A Wild symbol is one of the most common types of slot machine symbols. It can be found in the vast majority of modern 5 reel video slots machines. A Wild symbol simply substitutes for any other symbol. Rules vary depending on the game so you may find a Wild does not substitute for certain symbols, such as the Scatter symbol. Slot Machine Symbols. It doesn`t matter what type of slot machines you are playing but you will always face slots symbols. All slots players know that it is really important to pay attention to the symbols. Every slot game has certain symbols which may influence winning combinations. Slots symbols can be of different types.

• What Do The Symbols On A Slot Machine Mean

Most Popular Slot Games

[toc]The Quick Hits series of slot machines by Bally and Scientific Games is proof that a game doesn’t need to be complicated to be engaging. Capitalizing on a simple game design with which most slot players are already familiar, the Quick Hit series brings a classic feel to modern slot gaming.

Each game in the series features a five-reel layout with a number of paylines based on how many spots for symbols exist in each reel. Most commonly, there are three symbols on each reel, creating a game with the standard 30-payline structure.

Adding to the classic feel are many of the symbols that the Quick Hit series frequently uses:

• Bells
• Cherries
• 7s
• Bar (single, double, and triple)

Wilds, which can count as any standard symbol and as their own unique symbol with their own paytables, are another characteristic of each game. The most consistently present symbol in the Quick Hit series is its namesake — the “Quick Hit.” This symbol is responsible for most of the bigger possible payouts, including the jackpot.

It also doesn’t need to appear in any pattern or on any particular paylines. Simply having more of them appear anywhere will allow the player to climb the Quick Hit paytable ladder. The top of that ladder, typically requiring at least nine such symbols to appear across the five reels, is where a lucky player might find a jackpot.

With these commonalities in place, each Quick Hit game has a foundation upon which to build.

What Do The Symbols On A Slot Machine Mean

The Quick Hit Slot Series

There are a number of popular Quick Hit games. Each has its own unique features. These features are distinct enough for players to have a real choice between games. The following is a list of the most popular Quick Hit games in 2019 along with specifications and overall hit frequency.

Compare Quick Hit Games - Specs & Hit Frequency

Quick Hit Platinum

Quick Hit Platinum has three spots on each of its five reels (5×3). There are 30 possible paylines and all of the classic symbols. Hitting the jackpot with the Quick Hit symbol requires nine of them to appear and pays 2000x whatever the chosen cost of spinning was.

The Quick Hit Platinum symbol, obviously unique to this game, offers one of the biggest possible jackpots among any in the Quick Hit series. Getting all five of these symbols to appear across the five reels awards an astounding 5000x payout of the stake.

Quick Hit Black Gold

Quick Hit Black Gold swaps in and out a couple of classic symbols (a “$” and a third Bar symbol in for the 77 and 777 symbols) but keeps the number of total standard symbols the same as Quick Hit Platinum.

It also changes the jackpot paytables slightly. This game offers up to 2500x the stake when nine “Quick Hit” symbols appear.

Quick Hit Pro

Quick Hit Pro is the one exception to the 5×3-reel structure shared by the other games. Each spin shows four spots on each reel (5×4), giving this game 40 possible paylines. The total number of standard reel symbols in Quick Hit Pro is two more than in the other Quick Hit games. This is to compensate for the fact that 20 symbols appear on each spin rather than 15.

The Quick Hit jackpot paytables are also different. In this game, 11 Quick Hit symbols need to appear in order to hit a 1500x jackpot.

Quick Hit Cash Wheel

Quick Hit Cash Wheel, like most of the other Quick Hit games, has a 5×3 reel structure and the same classic symbols. Other than a lower jackpot — nine Quick Hit symbols wins 1500x the stake — Quick Hit Cash Wheel’s main game is not very distinct from the other Quick Hit games.

It’s true each installment of the series doesn’t necessarily offer an entirely different experience in the main game. But the element that sets the Quick Hit series apart from other slot machine brands — its detailed and engaging bonus games — is the same thing that truly differentiates each game within the series from the rest.

Bonus games

In addition to all the standard symbols, Quick Hits and wilds, each Quick Hit game has a symbol that triggers a unique bonus game. This symbol only appears on the second, third, and fourth reels and must appear on all three to trigger the start of the bonus game.

Quick Hit Platinum

When the bonus game begins, a grid of 20 tiles with question marks appears. Each tile randomly contains a specified number of free games that players can earn:

• 5
• 7
• 10
• 11
• 15
• 20

The player will continue to choose tiles until they have chosen three of the same tile. If the player chooses three “11 free games” tiles before three tiles of any other amount, for example, the bonus game will begin with 11 free spins.

In addition to the free spins, all bonus game spins are given a multiplier: 3x for the “20 free games” tiles and 2x for the others. This can make the “Quick Hit” jackpot extremely lucrative. Once the bonus game spins begin, it’s possible for the symbol that initially triggered the bonus game by appearing on reels two, three, and four to re-trigger the bonus game spins in the same capacity.

Quick Hit Black Gold

With this bonus game, an 18-tile grid of question marks appears. Instead of choosing how many free spins are earned (it’s always 10), the selected tiles will determine which of the possible four different games will be played. Quick Hit FEVER, Locking Wilds, 2x Pays, and 3x Pays are the possibilities. 2x Pays and 3x Pays simply provide a 2x or 3x multiplier for the 10 bonus game spins.

Locking Wilds causes any wild symbols that appear to be locked in for the remainder of the bonus game spins. A few wilds locked in on the board can really make it easy to hit some valuable winning combinations.

