or two coins and
the Jewelry Box symbol is displayed on the payline,
you are not awarded a diamond segment.
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