Nickel Slots
If you’re familiar with penny slots, you may have heard of nickel slots. Another low-stakes gambling game designed to cater to people who are new to gambling or who want to make a lot of cash, nickel slots are an excellent game for anyone who wants to play with a small sum of money. Don’t let the low stakes fool you, though – nickel slots offer plenty of opportunities to win big and earn massive payouts. In fact, nickel slots actually provide a higher payout percentage than other games.
If you’re going to play nickel slots for real money, educating yourself is the first step.
The more you know about this type of slot machine and how it works, the more effective you can be.
How Nickel Slots Works
Like penny slots, nickel slots are simple machines. You put the money in and spin the reels to take your chances. While there's all sorts of nonsense "advice" out there for how to win big at these games (more on that in a minute), the fact is there's no way to tell when a jackpot is around the corner, and what players do doesn't change the outcome. There's also no way to know if a machine is "hot" or "cold."
Still, you'll want to read the glass to find out what kind of machine you're playing and make sure you're comfortable with that style of play.
A Note on Money Management
One of the biggest mistakes you can make, no matter what kind of slot machine you're playing is to sit down to play without a budget in mind. In fact, this risk is almost more pronounced for low-stakes machines than it is for higher-stakes machines. Here's why: nickel slots can add up. In an hour, you can easily wager hundreds of dollars unless you're paying attention.
One smart way to manage your money is to divide your total slot bankroll for the day into several smaller bankrolls. For example, if you've budgeted $100, you might allot a maximum of $20 for every 30 minutes of play. Only play that $20 through once. If you've won more than $20, pocket three additional money and play with your original $20 once more.
When the half-hour ends, pocket whatever you have left and start the new session with the next $20 you've allocated.
This sounds like a simple resolution, but it's a smart way to keep yourself on track and ensure you're not losing more than you can afford.
Nickel Slots Advice NOT to Take
As we mentioned, there is all sorts of advice out there about how to play nickel slot machines online. Unfortunately, most of that advice is better suited for the trash than anything else. Here's one ridiculous suggestion we heard: that you should play progressive jackpot games that offer nickel spins since the chance of a big payout is larger.
As it turns out, though, that's just not true. After all, progressive games often provide lower hit rates and smaller payout percentages than their flat-top cousins. Case in point: toss that advice in the trash.
Other silly advice may sound smart at first pass. For example, people will tell you to stop while you're ahead. While this can be an intelligent idea sometimes (typically with large payout machines), it's often not practical.
You're not going to stop playing the first time you win, after all. Instead, we recommend taking a smart money management approach like we suggested above. Instead of stopping entirely while you're ahead, pocket your earnings and play your original budgeted amount through. This ensures you're not losing large sums of money at a given time and keeps you from spending more than you're comfortable with.
Ultimately, it's impossible to avoid bad slot machine advice altogether. If you're going to play nickel slots, though, the key is to educate yourself and keep learning. This will make you a more competent player in no time. There's always some trial and error involved in gambling, so don't get discouraged if you make a mistake here and there. It happens to everyone.
Nickel Slots Terms to Know
Whether you’re a new player or an experienced real money slots aficionado, you should know these nickel slots definitions:
A progressive jackpot game is a mobile casino game that offers a massive jackpot that grows progressively each time a player wagers something on the machine. When the money goes in, a small portion of it is set aside to feed the jackpot, making it larger and larger each time someone plays. These machines have smaller payout percentages than flat-top games. It’s actually the different payout percentage that allows the jackpot to continue growing and become very large over time. You should know that the odds of winning a million-dollar payout on a progressive nickel slots games are about one in fifty million. Still – it doesn’t hurt to try!
A slot machine’s hit rate is generally defined as how frequently the machine offers up winning combos. Of course, you can imagine that it’s more fun to play a game that offers a high hit rate. Still, progressive jackpots can’t allow too many hits, since they need to reserve a portion of each payout to fuel the jackpot.
