Unraveling the Lies of Picking Bonuses

This is a topic I get asked about a lot. Does your selection in a picking bonus actually matter? Or is it all predetermined? The answer used to be simple, and now, not so much. Let me explain...

Back in the before times, when picking most anything on a slot machine, it was purely luck. But it was YOUR luck.  What we now think of when talking about a "pick", is often relegated to progressive awards. But it actually started in many games, when you got the chance to pick a blind box for how many free spins you will be rewarded with. Games such as Cleopatra. 

The concept is simple. 3 boxes are put in front of the player, with each box having a set amount of spins. Most games with free spins at the time, just had a set amount. You'd trigger the bonus and you'd win 10 games. It was simple, it was direct, it was not very exciting. Games like Cleo would more or less use an average number of spins, split between the 3 boxes. Instead of just jumping into 10 free games. You could win 30% more (or 30% less). One box had 13 free spins. One had 10. One had 7. The actual math varied, but lets keep it simple. 

It wasn't much of a gamble to the slot makers. As they are playing the long game here. It still comes out to 10 on average. Some players will win more, if they picked the better box. Others would lose more, if they did not. Still same same for the house. 

If memory serves me correctly, International Game Technology (IGT) was the first to offer the "pick" feature in the mid 90s. Back when those new fangled video slots were growing more popular. It was an immediate hit, as it gave gamblers more of what they wanted. And that was the ability to "control" their bonus. As their selection could actually increase their wins. As is often the case, other makers like Ballys did the same. And allowed you to pick not only how many free games you'd win, but a multiplier per game as well. And with that, Quick Hits became one of the most popular machines in every casino. 

It was fun, it was fair and it was growing in popularity. So much so, the slot makers wanted to capitalize on it. There have long been progressive slots, but they were limited to one lumped rolling jackpot. Winner takes all! Just like Megabucks, which actually came out way back in 1986. But players wanted that feeling of winning a progressive more often, so the slot gods gave them a better chance. 

While most everyone has their own trademarked name for them, by and large you will see Mini, Minor, Major & Maxi. With each climb up the progressive ladder, the jackpot awards get bigger and bigger. They were known in the industry as the Four M's. Maybe a play off the original M in Megabucks, but i cant say. More progressives for more people! And the gamblers rejoiced! 

At first, these amounts were nothing life changing. $10, $50, $250 and typically $1,000 respectively. And those awards got bigger as more people chased them. Ala Progressively more. Adding both excitement and overall value to the player, if one of them were considered too "high". And the notion that they most hit soon was born. Which eventually lead to a countdown timer, like above. But lets not skip too far ahead! 

Just like on the original IGT free spin rounds, the picking was fair. You'd have, say, 25 tiles in front of you. Match 2, you win the Mini for $10. Match 5, good work! You got the Minor for $50! Match 8, that is the Major for $250! And if you picked like a Boss, and selected all 10 Maxi's, well that rolling $1,000 prize is yours! I guess Maxi is a bet outdated term these days. As most top jackpots are called the "Grand". But did you ever wonder where that term came from? It started with us, the players. As we would refer to that top Maxi bonus, that started at $1,000 (on most machines). As the Grand. As in, "I want to win the Grand"! Grand being slang for $1,000 dollars. And just morphed over time, to any top progressive award. Tell your friends that, they will be impressed. 

If you picked perfectly, you'd win. But it was much more likely for you to pick 2 matches for the mini, or even 5 for the minor, before you got enough for the bigger awards. It was doable, for sure. And every time you triggered the pick bonus, you had a legit and fair chance to win one. 

But just like the random number generator forever changed jackpots, by allowing for a near infinite amount of possibilities per spin. Which in turn allowed casinos to offer millions of dollars in one massive win. Players wanted to win more, and casino wanted them to chase more. But without increasing the amount of tiles to pick from, to level off the math, how can they do it? People would feel cheated if they had to match 10 out of a sea of 500. So what did the slot makers do? They cheated!

Well, they cheated as far as the player was concerned. As the ability to actually win a larger award by "good" picking was removed. Have you ever wondered why, with only needing to match 3 of any progressive symbols, you keep getting that stupid worthless mini? 4 awards, 16 tiles, you should have the same 25% chance for any of them, yet here you are!

