Pokies glossary: 66 pokies terms explained in plain English

Key facts

RTP is the share of all money bet that a game pays back over its lifetime. NSW law sets a floor of 85% for poker machines.
Volatility describes how wins are spread out, and hit frequency how often a spin pays anything. Neither changes the long-run cost.
Some online pokies come in several RTP versions. Hacksaw Gaming lists one title at 96.38%, 94.55%, 92.33% and 88.42%.
Megaways reels can give up to 117,649 ways to win on a spin, according to Big Time Gaming, which created the mechanic.
Every spin is random and independent: no pokie is ever due to pay.

How to use this pokies glossary

This pokies glossary explains 66 terms in five groups: the screen, the money, the features, jackpots, and the rules around play. Where we have a full guide on a topic, the term links to it. If you only read one line, make it this: every spin is random, so none of these terms describes a way to beat the machine. Our pokies guide is the place to start if you are new.

Reels, symbols and lines

The screen of a pokie is a grid of reels and rows, and these terms describe how symbols on it turn into wins.

Term	What it means
Reel	One vertical column of symbols. Classic machines have three, most video pokies have five or six.
Row	One horizontal line of positions across the reels. A 5x3 game has five reels and three rows.
Grid	The full set of positions on screen, such as 5x3 or 6x5. Bigger grids usually mean more ways to land a win.
Payline	A fixed path across the grid. Matching symbols must sit on it, usually starting from the leftmost reel.
Ways to win	A system where matching symbols on adjacent reels pay wherever they sit in each column. Three rows on five reels gives 3x3x3x3x3 = 243 ways.
Megaways	Big Time Gaming's mechanic in which each reel shows a changing number of symbols every spin, for up to 117,649 ways.
Cluster pays	Wins come from groups of touching symbols, often five or more, rather than lines or ways.
Pay anywhere	Wins come from enough matching symbols anywhere on the grid. Gates of Olympus works this way.
Wild	A symbol that stands in for others to complete a win. It usually cannot replace scatters or bonus symbols.
Expanding wild	A wild that grows to cover its whole reel when it lands.
Sticky wild	A wild that stays in place for several spins, most often during free spins.
Scatter	A symbol that pays or triggers a feature wherever it lands, no payline needed.
Bonus symbol	A symbol whose only job is to trigger a feature. Dragon Link uses an orb as its trigger.
Cash symbol	A symbol showing a prize value or a jackpot label, collected during hold and spin style features.
Cascading reels	Winning symbols vanish and new ones drop in, so one paid spin can produce several wins in a row. Also called tumbles or avalanches.
Paytable	The in-game screen listing what each symbol combination pays and how the features work. Read it before you play a new game.

Bets, money and maths

These terms decide what a pokie costs you. They are where the real information sits.

Term	What it means
Credit	The unit a machine counts in. Your balance, bets and wins are all shown in credits.
Denomination	The value of one credit, such as 1 cent or 10 cents. Multi-denomination games let you choose.
Line bet	The amount staked on each payline.
Total bet	What one spin costs: line bet times lines played, or a flat amount on ways games. Always check this figure, not the line bet.
RTP	Return to player: the share of all money bet a game pays back over its lifetime. NSW requires poker machines to return at least 85%.
RTP versions	Online game makers often ship one title at several RTPs and the operator chooses. Hacksaw Gaming lists Wanted Dead or a Wild at 96.38%, 94.55%, 92.33% and 88.42%.
House edge	The flip side of RTP. A 92% RTP pokie has an 8% house edge: on average it keeps 8 cents of every dollar bet.
Volatility	How wins are spread. Low volatility pays small amounts often; high volatility pays rarely but bigger. Also called variance.
Hit frequency	The share of spins that return anything at all. NetEnt lists Starburst at 23%, so about one spin in four or five pays something.
Max win	The biggest multiple of your bet a game can pay, such as 12,500x on Wanted Dead or a Wild.
Multiplier	A feature that multiplies a win, such as 2x or 10x. Often applied during free spins.
RNG	Random number generator: the software that picks every result. Each spin is independent of the last.
Expected loss	Total amount bet times the house edge. Our pokies calculator works it out for any bet, speed and RTP.
Turnover	All money bet, including credits re-bet from wins. It is not the same as what players lose.
Expenditure	What players actually lose: the amount wagered minus the amount won. This is the figure in official pokies statistics.
Loss disguised as a win	A "win" smaller than your total bet. The machine celebrates, but you have lost money on the spin.

Bonus features

Features are where most of a modern pokie's top prizes are paid, which is why they arrive rarely.