Interestingly, the payout percentage is considered the amount of money a slot machine returns to the player over a given number of spins. Payout percentages can be either high or low. Here’s an example: you’re playing a machine with a 95% payout percentage, which means you’ll win about 95 cents of every dollar you wager on the machine, as long as you play long enough. Playout percentages are how casinos make either money and how they balance the difference between low-stakes games like penny and nickel slots and higher-stakes games.
Flat top games are slot machines that have a fixed, rather than a progressive, jackpot. Wagers don’t fund the pot. Instead, it’s already defined by the games’s RNG or random number generator and par sheet. These games generally have a better hit rate and a higher payout percentage than progressive games.
What’s the Difference Between Nickel Slots and Penny Slots?
Aside from the name, what’s the most significant difference between nickel and penny slots? The most straightforward answer is the payout percentage. Payout percentages on slot machines tend to increase as you play higher denominations. That said, you’ll see higher payouts on nickel slots than you do on penny slots. Play each game for yourself, and you can confirm this in real-time.
If you go someplace like Reno, Vegas, or Atlantic City to play, you’ll see that video slots games for nickels are becoming increasingly rare, while penny slot games seem to be more common than ever. What’s the reason behind this?
Put simply, it’s because most gamblers don’t take the time to educate themselves about different games. Penny slot machine games, for example, aren’t really possible to play with pennies. Instead, you make multiple wagers on multiple pay lines, and it’s easy to wager about $1.25 per spin.
What can you Expect to Win on a Nickel Slot Machine Game?
Of course, all machines payout differently. Still, it’s pretty common to find nickel slot machines that offer a maximum wager of about 3-5 coins per spin. If you’re playing one of these games, it means you’ll be betting about 15-25 cents each time you set the reels to spin. Again – not exactly a nickel.
The highest possible jackpots on these machines, meanwhile, run between $500 and $1500, although there’s a lot of flexibility in that number, as well. Some progressive games offer jackpots that are much larger than that, although you need to remember that it’s highly unlikely to win a big prize on a progressive machine. Since the payout percentage and hit rates are lower, these games can cause you to play for hours without winning much.
Become a Smarter Slots Player
If you’re going to play nickel slots or any other slot machine game, educating yourself is critical. Not only does this process help you be more informed about what you’re playing and why, but it’s critical to avoid common misunderstandings about the denomination of play or the likelihood of winning a big jackpot. Since there’s so much misinformation about nickel slots online, it’s also essential to know how to identify and ignore it.
When you educate yourself and become a responsible player, though nickel slots can be great fun. Low-stakes, easy to access, and available virtually everywhere, nickel slots are an excellent option for anyone who is just getting into gambling, or who doesn’t want to wager much money. Whatever you do, though, be sure to set a budget before you start gambling. This simple step will prevent you from losing more than you’re comfortable with and ensure you don’t get in over your head if you sit down to play.
If you follow those guidelines, you’ll become a competent, educated, excited nickel slots player in no time.
The Slots People Can Play
Enjoy playing real money slots online.
Nickel Slots FAQ
How Nickel Slots Works
Like penny slots, nickel slots are simple machines. You put the money in and spin the reels to take your chances. While there's all sorts of nonsense "advice" out there for how to win big at these games (more on that in a minute), the fact is there's no way to tell when a jackpot is around the corner, and what players do doesn't change the outcome. There's also no way to know if a machine is "hot" or "cold."
What's the Difference Between Nickel Slots and Penny Slots?
Aside from the name, what's the most significant difference between nickel and penny slots? The most straightforward answer is the payout percentage. Payout percentages on slot machines tend to increase as you play higher denominations. That said, you'll see higher payouts on nickel slots than you do on penny slots. Play each game for yourself, and you can confirm this in real-time.
What can you Expect to Win on a Nickel Slot Machine Game?
Of course, all machines payout differently. Still, it's pretty common to find nickel slot machines that offer a maximum wager of about 3-5 coins per spin. If you're playing one of these games, it means you'll be betting about 15-25 cents each time you set the reels to spin. Again - not exactly a nickel.
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