This was actually a mater of contention, back when these games were first being rolled out over 20 years ago. There seemed to be an unwritten rule amongst the slot manufacturers, that the player would only see their actual selections. And no longer got a look at what you could have picked, if it wasn't actually available to you during the bonus. After all, it would be a violation of gambling laws. If a slot maker produced a game that advertised a win, that was actually impossible to achieve at each chance. That wouldn't be allowed on the casino floor.

There is different wording per jurisdictions. But in laymen terms, every possible win must be achievable with each spin played. That is when the random number generator comes into play. Sure, that one big win selection might fly by in a nanosecond once every other week. That poor little RNG is constantly cycling. But the rule kept things fair, as it couldn't be set to hit once every 10 years or so. 

Think of the RNG, as a deck of cards. 52 cards per deck. Each deck has 4 Aces. Your odds of pulling an Ace, are 1 in 13. IE 4 per 52. The RNG can be programmed to have 5,000 cards per deck. And only one Ace. Now your chances to pull an Ace are greatly decreased. Impossible? No. Improbable? Most certainly. But at least you have that chance.

But there are, and most always have been, provisions for the above "availability" rule. Such as having to place an extra wager in order to qualify for a bonus, or even a progressive. You cant play the Top Dollar bonus, if you don't bet the extra credit to unlock that feature. You cant win the Wheel of Fortune progressive, if you don't max bet. This bled into these picking bonuses, after much lobbying from the slot makers. If you unlock all features with your credits bet, then the rule holds true.

So, at one time if you saw behind the tiles after you made your picks, and could see the other winning combinations you didn't select. That was a "true" pick. Your selection actually did determine the outcome. And if you only got to see behind the tiles you did pick, and nothing else, that was "predetermined" I put both in quotes, as they are actually industry jargon now. 

Then some shady shit started popping up. The above I borrowed from my friends at URComped's website, so you can follow along better.On certain games, like Hot Stuff here, we were given a peak behind the tiles we didn't pick. But something seemed wrong. How could they afford to pay me a $29K Grand, when I have what seems to be the same odds of getting just the dog shit Mini? And why is it I am getting the mini or minor an infinite more times than that grand, or even major? 

Maybe I am just a fuck up! I keep picking that last tile wrong! Or maybe the machine is playing me for a fool? But how could it get past regulations, if it is showing me behind tiles, that were wins, if I couldn't actually win them? After doing some research, I found in the machines game rules the answwer I didn't want to know. 

Which admittedly are available to everyone on all machines if they looked. Even though like cellphone contracts, who actually reads those fucking things? It tells you the picking bonus is for theatrical purposes only. You didn't pick shit. I mean, physically you did! You touched something, it showed you something. But it was all just a movie being played out for you. None of it mattered. The RNG captured your win the moment you triggered the bonus. They could have just gave you those credits. But I guess that takes the fun out of things. 

That's some sneaky shit right there! They are clearly attempting to fool players, but are lawfully doing so as proclaimed in their rules. You cant get mad at me, when I punch you in the face. If you were told that any interaction with Grid would result in a sucker punch to your puss. You knew the rules, you agreed to them inherently when you pressed play. That's what you get!

Everi has some other sus shit they are doing lately, like on their Little Shop of Horrors slot. Random bonus, where you are dealt 4 cards. One is $5.00, one is $25.00, one is Free Spins and one is the Seymour progressive for $5,000. One in four baby! Nope... It reminds me of those casino offers I sometimes get. Show up on Saturday night, and you are guaranteed one of three prizes! A new house, a rock or a fork. Someone will win the house I guess. But I bet I take home that fancy rock or a shiny new fork.

Look, I get the argument for why these shenanigans are allowed. I've been playing long enough to remember the old Wheel of Gold machines by Anchor Gaming. IGT bought them out, to use their patent on the relaunched Wheel of Fortune games back in the 90's. To this day, the amount you'd win on the spin was captured by the RNG the moment you hit that spin button, to set the wheel in motion. You could see that 1,000 credit wedge circling around, even though by that moment in time, you had no chance at it.  The RNG already hooked you up with 25 credits. You watching the wheel spin, was just theater.

Do I like it? No. I think its a bit slimy, and these slot makers are preying off our ignorance. Do I accept it? I have no choice. But if you made it this far in my overly long explanation on how this all works. At least you too now know.