Ask the Slot Expert: Is my slot machine malfunctioning?

The computing world overflows with acronyms. One used in User Support is PICNIC. It stands for Problem In Chair Not In Computer. A synonymous acronym is PEBCAK: Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard. In other words, user error.

Whenever players tell me that they think their machine has malfunctioned, my first thought is, Probably not. Machines sometimes malfunction, but malfunctions are extraordinarily rare.

A bazillion years ago at The Golden Nugget, I had a machine pay me when it didn't look like it should have. I had two symbols land on the payline and a clown (or some goofy) symbol land just below the payline. I took the win and continued playing. (No one ever complains when they think a machine has paid them too much or paid them in error.)

I took a closer look at the paytable and saw that I did have a paying combination. I don't remember the details. My point is that the problem was with the player in the chair, not the machine.

A few years ago, I did have a machine that was legitimately and obviously malfunctioning. It was a benign problem. During the free spins in the bonus rounds, the symbols were gradually disappearing.

By that I mean that program was no longer displaying the symbols. First, bar symbols disappeared. Then the 7 symbols. I was able to get a floorperson over during my free spins. He radioed for a second floorperson to come over. They had never seen anything like it. Symbols gradually disappeared until the screen was blank for each spin.

I was still getting paid for winning combos on the spins. We just couldn't tell what the combos were. After a quick (well, not so quick) reboot, the machine was hunky-dory.

A problem I have with reporting problems to casino personnel is that their default mode is PICNIC. I must be mistaken. I know enough about how things are supposed to work to identify situations that are probably real problems.

For example, I needed to earn a number of tier credits to get a gift. I played enough on a machine to earn the tier credits. I went to the kiosk to print the gift voucher and the display said that I didn't have enough tier credits.

I went to the slot club booth to tell them there seemed to be a problem. Default mode is PICNIC.

"You have to earn x tier credits."

"Yes. I put my card in and played $y, which is x tier credits."

"You have to leave your card in. If you remove it before earning a tier credit, you don't get partial credit."

"I put my card in when I started playing and didn't take it out until I had played enough for the tier credits."

"It might take a while for your play to be reflected in all our systems."

"It's been 20 minutes. I've never seen it take so long before. Can you check to see if my play is somewhere in your systems?"

After a bit of clicking and keyboarding, the rep asked, "Why did you keep removing and inserting your card every 30 seconds?"

I was taken aback that she thought that someone would do that. In any case, there was a problem with the card reader in the machine. The reader thought that the card was constantly being put into and taken out. And know they know about the problem and can fix it.

I played a Quick Hit variation last week. I thought the machine might be short-changing me when a bunch of Quick Hit symbols appeared on the screen. According to the paytable, seven Quick Hit symbols pay $30. But when I hit for seven, the win display in the center of the bottom of the screen said it paid 1500. Six Quick Hits pay $15.

One of the Quick Hit symbols had a diamond background. Three of them appearing on the screen triggers one of the bonus features. Maybe the Diamond Quick Hit symbols don't count for the regular Quick Hit bonuses, only for the other bonus feature and that's why I got paid only 1500.

That didn't make sense. A machine with two symbols that look alike but have different meanings would generate a lot of confusion.

I paid close attention to later Quick Hit scatter pays. Diamond background or no, all Quick Hit symbols counted.

Then I hit six Quick Hits. The center of the playing screen said $15. The win display in the center of the bottom of the screen said that the scatter paid 750. I checked the Win Meter in the bottom right and it said that I won $15.

Cue dope slap.

I was playing the 2-cent denomination. The win display showed credits, while the other messages -- which all had dollar signs in front of the amounts -- were in dollars.

PICNIC

When I was finished playing, I hit the Cash Out button. An error message appeared in the center of the screen: Cash Out to Host Failed.

The machine locked up. It locked up tight. It didn't respond when I touched the buttons on the touch screen. Even the touch screen on the card reader did not respond when I touched it.

I touched the Service button. The machine was in a 7-8 foot high cabinet and I couldn't see if the service light was on. Because the machine did not respond when I touched any of the touch screens, I hit the Service button on the machine next to it to ensure that the slot floor team knew there was a problem here.

A slot attendant came. He put his key into a lock and turned it. The error cleared, my ticket printed, and the slot card reader display went back into attract mode. All was hunky-dory again...?

I checked my point total at the kiosk. My video poker play from earlier in the day was there, but not the slot play. I did a lap around the casino, checking my total at the kiosks I passed, to give the play data some time to hit the slot club system. I knew the machine was communicating with some systems, at least, because I was able to cash out to a ticket.

I went to the slot club booth to report the problem. The rep said they had my play and that I had x points. I said that those points were from earlier play. I should have a total of y points and it's been 30 minutes since I left the machine. I showed him the ticket with the asset number and cash-out time.

He called Tech Support. He asked me if the machine was near a particular restaurant. It was. Support said they see the play and it should appear in a moment.

The rep checked my play history every couple of minutes. When the play still hadn't appeared, he called support again to request someone from the slot department to come by.

I stepped aside so he could handle other patrons. I periodically checked my totals on my phone. After about 10 minutes, they play appeared.

I told the rep that I had the points. Just then a fellow from the slot department arrived.

He said that they checked the machine. He said it was in a condition called card lock. The machine thought my card was still in the machine.

Well, sorta. I used Cardless Connect for this session instead of inserting my physical card. I connected using the app on my phone.

When things went weird when I tried to cash out, the machine never sent the message to end my play session. Your play isn't reflected in a slot club until you end your play session by removing your card or disconnecting in the app or just walking away.

The fellow said that they've seen the card lock condition happen when someone used Cardless Connect and just walked away from a machine and relied on the breaking of the Bluetooth connection to end the playing session. The machine continued crediting play to the Cardless Connect player until another player put their card in the reader.

I've always had a session end when I've hit the Cash Out button when using Cardless Connect. That didn't happen this time.

PICNIC again. Only this time it stands for Problem In Computer Not In Chair.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

Ask the Slot Expert: Is my slot machine malfunctioning?

Books by John Robison:

Books by John Robison: