Symbols on a slot machine: what each one does, by studio

The symbols on a slot machine fall into a few working classes: paying symbols, which win when enough of them match; wilds, which stand in for other symbols; scatters, which usually trigger a bonus wherever they land; and feature symbols such as multipliers and money symbols. What each one does is set game by game, in that game’s paytable.

This is an evergreen explainer. The rules below are what three studio game pages printed when this desk read them on 30 October 2026: Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Olympus and Big Bass Bonanza, and NetEnt’s Starburst. A studio’s game page is a summary; the paytable inside the game is the authoritative copy, and it is the one to check before believing any glossary, this one included.

The symbols on a slot machine, class by class

Paying symbols are the ordinary pictures on the reels. NetEnt’s Starburst page names its set as gems, golden bars and lucky sevens, paid across 10 play lines on a 5x3 grid. Where they have to land is itself a game rule: Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Olympus page says 8-30 matching symbols pay anywhere across six tumbling reels. None of the three pages ranks its symbols from low to high; that order lives in the paytable.

Wilds substitute for other symbols, but the word covers very different behaviour. Starburst’s wild expands to fill its whole reel, substitutes for all paying symbols and triggers a respin. In Big Bass Bonanza, the wild’s job in the free spins feature is to collect every visible money symbol. And the Gates of Olympus page, in the feature text this desk read, lists no wild symbol at all; whether the game has one is a question for its paytable, not for the page.

Scatters count wherever they land and usually open a feature. Multiplier symbols carry a value that boosts a win. Money symbols carry a cash value of their own, which some other symbol has to collect.

Same symbol class, three games

“None described” means the page read does not describe one, not that the game cannot contain one. Two details sit behind the table. In Gates of Olympus, Pragmatic says winning multiplier symbols in the feature are added to a total multiplier applied to that win; that running total meets the tumble loop explained in how cascading reels work, and the game is reviewed in full in our Gates of Olympus review. In Big Bass Bonanza, as the studio page describes it, the multiplier is not a symbol: it attaches to the retriggered spins, so the wild doubles as the counter that unlocks it.

Where reel symbols came from

Wikipedia’s slot machine entry sets out the lineage. Sittman and Pitt’s 1893 machine in Brooklyn used five drums holding 50 card faces, and paid nothing automatically. Charles Fey of San Francisco, at some point between 1887 and 1895, cut that to three reels and five symbols: horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell. Fewer symbols made a win simple enough for a machine to read and pay, and three bells paid the top prize of ten nickels. Herbert Mills produced a copy, also called the Liberty Bell, in 1907, and the British name “fruit machine” comes from the lemons and cherries that later filled the reels.

The modern wild, scatter and money symbol are the same idea taken further: a picture whose meaning is whatever the rules say it is.

Does any symbol change a slot’s return?

No symbol class sits outside the maths. The RTP a studio page prints, such as Gates of Olympus’ 96.50%, is a figure for the whole game, features included; a 500x multiplier is already inside it. The figure that applies to the game in front of a player is the one its paytable prints, which is why how to find RTP on a slot machine points there rather than to a review. Symbols that pay by touching, not by line, are covered in what cluster pays means.

Frequently asked questions

What do the symbols on a slot machine mean?

Each symbol has a job set by the game’s rules. Paying symbols win when enough of them match; wilds stand in for other symbols; scatters usually trigger a bonus wherever they land; feature symbols such as multipliers and money symbols add or collect value. The same name can mean different things in different games, so the paytable inside each game is the copy to read.

What is the highest paying symbol on a slot machine?

It depends on the game, and the paytable says which. The studio pages read here print headline figures rather than a symbol ranking: Gates of Olympus symbol wins of up to 50x with multiplier symbols up to 500x, Big Bass Bonanza money symbols up to 2,000x, and Starburst a max payout of 800x bet. Which reel symbol tops the table is listed in the game itself.

What is a scatter symbol on a slot machine?

A scatter is a symbol that counts wherever it lands rather than on a line, and in most games it opens a feature. On Pragmatic Play’s pages, four or more scatters in Gates of Olympus trigger 15 free spins, and three, four or five in Big Bass Bonanza trigger 10, 15 or 20. NetEnt’s Starburst page describes no scatter at all.

What does the BAR symbol mean on a slot machine?

On a modern slot it is a paying symbol like any other, worth whatever that game’s paytable says. NetEnt’s Starburst page lists golden bars beside gems and lucky sevens. Origin stories for the BAR circulate widely, but none of the three studio pages this desk read explains where it came from, so this post does not repeat one.

This is a description of what reel symbols do, not advice on playing them; nothing here was played or recommended. Slots are entertainment with a built-in house edge, and no wild, scatter or multiplier removes it. 18+.