How to play Slot Machine online
- Place a bet: press Space once for each coin, up to five coins
- Spin the reels: Down arrow (pull back on the joystick)
- Player 2: A to bet, G to spin; in two-player games both players have to pull back before the reels spin
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Start or refill: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch); press it once to add 25 coins, twice to reset both banks to 25
Gameplay
Each player starts with a bank of 25 coins. In the one-player games you play against the computer, which places a random bet on every spin. The game ends when either side runs out of coins. The reels show a cactus, a table, a TV, a bell, a bar and a car, and the payouts follow the rules of a three-reel, 20-stop casino machine.
There are eight variations: four for one player and four for two. Games 1 to 4 are Jackpot games, which only pay out for rows of bars or cars. Games 5 to 8 are Payoff games, which also pay for smaller combinations. Some variations pay only on the centre line; in the others, each extra coin you bet opens another payline, up to five. The difficulty switches are not used.
| Combination | Payoff (coins) |
|---|---|
| One cactus | 2 |
| Two cacti | 5 |
| Three tables, or two tables and a bar | 10 |
| Three TVs, or two TVs and a bar | 14 |
| Three bells, or two bells and a bar | 18 |
| Any three bars (Jackpot games) | 20 |
| Three bars | 100 |
| Three cars | 200 |
Tips
- Start with the Payoff games. The small wins keep your bank alive much longer than the all-or-nothing Jackpot games.
- Bet more coins on the multi-line games. A one-coin bet only covers the first line, so a win on another line pays nothing unless you bet enough coins to cover it.
- Save before a big bet. Ctrl + 1 saves the game and Alt + 1 brings it back, if you want to test your luck.
The story behind Slot Machine
David Crane made the game for his mother, who enjoyed playing slot machines. The 2600 could only draw sprites eight pixels wide in a single colour, which is too crude for the usual cherries and lemons, so he picked shapes that are easy to tell apart, such as the cactus. Reviews were lukewarm. In 1983 Electronic Games magazine called the graphics āworkman-like if unspectacularā, and later retro reviewers were harsher about its lack of excitement.
