The notebook
Every entry, newest first. Each one takes a single part of a slot machine and works through what it does and why it is shaped the way it is.
- 11 August 2026 · Reels
How a reel strip is laid out
The reel you see on screen is a window onto something longer. Three visible positions do not mean three symbols; they mean three of however many are printed on the strip behind them. Almost everything interesting about a machine lives in that hidden length.
- 4 August 2026 · Reels
What volatility describes
Volatility is a word about spread, not about generosity. It describes how unevenly results arrive over a stretch of play, and a machine can be described as high or low volatility without that saying anything at all about what it returns.
- 27 July 2026 · Reels
Paylines, ways and clusters
There are three common ways a machine decides that something has happened on screen. Knowing which one you are looking at changes what counts as a near miss and what is simply noise.
- 19 July 2026 · Paytables
Reading a paytable from the top row down
The paytable is usually tucked behind a small button and skipped. It is the only part of a machine that describes itself in writing, and reading it takes about a minute.
- 8 July 2026 · Bonus rounds
Bonus rounds and free spins as devices
A bonus round is a second machine hiding inside the first, usually with different rules. The interesting question is not how to reach one but what changes once you are in it.
- 29 June 2026 · Playing within limits
Setting a session budget before you start
Deciding the size of a session before it begins is the one decision that is genuinely yours to make. Everything after that is the machine's.
- 17 June 2026 · Machine history
From fruit machine to video reel
The mechanical machine had physical limits that shaped every part of its design. Most of those limits are gone, and yet a surprising amount of the grammar they produced is still on screen.