Ask the Slot Expert: Slot machine synchronicity

Question: Attached is a picture of two Wolf Run Wild Moon slots, identical machines next to each other on the same bank.

My husband was playing the machine on the left; I was playing on the right. I cashed out a winning ticket of over $400, then put in another $20. A few spins later, I hit another bonus and won just about $150. He was spinning the machine on the left once every so often during my bonuses, as we've noticed that banks will hit bonuses together at times. However, I heard a strange noise, and told him to stop.

Our screens were IDENTICAL.

With RNG's, does this happen regularly?

Or did the guy upstairs click a button to reset our bank remotely?

Conveniently enough, as soon as I clicked the camera on my phone, a security person appeared from behind the bank and told us we can't take photos in the casino.

Have you ever seen this happen?

Answer: I think you've experienced a glitch in the matrix.

As described, the email included a photo of two side-by-side Wolf Run machines showing identical screens.

The first thing I did was check to see if these machines were in a casino with Class III, RNG-based machines. I don't recognize the game, but it's impossible to know every theme on a slot floor with thousands of games. Besides, this isn't a theme that I would be drawn to. Also, the fact that the writer was told not to take a photo had me suspicious.

I checked on the IGT site and Wolf Run is a Class III game. I also checked the Game Finder at a nearby casino and the casino has Wolf Run titles.

The writer didn't mention the casino. The photo showed the card reader display. The display showed an ad for a comedian appearing on a certain date. It also said, "Please Insert Your Card". Why aren't you using a players card?

I checked the comedian's website to see where he was playing on that date. The casino does indeed have Class III games.

Okay. We are dealing with RNGs.

The writer noticed that "banks will hit bonuses together at times." The key phrase is at times. Sounds like the bonus synchronicity was a result of randomness.

The machine is 4 rows by 5 reels. The center reel on each machine shows a stack of Howling Wolf wild symbols.

I watched a YouTube video of someone playing this machine. The reels frequently showed segments of stacked wild symbols going by.

On a reel-spinning slot machine with virtual reels, the reels on two machines could stop on the same symbols. The results look the same, but actually different virtual stops were selected on the machines. The virtual stops just happened to map to the same symbols.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that just because an event is unlikely, that does not make it impossible.

Because we don't have access to the reel layouts, we don't know how many ways there are to land this collection of symbols. The sequence on any given reel might appear more than once on the reel.

The stack of four wild symbols showing on the third reel might appear more than once. Moreover, the stack might actually be more than four symbols high on the reel.

The stacks of wild symbols aren't necessarily the same parts of the reel.

I doubt the guy upstairs reset your machines remotely and that anyone has the ability to do so. I've never seen this happen, but I haven't been looking for it.

I think you experienced an incredible coincidence. If we had access to the random numbers chosen, we might discover that they were different on each machine and just happened to map to the same symbol display.

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