In the Wheel of Fortune comparison, just imagine if they put a solid bar, instead of two pegs, over a space they didn't want you to land on. (I don't know how often this actually happened, but if someone wanted to make their machine look more likely to win than it actually was, they could theoretically do a modification to physically prevent the reel from stopping on specific locations. Real life probability will take care of the rest. If you want players to win more often, you use reels that have comparatively more winning symbols. You'll get big payouts, huge jackpots, on 3 reel mechanical classic old slots. You open it up and replace the spinning reels (and associated parts) with reels that have more or fewer winning symbols. Vintage Waco Casino Crown slot machine coin-operated with flashing lights. If they want you to have a 1 in 100 chance of landing on $5000, they put one $5000 space and 99 other spaces.Ī mechanical slot machine works on a similar concept. Vintage Spongebob Squarepants 3d View-Master 3 Reel Set Nickelodeon. If they want you to have a 50% chance of landing on Bankrupt, they put it on every other space. If they want you to land on a specific space more or less often, they just change how many of them are on the wheel.

If it helps, imagine that each reel on the slot machine is a spin of the wheel on Wheel of Fortune. Since the reels are starting at a different position each time, and the distance that they spin is different each time, the results are effectively random. Each pull should make the parts inside move a slightly different speed and distance. I think that the 'randomness' of a mechanical slot machine pull comes from the small variations in the way you pull and release the lever each time, in combination with all of the complex parts inside of the machine.

I'm not a slot machine expert, but I tried to do some research.

Old 3 reel mechanical slot machine