The Skill stop is a special feature which allows slot players to control the machines and stop the spinning reels at any moment of the game. This is a button by pressing which the player stops the reels on his own and therefore influences the game. History of Skill Stops First skill stops were added to slots in. This Dual Screen Diamond Skill Platinum Machine features two 23″ high resolution LCD touch screen monitors. This machine includes your choice of Diamond Skill Games Platinum (6 Games) or Diamond Skill Games Platinum 2 (5 Games). Players play the main game on the lower screen.

• Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Schematics
• Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Games
• Seamaster Skill Slot Machines
• Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Machines

Skill-based gaming is nothing new. It debuted in Atlantic City and Las Vegas around five years ago to mixed success.

However, skill slots are currently the hottest thing in Pennsylvania’s gaming market. Numerous people are playing these slots at bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and other types of businesses.

A PA skill game works a little differently from a regular slot machine. Assuming you’d like to know more about these games, you can learn about them below.

How Does a Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine Work?

A Pennsylvania skill game looks and plays very similar to a regular slot machine. You begin playing these games by inserting your money into the terminal.

Next, you spin the reels and hope to line up matching symbols in paylines. Most of these games show how much each winning combinations pays through a pay table on the side.

Again, you can see that these games aren’t much different from standard slots. But each can differ from the next regarding the skill element.

Here are various examples on how these slots incorporate skill:

• A pre-reveal mechanism that allows you to see if you’ll win or lose the next spin.
• You must touch wild and/or scatter symbols to activate them.
• Skill-based bonus rounds.

Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Schematics

Starting with the first option, pre-reveal slot machines first gained infamy in Florida. They give you an option, or force you, to see if the upcoming round will be a winner or loser.

Knowing the result of the spin enables you to determine whether it’s worth playing. Normally, though, you can only see the result of a single spin.

The second feature, where you touch certain symbols to activate them, doesn’t really bring much skill into the fold. It simply introduces a manual element to the game.

Finally, skill-based bonus rounds can see you do all sorts of things. One example is a memory game, where the slot shows you a series of flashing dots.

At first, you’ll have an easier time remember which dots flash. But these games get tougher and tougher as more dots flash and really test your memory skills.

How Do Skill Games Differ From Regular Slot Machines?

A skill slot machine looks and plays much like standard real money slots. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two under most circumstances.

However, PA skill games feature more action than just spinning the reels. As described before, they see you doing everything from tapping symbols to playing fun bonuses.

Pace-O-Matic, one of the biggest manufacturers of such terminals, designs these games in a specific manner so as to avoid the normal gambling distinction.

After all, convenience stores, laundry mats, and bars can’t just offer a regular slot machine without a license. But they can feature a skill-based terminal without breaking laws—at least for now anyways.

These machines also give you more influence over the results. You might not be able to use your abilities to control 100% of the outcomes. However, you may have the ability to control approximately 3% of the action through skill.

The companies that develop PA skill slots aren’t required to divulge return to player (RTP). Their operators don’t need to offer this information either.

This aspect heavily differs from the regulated Pennsylvania gambling market. Land-based casinos must work with gaming regulators and offer RTP figures.

In What Ways Are Skill and Regular Slots the Same?

These games may offer the promise of skill-based gaming. In the end, though, they aren’t much different than standard slot machines.

Both use random number generators to determine the bulk of the results. Your odds of winning heavily rely on the luck associated with each spin.

For example, a PA skill slot might feature 90% RTP on the spins alone. But it would give you the ability to influence another 5% of the RTP through a bonus round.

With expert play, you could bump the payback up to 95%. Of course, this figure doesn’t differ much from casino slots, which typically offer between 90% and 95% payback.

Another similarity is the fact that the house wins in both cases. Some players mistakenly believe that they can win guaranteed profits if they play a skill-based game just right.

The truth, though, is that they don’t have any better chance of winning at a convenience store than they do a casino. The skill aspect is mostly an illusion that’s designed to float Pennsylvania gambling laws.

Of course, you can always get lucky with a skill-based or regular slot machine and win the jackpot. You’ll be relying on luck to win in both cases, though.

