Ask the Slot Expert: My favorite aspect of Diamond Quick Hit Link

A few weeks ago, I wrote two columns about the dark side of Quick Hit slots (The dark side of Quick Hit slots, A better example of the dark side of Quick Hit). I've been playing the Diamond Quick Hit Link machine that I wrote about recently (Is my slot machine malfunctioning?) each visit for a while now. I'm a sucker for Quick Hit machines, even though some sessions show that the name, like Best Buy, is not always accurate.

The dark side of Quick Hit and other scatter pay symbols is that they can ruin a winning combination on a payline. I sometimes get a wild symbol on reels 1 and 2, then the Quick Hit symbol lands on reel 3, taking away a win on that payline.

Diamond Quick Hit Link, like many other slots today, has three bonus features with BS meters that don't show you how close you are to triggering them. On this machine, the BS meters are big green, red, and purple dollar signs with firecrackers on them. When the corresponding symbols appear on the screen, rockets shoot up from the symbol to the appropriate dollar sign. The rockets may light some of the firecrackers.

It doesn't matter what how many firecrackers the rockets light. The meters are meaningless. You're no more likely to trigger the bonus when almost all of the firecrackers are lit compared with when none or few of them are lit.

The three features are:

• Green - Extra Spins: Green firecrackers that award an extra spin may appear on the last reel.
• Red - Reels Up: The reels expand from 3 x 5 to 6 x 5.
• Purple - Rocket Quick Hits: Rocket symbols may shoot onto the screen and explode into a Quick Hit symbol. The symbol itself may have one, two, or three rockets that will be fired onto the screen on the next spin. Those symbols may also have rockets.

One aspect of this game that I really like is that the symbols that trigger these features are not symbols on the reels. They are symbols that appear on top of a reel symbol and then disappear once their rockets are launched. Getting one of these symbols cannot ruin a winning combination.

The green firecrackers that award extra spins operate the same way. When they appear on the screen, they explode, increase the free games remaining counter, and then disappear to reveal the symbol on the reel.

I've been careful to say that these symbols "appear" not "land" on the reel. They are not reel symbols.

You can see the machine I've been playing in this video from Vegas Albert on YouTube.

Now I have a homework assignment for you. You are a slot designer. You want to reward players who bet more.

What advantage do these "overlay" symbols have over reel symbols?

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

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com.

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Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.

Copyright © John Robison. Slot Expert and Ask the Slot Expert are trademarks of John Robison.