Slot machine glossary.

A secondary mode inside a slot game that replaces or augments the base-game spins. Free spins, hold-and-spin, pick bonuses, and wheel bonuses are the common types.

The tall light on top of a slot cabinet. When it flashes, it signals an event to the casino staff, most often a handpay or a cabinet issue.

The total amount of money a player puts into a slot machine across a session, including any top-ups. The counterpart to cash out.

The amount a player walks away from a machine with. On modern machines this is dispensed as a printed TITO ticket; on older cabinets it is coins.

A feature where certain symbols accumulate visible value on the reels that pays out when a trigger lands. Popularised by Buffalo Gold.

The value of one credit on the machine. Penny slots are one cent per credit, dollar slots are one dollar per credit, and high-limit games can run $5, $25 or $100 per credit.

A bonus round in which the player gets a set number of spins without spending credits, often at a modified paytable with multipliers or extra wilds.

A slot win large enough that the machine cannot pay it out automatically. The game locks, an attendant arrives, and the win is paid in cash by hand.

In the Handpay app, an automatic page that surfaces the peak moments from your session log: handpays, the biggest bonus of each trip, the longest hot streaks, and winning trips. Drawn from what you logged. No curation.

A separate slot area inside many casinos, typically with higher denomination machines ($5 to $100 per credit), its own attendants, and sometimes its own bar.

A bonus where certain symbols lock in place and the player respins the remaining positions, chasing jackpots displayed on the board. Made famous by Lightning Link and Dragon Link.

An unusually concentrated run of winning spins, bonus hits, or both inside a single session. A useful unit for remembering a session, even if the net isn't life-changing.

Any top-tier win defined by the game's paytable. Some jackpots are handpays, some are not, and not every handpay is a jackpot.

A pattern of reel positions the game evaluates for a winning combination. Old three-reel games had one line; modern video slots often evaluate 243 or more ways.

A factor applied to a win. A 5x multiplier on a $20 line hit pays $100. Bonus rounds often include multipliers that stack.

Cash out minus cash in, per session, per day, per trip, or per year. The only honest answer to "how did you do?"

A bonus round where the player picks from several hidden prizes on screen. Dancing Drums and Pinball are well-known examples.

A jackpot that grows as players bet into it. Linked progressives pool across many machines or casinos; Megabucks is the most famous US example.

The vertical column of symbols in a slot game. Three-reel games are the classic stepper form; video slots typically have five.

One sit at one slot machine. Cash in, play, cash out. A trip to the casino is usually a handful of sessions stacked back to back.

A symbol that pays or triggers bonuses regardless of its position on a line. Scatters usually trigger free spins.

A symbol that locks in place across subsequent spins or respins, often inside a bonus feature.

The standard modern cashout system. Instead of coins, the machine prints a barcoded ticket you can insert into another machine or redeem at the cage.

A group of slot sessions on a single casino trip, usually across multiple days and often multiple properties. In the Handpay app, sessions roll up into trips automatically.

A slot game played on a screen with animated graphics, typically five reels and multiple bonus features. The dominant form of modern slot machine.

A US tax form issued by the casino for slot wins of $2,000 or more (raised from $1,200 in 2026 under the SECURE 2.0 Act). The form travels with the cash at every handpay.

A bonus round that spins a wheel for a multiplier, a cash prize, or entry into a higher bonus tier. Wheel of Fortune is the archetype.

A symbol that substitutes for other symbols to complete a winning line. Wilds sometimes carry multipliers of their own.

A casino trip where the player walked away ahead on net. Gets its own dedicated page in the Handpay hall of fame.