What a pay table tells you

4 minute read

Every slot has a pay table, usually behind an i or a menu button. It lists what each symbol pays, how lines or ways work, and what the special symbols do. Two minutes there will tell you more about a game than fifty spins.

Symbol values

Payouts are shown as multiples of the bet, or as coins for your current bet. Low symbols, often card ranks from 10 to A, pay little and land often. High symbols, usually the characters or objects from the game's theme, pay more and land less.

Lines, ways and clusters

• Paylines: symbols must line up along fixed paths, normally from the leftmost reel.
• Ways: any matching symbol on adjacent reels counts, wherever it sits on the reel. 243 ways is the classic five-reel setup.
• Clusters: groups of touching symbols pay, with no lines at all.

Special symbols

Wilds stand in for other symbols. Scatters pay wherever they land and usually start the bonus round. Some games add multipliers, symbols that collect values, or symbols that expand to fill a reel.

The small print worth reading

Near the bottom you'll often find the return to player and the maximum win. Together they tell you most of what you need to know about the game's volatility.