Imagine yourself in Las Vegas. Plug your coins into a 3-wheel, 20-stop slot machine — just like the ones in gambling casinos.
But don’t put in too many! With Slot Machine, you start with a stake of only 25 “coins.” Once they’re gone, you’re broke!
There are eight different and exciting games to choose from. How is your luck? Try to hit the jackpot and see for yourself.
About the Game
Slot Machine was programmer David Crane’s second game at Atari. A significant challenge Crane faced with the development of Slot Machine was creating the art typically associated with the popular casino game. Familiar slot machine staples like lemons, cherries, or oranges became almost impossible to distinguish from one another when rendered in a single color. Crane had to scrap some of the traditional art and instead use angular objects that were much more recognizable when drawn with monochrome pixels. This is why you see familiar objects like bars and bells and some completely new objects, such as table and chairs, cacti, cars, and television sets.
Object of the Game
Place your bets, pull the lever, and win big! The object of Slot Machine is to get as many points as possible by putting your own coins on the line. The more you bet, the more you can win!
How to Play
Press the console’s game select button to choose the particular slot machine you want to play. Each “machine playfield” features a specific number of players and “paylines.” The game number appears in the upper-left corner of the machine playfield. The first number in the upper-right corner refers to the number of players, while the second number refers to the number of paylines.
Press the game reset button to start play. The numbers in the upper-right and left corners change to 25 during games 2, 4, 6, and 8, which are two-player games. This represents the number of coins each player receives in their “bank” to begin betting. During games 1, 3, 5, and 7, which are one-player games, the number in the upper-left corner changes to 24.
This occurs because the computer has made its initial bet and subtracted one coin from the original 25-coin bank. The numbers in each lower corner of the machine playfield show how much each player is betting. A question mark appears in each player’s betting square.
Betting
Use the red controller button to place your bet. You can bet up to five coins each time. Games 3, 4, 7, and 8 have a maximum of five paylines. Each bet of one coin increases the chances of adding to your bank. For example, bet three coins and you could win a jackpot on either the first, second, or third paylines.
Games 1, 2, 5, and 6 only “pay” on the center line (or payline). In these game variations, the more you bet (up to five coins) the more you can add to your bank.
After placing a bet, pull back on the joystick to spin the reels of the slot machine. In two-player games, both players must do this to spin the reels. The game ends when one player’s bank is “broke.” To continue play, press the game reset button once to add 25 coins to each player’s bank. The game may end with one player going broke, while the other player has coins remaining. When the game reset button is pressed once, the player who went broke is given 25 coins but the player with coins remaining receives 25 additional coins.
You compete against the computer in a one-player game. The computer makes a random bet for each play. The game ends if you, or the computer, go broke. To continue play, press the game reset button once to add 25 coins to each bank. As in two-player games, the player with coins remaining when the game ends does not lose those coins. Press the game reset button twice to reset each player’s bank to 25 coins for all one- and two-player games.
Game Options
|
Game Type |
Game # |
# Players |
Features |
|
Jackpot |
1 |
1 |
CL |
|
2 |
2 |
CL |
|
|
3 |
1 |
U5 |
|
|
4 |
2 |
U5 |
|
|
Payoff |
5 |
1 |
CL |
|
6 |
2 |
CL |
|
|
7 |
1 |
U5 |
|
|
8 |
2 |
U5 |
Features
Center Pay Line (CL)
Only the center line pays off.
Up to 5 Pay Lines (U5)
The more you bet, the more paylines become eligible to win.
Scoring
Your Slot Machine “pays off” in the same manner as a 3-wheel, 20-stop, slot machine found in a gambling casino.
The score for a one-player game is displayed in the upper-right corner of the screen, while the computer’s score appears on the left. In two-player games, the right player’s score is on the right and the left player’s score is on the left.