Quick Hit FEVER, like the name suggests, gives an opportunity for a truly special Quick Hit jackpot. In addition to an added amount of Quick Hit symbols on the reels, there’s an expanded paytable. Beyond the 2500x pay for nine “Quick Hit” symbols, there’s 5000x for 10 and 7500x for 11.

Quick Hit Pro

Perhaps the most uncommon feature in the entire Quick Hit series is Pro’s bonus game. The game starts with 15 free spins and tallies all winning combinations as normal.

Instead of Quick Hit symbols, the bonus game has symbols that resemble a pinball. Each of these pinball symbols that appear can be collected and used in the second part of the bonus game — PROCHINKO.

In PROCHINKO (an obvious portmanteau of Pro and Pachinko) each ball is fired, one by one, into a Pachinko-like game where they end up in a slot indicating a multiplier, up to 5x. All multipliers earned are added together to create a final multiplier, up to 100x, that is applied to all winnings acquired during the 15 free bonus game spins.

Quick Hit Cash Wheel

A large wheel determines the winnings in this bonus game. It will be spun with a specified multiplier some number of times. First, a player selects from 21 tiles until they select three matching tiles. These tiles determine the number of spins of the large wheel, up to three. The tiles also determine the multiplier, either 1x or 2x.

The wheel has many small amounts but also has possible results of 10,000 units and 50,000 units.

Quick Hits: final thoughts

Due to the jackpot-style nature and heavy reliance on bonus game winnings, Quick Hit games can have an uncomfortably high level of volatility for some players.

Still, the series is a great choice for slot enthusiasts. A variety of classic-style games with the modern touch of innovative bonus games is a combination that could keep any slot player busy for hours.

By John Grochowski
Video slots are the most popular, most played and most widely available games in modern casinos. They’re also the games with the most variation, full of little wrinkles that affect game play.
One of those wrinkles introduced in recent years has been the use of stacked symbols. When symbols are stacked, a reel can show three of the same symbol, from top to bottom. That symbol this is part of the mix on all paylines.
The effect is to add volatility to the game, which was apparent in a session I played while my wife was elsewhere in the casino searching for old favorites.
I came across an area where machines are marked as new games, and went try one I’d never played before, IGT’s Cherry Mischief. It was a 40-line penny game, so I was wagering 40 cents a spin. All symbols were sometimes stacked in the IGT Super Stacks feature. Among the symbols were young women with fairy wings, and a butterfly symbol that if stacked on reels 2, 3 and 4 launched a free games feature.
I slid a $20 bill into the validator, and quickly ran into the downside of stacked symbols. Symbols in a stack can block potential winning combinations, as when blonde fairies on reels 1 and 2 were separated from the match on reel 4 by a stack of red-headed fairies on reel 3.
That happened fairly often. The good news: I was seeing stacked symbols frequently on all reels, giving me hope that at some point, I’d see stacks of like symbols on adjacent reels starting from the left. That could give me a big multi-line win. The bad news: The stacks were interrupting sequences that could bring small wins to extend my bankroll and keep me at the machine.
Before long, my 2,000 credits were down to 85. I had to face the possibility that I might run through my $20 without ever really seeing what the game could do.
But my luck turned. The “Q” for “Queen” symbols stacked on all five reels, a screenful of Qs for a 520-credit win. It wasn’t an enormous win, but large enough that I had a little room to work, some extra spins to see if something bigger would come a long.
A few spins later, it happened. Reel No. 2: Three stacked butterflies. Reel No. 3: Three stacked butterflies: Reel No. 4: Three stacked butterflies. I was going to the free spins bonus event.
On free spins bonuses, there is never any guarantee of wins. You can come out of 15 free spins with thousands of credits, or with barely enough for another minimum-coins spins. My first few freebies, it was looking like the latter. Three 10 symbols in a row here, three Aces there, but nothing big. After four spins, my bonus stood at 60 credits.
Then a couple of good spins made my round. Three dark-haired fairies stacked on the first three reels for an all-payline win, and there was one matching symbol on the fourth reel to enhance the payback. Next, three golden-haired winged lovelies stacked on the first three reels for another all-line win.
The free spins put 1,860 credits on my meter, briefly putting me into the profit zone by a couple of dollars. I played down to my original $20 and moved on.
When you play stacked symbol games, that’s the kind of experience you expect. There will be fast losses, and there’s a fair chance of big all-line wins. You’re just hoping the balance falls in your favor.
A WORD ABOUT VOLATILITY: Stacked symbols are one of the tools game designers use to put volatility into video slots. When the video games first rose to popularity in the late 1990s, most were nickel games, and most had pick’em-style second-screen bonus events. Part of their attraction was that they were less volatile than three-reel slots, where it was possible to go a couple of dozen spins without winning anything. The pick’em games were designed to extend the playing experience and keep people in their seats with frequent small wins.
When penny games started to take over casino floors, designers had to find a way to give players meaningful wins. A 200-credit pick’em bonus was a nice $10 win on a nickel game, but with pennies it’s only 2 bucks.
Free-spin games, where the bonuses can be next to nothing but also can be thousands of credits, already had been pioneered by Australia’s Aristocrat Technologies. Other manufacturers put their own spin on the format, and the majority of penny games today are free-spin games. Pick’em bonuses are still there, and so are hybrid games with both kinds of events, but playing for pennies largely means playing for free spins.

John Grochowski writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column on gambling, and is author of the 'Casino Answer Book' series from Bonus Books.