Skill Slots Are Quite Controversial

PAIG also takes exception to the fact that these games aren’t regulated. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the makers or operators of skill terminals.

Furthermore, the bars, convenience stores, and restaurants that offer these machines don’t pay additional taxes. They only cover standard income taxes on profits.

Contrast this situation to the state’s 12 land-based casinos. Each must pay a licensing fee to operate along with a 54% tax rate on revenue.

This 54% rate makes Pennsylvania one of the toughest markets for earning casino gaming profits. Meanwhile, skill-based operators gain a competitive advantage by paying far less in taxes.

Will Pennsylvania Ban These Slot Machines?

PAIG has made some headway in bringing light to the hypocrisy surrounding skill-based gaming. The group is drawing more attention to their mission of getting these games shut down.

Police in certain Pennsylvania jurisdictions have seized these terminals during crackdowns on illegal gambling. Pace-O-Matic responded with a lawsuit against the Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement.

As of now, the two sides are embroiled in a murky legal battle where nobody has tasted victory yet. In January 2020, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that Pennsylvania State Police can seize skill-based games while the matter is being decided in court.

This ruling doesn’t mean that authorities will seize relevant terminals all over the Keystone State. Instead, it just lifts a ban on the practice of doing so as law enforcement sees fit.

State police argue that the skill-based machines are only a small part of their crackdown on illegal gambling. They’ve only seized a few dozen of the 20,000 skill games operating throughout the state.

For this reason, the Commonwealth Judge saw no reason to ban such seizures. Of course, the games will be given back if Pace-O-Matic wins its case.

Neither side has presented a compelling argument on why these terminals should or shouldn’t be legal. But Florida might provide a preview on what will happen with this case.

The Sunshine State had a problem with pre-reveal slot machines running rampant throughout its borders. The Seminole Tribe, which holds a gambling pact with Florida, argued that pre-reveal games violated its agreement with the state.

After careful consideration, a judge decided to ban these machines. They ruled that pre-reveal slots fall under the definition of illegal gambling.

Pennsylvania doesn’t have a tribal gaming pact with any Native American tribes. However, it does have a licensed gambling market with 12 casinos.

The state may ultimately rule against Pace-O-Matic to preserve its good relationship with the licensed gambling establishments.

Conclusion

A PA skill slot differs slightly from casino terminals by including some element of skill. “Some” is the key word here, though, because these games don’t give you a true chance to overcome the house edge.

You might be able to influence 5% of the RTP through your abilities. But if the base RTP is 91%, you can only achieve up to 96% RTP.

Skill-based slots remain a mixed bag. They include different elements than a standard slot, but they’re also somewhat deceiving in how much control they give you over results.

PAIG is currently fighting against these terminals and believe that they constitute illegal gaming. The jury is out, though, on if these games will ultimately be outlawed.

Slot game is very easy to master if the player is familiar with all the options of slot machines and knows which buttons are used to choose the betting amount, the paylines, make bets or activate the slots reels. No matter what type of the game you play and how much you are going to spend during the play (your bankroll) the procedure of a slot game is always the same. If you visit a real casino and are not sure about the game rules or payouts, feel free to ask the casino employee how to play slots. However, if you play slots online, you can learn the complete rules of slot machines at SlotsDoc.com.

Slots Rules

Before starting to play and risking money you must decide on your bankroll which is the amount of gambling dollars you are ready and can afford to wager or lose on playing the slot games. The second and very important step is to select the “appropriate” slot machine with a high payback percentage and a coin denomination that suits your overall bankroll. This is crucial if you don’t want to lose all you have in a moment and wish to “stretch” your cash. Today casinos offer many themed slots of different types and that is why you can select a game that is really pleasant to play, with great images, animation and sounds. After you decide on a slot machine, then it is time to play. These are the basic rules of playing real casino slot machines (installed in land gambling halls) and online slots:

Casino Slots

1. Buy special slot coins, chips, tickets or use slots club card.
2. Choose an “appropriate” slot machine.
3. Insert a coin into the slot machine coin receiver.
4. Choose the coin denomination by pushing special +/- Coin buttons if you are playing a multi-denomination slot machine.
5. Select the number of coins you wish to play. Use Bet the One Credit or Bet Max Credits buttons.
6. When you play multi-reel video slots select the number of paylines to bet on.
7. Pull the lever or push the Spin Reels button to set the reels spinning.
8. After the reels stop Cash Out to get the winning.

