How does the predetermined bonus-outcome work?

[XaverNL]

I'm always interested in knowing how a slotmachine exactly works. I haven't found a topic about this subject yet, so I though it would be fun to open one and discuss theories with eachother. If there is already one, feel free to close this.

Let's take Book of Dead for this example:

As soon as I hit that spin button, the outcome is predetermined and the game has decided to pay me 750x my stake (1 euro). My bonus-symbol is Bird and it gave me 5 of them in one spin (for those who dont know the game, if you have Bird as bonus-symbol and it gives you 5 of them in one spin, the game pays you 750x stake).
After the bonusgame has finished, the total payment is 803 euro. Now someone else gets the same scenario as I had, but his bonus paid 778 euro.

How does the slotmachine decide what it will pay to the player? Is it picking a range between numbers, lets say 750x - 850x?
So if it picked a range between 750x and 850x, and I'm at 850 euro with 4 remaining spins, those remaining spins will be dead-spins for sure.

Is it programmed like this to do that? What's your theory on this?
 

[Slotplayer]

The math are quite complicated and no developer will tell you how the wins are calculated. The maths are the brains behind the slot and it is that which makes it unique.

If you search the internet, there is a topic elsewhere on another forum were a game designer (he works for IGT now) answers all sort of questions, It makes quite interesting reading.

[Ziexor]

http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/slots-discussion/77569-ask-me-anything-about-slots.html

[Casinomon]

I like to look at it as scratch-cards, once you bought one, the outcome is already set even if you haven´t visually observed it yet. Once you click that spin-button, the scratch card is purchased, and no matter how the win visually appears to you, what area you start scratching or in what order you uncover the symbols, the win was obviously already there once you bought it. Everything that happens after that, is just a vizualisation/presentation of the amount you won. 

A game like book of dead would NEVER give you a "dynamic bonus round" where you could win anything between lets say 700 and 800x, the exact amount has already been determined and no matter how much the game plays around, retriggers and whatnot, it won´t change the outcoming numbers the slightest. 

If we take another popular game as an example, Immortal Romance, you spin and you trigger the bonus round. Also here, you already bought your "scatchcard" and the outcome is set in stone. But how will the game know which bonus you will pick out of hte potential 5 options? 

Well it won´t ..... but you still have the same scratch card, the same total win in your hand. Picking one of the 5 bonuses will just be like picking one out of five different ways to scratch a scratchcard. Different ways of presenting your win. 

 

There are some games, quite a few, where your choices and picks do actually matter, but depending on what game it is and what provider, I might or not have a clue about how exactly it works. Something you could find interesting, but that I CAN NOT recommend due to the small risk of affecting your gaming experience negatively in case a round gets "stuck" and turns into a 3-day pending case with the support; is to simply close down your browser or refresh the page once you trigger a bonus in different games at different points of the bonus. This way you can many times see something that is normally hard to believe even if people tell you that. I´m gonna spoil one right away so you don´t need to try it out yourself to see it. Montezuma, or even raging rhino and many other WMS/SG - games. Once you triggered your Montezuma bonus, say that you end up getting 15 spins and a  retrigger on 3rd spin with 5x locked multiplier for additional 10 spins, as well as a full screen of apaches on your very last spin. As long as you close the game before the bonus round is complete, it will restart from the point where the bonus was triggered. Now, feel free to "stopspin/quickspin" every single spin like a maniac. What would look and seem like a completely different bonus-experience of the same round, will stll show you the exact same symbols on each and one of the spins, you will get the same retrigger on the same spin and the outcome will obviously not change a cent.