Term	What it means
Bonus feature	Any special round triggered during play: free spins, respins, pick games or wheels.
Free spins	Spins at no cost to you, played at the bet that triggered them. Often come with multipliers or extra wilds.
Retrigger	Landing the trigger symbols again during free spins to win more spins.
Respin	A single extra spin, often with some symbols held in place.
Hold and spin	Cash or bonus symbols lock, you get usually three respins, and the count resets each time a new one lands. In Pragmatic Play's Wolf Gold, six or more money symbols start it.
Full grid prize	A top prize for filling every position in a hold and spin round. Wolf Gold pays a Mega Jackpot of 1,000x for all 15 positions.
Pick bonus	A round where you choose hidden items to reveal prizes. The outcome is still decided by the game's maths.
Gamble feature	An option to risk a win on a guess, such as a card colour, to double it or lose it.
Bonus buy	Paying a set price, such as 100x your bet, to start a feature straight away. Often restricted while a casino bonus is active.
Ante bet	Paying extra on each spin so features trigger more often. Power Play in Extra Chilli More Chilli costs 5 times the stake.
Feature Drop	A Big Time Gaming mechanic where the price of buying a feature falls as you collect coins in the base game.
Base game	Normal spins, outside any feature. Most of your spins happen here.

Jackpots

Jackpots are the headline prizes, and they come in several shapes.

Term	What it means
Fixed jackpot	A top prize set as a multiple of your bet. It does not grow.
Progressive jackpot	A jackpot that grows as players bet, because a slice of each bet is added to it.
Standalone progressive	A progressive fed by one machine only.
Linked progressive	A jackpot fed by several machines. NSW defines a progressive system as two or more machines linked electronically to pay a share of bets into a separate jackpot pool.
Wide-area progressive	A jackpot linked across many venues or online sites, which is how the biggest pools build.
Seed	The starting value a progressive resets to after it is won.
Mini, minor, major, grand	The usual names for tiers of a multi-level jackpot, from smallest to largest. Names vary by game.
Lightning Link	An Aristocrat family of games built around a Hold and Spin jackpot feature.
Dragon Link	An Aristocrat family that builds on Lightning Link with Asian themes and an orb trigger symbol.

Machines, rules and play

These terms come up in venues, in the law and in casino terms.

Term	What it means
Pokies	The Australian name for poker machines, also called gaming machines or slots. Our guide to how pokies work explains the inside of one.
EGM	Electronic gaming machine, the term regulators use.
Classic pokies	Simple three-reel games with fruit, bar and seven symbols and few or no features.
Video pokies	Screen-based games with five or more reels, animated features and many lines or ways.
Aristocrat	The Sydney company, founded in the 1950s, behind Lightning Link, Dragon Link and many other pub and club machines.
Multi-terminal machine	One game played from several seats at once. In NSW the maximum single bet is $100 and the maximum prize $500,000.
Malfunction rule	Victoria's casino gaming machine rules say a malfunction voids all game plays, jackpots, prizes and payments.
Demo mode	Play with virtual credits that have no cash value. See free pokies.
Social casino	Free-to-play pokies apps that sell virtual coins. The coins cannot be cashed out for money.
Autoplay	A setting that spins automatically for a chosen number of rounds. It speeds up play, which speeds up losses.
Gambler's fallacy	The mistaken belief that a machine is "due" to pay after a cold run. Each spin is independent.
Wagering requirement	How many times a casino bonus must be bet through before you can withdraw it, such as 40x the bonus.
Max bet rule	A bonus term capping each spin while the bonus is active. One casino's terms we read set it at AUD 8, bonus buys included.

Pokies sit inside a bigger vocabulary. Our casino glossary covers table games, live dealers, bonuses and casino accounts, and the betting glossary covers odds, racing and sports bets.

Pundit tip: of all the numbers in this glossary, total bet and RTP are the two that decide what a session costs. Check both before the first spin.

Pokies are entertainment that costs money. If they have stopped feeling like that, our gambling help Australia page lists free support, including 1800 858 858, 24/7.

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Frequently asked questions

What does RTP mean on pokies?

Return to player: the percentage of all money bet that a pokie pays back over a very long run. A 92% RTP means about 92 cents of every dollar bet comes back on average, and the other 8 cents is the house edge. It says nothing about your next session.

What is the difference between volatility and RTP?

RTP is how much a game pays back overall. Volatility is how that money is shared out: low volatility means frequent small wins, high volatility means long dry spells broken by occasional big wins. Two games with the same RTP can feel completely different.

What is a scatter symbol?

A symbol that pays or triggers a feature wherever it lands, without needing to be on a payline. Three or more scatters commonly trigger free spins.

What does hold and spin mean?

A feature where special symbols lock in place and you get a set number of respins, usually three, which reset each time a new special symbol lands. It ends when the respins run out or the grid fills.

What is a linked jackpot?

A jackpot fed by several machines at once. NSW regulations define a progressive system as two or more machines linked electronically to contribute a share of money bet to a separate jackpot pool.