Aussie Pokies Glossary: Scatters, Wilds, Hold & Spin and More
Pokies have accumulated a vocabulary that nobody explains to you. You're expected to absorb it by playing, which mostly means learning what a term meant after it cost you something.
Here's the list, in plain English. Keep it open next to a lobby like ozzybet.org and most of the tiles will start making sense.
The basics
Pokies. Poker machines. Slots everywhere else in the world, pokies here, and a site that calls them slots in its own menu probably wasn't written for this market.
Reel. A vertical strip of symbols. Most games run five.
Payline. A pattern across the reels that pays if the right symbols land on it. Older games have 5 to 25. Newer ones often abandon paylines altogether.
Ways to win. Replaces paylines. Symbols pay for landing on adjacent reels in any position, hence "243 ways" or "1,024 ways".
Stake or bet. What you're risking per round. The single most important setting on the screen, and the one people adjust least.
Symbols
Wild. Substitutes for other symbols to help complete a win. Variants include expanding wilds (fill a whole reel), sticky wilds (stay for several spins) and walking wilds (shift across on each spin).
Scatter. Pays or triggers a feature regardless of position, so it doesn't need to land on a payline. Three scatters usually means free spins.
Bonus symbol. Triggers a specific feature rather than free spins. Often a wheel or a pick-me round.
Multiplier. Multiplies a win. A 3x multiplier on a $10 win pays $30.
Features
Free spins. Rounds you don't pay for, usually triggered by scatters, often with something extra attached like rising multipliers.
Hold & Spin (Hold & Win, Link & Win). Coins lock in place and you get three respins, with the counter resetting each time a new coin lands. Fill the grid for the top prize.
Cascade (tumble, avalanche). Winning symbols vanish and new ones drop in, so one spin can pay several times.
Bonus buy. Pay a multiple of your stake, typically 50x to 200x, to start the feature immediately. Banned in some jurisdictions because of how fast it moves money.
Gamble feature. Double or nothing on a win, usually a card colour or a coin flip. Optional, and the house edge applies here too.
The maths words
RTP (return to player). The theoretical percentage a game returns over millions of spins. 96% RTP does not mean $96 back from $100 tonight. Some games ship in several RTP versions and the operator picks one, so check the info panel.
House edge. The flip side of RTP. 96% RTP means a 4% edge.
Volatility (variance). How the wins are distributed. Low volatility pays small and often. High volatility pays rarely and large. This is the number that decides what your session feels like, and most players never look at it.
Hit frequency. How often a spin returns anything at all, including less than you staked.
Max win. The ceiling, expressed as a multiple of stake. A 5,000x cap means that's the most the game can pay, however good the round looks.
Bonus terms jargon
Wagering requirement. Turnover needed before bonus funds can be withdrawn. 40x on a $100 bonus is $4,000. Check whether it applies to the bonus alone or deposit plus bonus, because that doubles it.
Game weighting. How much each category counts towards wagering. Pokies usually 100%, table games often 10% or zero, live dealer frequently zero.
Max bet. The stake cap while a bonus is active, often around $5. Exceed it, even by accident through autoplay, and the bonus can be voided.
Sticky vs non-sticky. A non-sticky bonus keeps your cash and the bonus separate, so you can decline the bonus and withdraw your own winnings. A sticky one merges them and everything is locked until wagering is done.
Max conversion. A cap on how much you can actually withdraw from bonus winnings. Very common on free spins.
Account words
KYC. Know Your Customer. Identity verification. Do it at registration and most payout delays never happen.
Return to source. A rule requiring withdrawals to go back to the method you deposited with.
Cool-off and self-exclusion. Account locks you set yourself, short-term and long-term respectively. Both are ordinary tools, not admissions of anything.
Two settings that belong in any glossary
Autoplay. Runs a set number of spins without you clicking. Convenient, and it removes the decision to continue, which happens to be the decision that matters most.
Turbo or quick spin. Shortens the animation. Doubling your spins per hour doubles what that hour costs at the same stake, without changing a single thing about the bet.
The two worth memorising
If you only keep two: volatility tells you what tonight will feel like, and max bet during bonus play is the clause most likely to cost you a win you thought you'd earned.