Online Slots

Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Games

1. Download the casino software.
2. Sign up to create a casino account.
3. Make a real money deposit.
4. Select the online slot game you wish to play.
5. Choose the coin denomination by clicking on the special +/- buttons.
6. Select the number of paylines by activating special Payline indicators or clicking the Lines +/- buttons.
7. Choose the number of coins if possible.
8. Click Spin or Bet Max to activate slot games.
9. After the reels stop spinning check the Paytable.
10. The winnings are automatically added to your money balance.

NB: The names of the buttons and options found on the slot machine can vary. You can learn about the most common buttons, options and features in detail by visiting our slot machine basics page.

Slot Machine Technology

The main feature of slot games which distinguishes slots from other casino games is, of course, the spinning reels. The reels on slot machines stop on their own or by a player pushing the Stop button (this is the so-called skill stop option), the period of spins and the time of stop are influenced by the RNG which generates random numbers determining the game results. When the reels stop, the symbols on the lines player bet on are compared to the winning payline patterns in the game paytable. If there is a match then the win is calculated and paid out. The amount of the win is the value of a bet per line multiplied by the winning amount in the paytable.

Modern slot machines and online slots use a different number of symbols on the reels. This influences the number of possible combinations that can occur during the game and thus affects the slots odds. Here are several examples of 3-reel and 5-reel slots with different number of symbols on the reels. You can see how the number of possible combinations in the game depends on the number of symbols on each reel.

However, modern technologies have allowed to increase the player odds by offering a great variety of bonuses, special substitute symbols and paylines which substantially influence the game results. Today a player can try 3-reel classic slots with up to 5 paylines and 5-reel video slots with the number of paylines from 1 to 100! Casino comps can be also counted as a great benefit and an additional chance to save up money for playing and to decrease losses.

Slot machines usually offer different coin denominations from $.01 to $100.00. These are multi-denomination slot machines which allow the player to choose the coin denomination they want to play rather than always bet the set amount. Multi-denomination slots have an extra +/- button which when pushed allows the player to increase or decrease the coin denomination. These machi¬nes automatically calculate the number of credits to pay out in exchange for cash. Large slot machines which offer bets of $5, $10 or more on one line are often for high-rollers and are usually placed in special casino areas.

Slots Paylines

Seamaster Skill Slot Machines

Slots payline can be defined as a line (straight or zigzagged) that crosses one symbol on each reel and is what the players bet on; or a combination of symbols on the slot machine reels for getting which the player is paid out if he has made a bet on that combination. Paylines are usually depicted as standard patterns in the paytable. Let’s consider an example of the payline patterns on the free slot machine game available at SlotsDoc.com. This is a 5-reel video slot game with 25 paylines which means that the player can bet on 1 to 25 paylines and get paid out for any of the 1-25 combinations that occur on the reels.

NB: For any combination to win, the reels MUST have at least two identical symbols one after another, and the first one MUST occur on the first reel. Otherwise the combination doesn’t pay out.

For a better understanding of the slots paylines let’s consider the examples of winning combinations on the reels and the payline patterns from the paytable they correspond to.

Seamaster Skill Slot Machine Machines

Payline Patterns

There are 25 standard paylines used in most 5-reel slot games. As you see, slot paylines can be lines of different directions: straight, zigzagged, diagonal, vertical or horizontal. To be easily distinguished each payline is marked with a definite color.

The examples below show what the paylines look like on the reels. Moreover, all the combinations you see on the slot game reels are winning ones as they contain sequences of at least 2 matching symbols starting from the first reel.

If you want to try playing online slot games with different number of reels and paylines we suggest you use our slots catalog. Choose the slot games by type, software or theme and play online for free or real money.