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MAX BET – The max bet is the top coin size allowed by a given slot machine game. It’s easy to hit the “max bet” button on either a land-based or online slot machine; no intricate calculations necessary. It’s a good strategy to seek the slot games on which you can afford the max bet for every spin, because most games will not pay out the highest possible jackpot unless the max bet has been played. Taking a few spins on your favorite penny slot is a great way of testing out the power of the “max bet” button.

MEAL BOOK – No, this actually has nothing to do with the free buffet on the casino gaming floor. The MEAL book contained within each slot machines in a casino has less to do with prime rib and scalloped potatoes than deposits and credits. The machine entry authorization log is kept as a log of casino employees’ opening the machine for whatever reason, and is a form of official recordkeeping for the house.

MECHANIC – A casino mechanic is likely the person keeping your favorite slot machine in good working order, and taking good care of it when it malfunctions. It takes more than just some basic handyman skills to work on gaming equipment that is expensive and intricate; there are actually dedicated slot machine repairman classes offered by trade schools for the education of this particular skill. These folks have an intimate knowledge of what goes on inside the cabinet of every pokey on a casino floor, and may even have the responsibility of setting payoff percentages.

MECHANICAL SLOTS – Mechanical slots have mostly been relegated to casino museums, and are no longer in play today. Before the (latter) days of Slingo and elaborate second-screen bonus games, before video reels and push-button starts, there was the mechanical slot first devised by Charles Fey with the Liberty Bell. These one-armed bandits actually used a lever to operate the reels, and featured jackpots that were much lower than the life-changing prizes today, because the ratio of losing to winning combinations was lower. Some mechanical slot machines are considered antique collectibles, and sell for a LOT of money… sometimes more than they were worth when they were shiny and new!

MILLS SLOT – The Mills slot machine is another important figure in the history of contemporary gambling. Not only was the Mills device the first slot game to feature a top prize called a “jackpot,” but it was also the first “fruit machine” as well, in the sense of having images of juicy produce on the reels. The Mills slot was a successor of the Liberty Bell.

MONEY HONEY – Money Honey was a groundbreaking slot machine. Designed by Bally – then a major name in slot machine design and development – Money Honey featured not only the first bottomless hopper, but also the first automatic payouts. Up to five hundred coins could not be paid out to players without the help of an attendant. Money Honey was the very first fully electro-mechanical slot machine title, and its popularity was epic and immediate. The slot machine lever that led to the name “one-armed bandit” was becoming obsolete by the time Money Honey came about in 1964, and the new title made it vestigial.

MONEY MANAGEMENT – Level-headed punters will have determined and utilized what money management strategy works best for them, so that they don’t spend more gambling than they can properly afford to. Unless you are the Sultan of Brunei, the odds are that you have to impose some sort of budget on your slot machine play so that the one-armed bandit doesn’t make off with your pants. There are a few widely-used methods of controlling one’s expenditures that have been successfully utilized by players with self-control.

One is limiting the time spent playing during a single session, by saying perhaps that you will only spend thirty minutes of one hour playing. This can get risky if you have a quick trigger finger or are not controlling your bets, however – making this a method that is not the one we prefer. You can also elect to spend a fixed amount of money, and when it’s gone, you must leave. Of course, the prevalence of nearby ATMs may derail you on this as well. There are also hybrid methods in which players may dedicate only a certain percentage of their bankroll per session; move games if they have not had any wins after a predetermined number if spins, or so on. A major red flag for problem gambling (addiction) is the inability to implement and follow good money management techniques while playing the slots.

MULTI-LINE SLOT – The classic slot machines had three reels and a single payline. Nowadays, we have seen pokies with as many as one hundred paylines of action! Having multiple lines offers players the opportunity to bet on many different outcomes per spin, which makes gambling not only more exciting but more lucrative as well.

You are not obliged to bet on every payline of a multi-line slot machine title, although you probably should. We bet that you would feel like a real fool if you didn’t pay a wager on a line that ended up with a killer combination, after all. That’s to say nothing of the fact that many slot games penalize you for not playing all paylines. However, keep in mind that betting the max on multiple paylines can quickly get really expensive. Make sure that you have chosen a multi-line slot that fits your budget!

Of course, the World Wide Web is the place to go if you love multi-line fruities. Online slots have a much greater flexibility of design by their very nature, so software designers have much more leverage to do some really cool things with multiple paylines.

MULTIPLE COIN SLOT MACHINES – A multiple coin slot machine is one that requires more than a single coin or token to play.

MULTIPLIER SLOTS - Multiplier slots offer a shot at greater payouts for bets of higher coin sizes. If you play anything less than the top wager on a multiplier title, your potential jackpot is a good deal stingier than if you topped out your bet. Many popular slot games nowadays are multipliers, because seasoned punters appreciate  the extra degree of challenge that is tacked on by the multiplier function. So-called onesies who favor feeding a single coin at a time into their slot game probably will want to stay away from this type of pokey, for logical reasons. This variety is not to be confused with a buy-a-pay, in which there might be several levels of possible jackpots – multiplier slots generally only have two. (Max bet and non-max bet)

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