Slot Machine Symbols Explained: What Every Icon Does
Slot machine symbols are the icons that appear on the reels. Every symbol either awards a win or serves a special purpose, such as substituting for other symbols or triggering bonus features.
The symbols on a slot machine fall into two broad groups: standard and special.
Standard symbols make up the regular payouts you’ll see on most spins. Special symbols, such as wilds, scatters, and bonus symbols, add extra features that can increase your payouts or unlock new game modes.
No two slots use the same symbol lineup. The exact role, payout, and rules for every symbol are always listed in the game’s paytable so you can easily verify their role.
This guide explains every major type of slot machine symbol, what each one does, and how to use the paytable to understand any slot you play.
Common Slot Machine Symbols and What They Pay
Standard symbols are the icons that fill most positions on the reels and create the majority of wins during normal gameplay.
Unlike special symbols that trigger features, these are the everyday symbols you’ll see on almost every spin. You score wins when standard matching symbols land on a preset payline on consecutive reels from left to right.
Although every slot has its own theme and symbol style, most standard symbols fall into a handful of familiar categories, as you can see below in the table.
| Examples | Typical payout rank | What to know | |
| Card ranks | A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 | Lowest | These appear most often, so they pay the least. |
| Fruit | Cherries, lemons, oranges, plums, grapes, watermelons | Low to medium | A classic slot staple. Exact payouts vary from game to game. |
| Bars | Single BAR, Double BAR, Triple BAR | Medium | Most common in classic slots, with higher BAR values often paying more. |
| Lucky 7s | Single or multiple 7 symbols | High | Traditionally one of the highest-paying standard symbols in classic slots. |
| Premium themed symbols | Characters, animals, treasures, gods, logos, or other theme-specific icons | Highest | These usually appear least often but offer the biggest regular payouts outside special features. |
As a general rule, the more frequently a symbol appears, the less it pays. Low-value symbols, like card ranks, land most often and pay the least.
High-value premium symbols appear much less often, but matching them produces the biggest standard payouts.
Because every slot assigns different values to its symbols, the game’s paytable is always the final authority. It lists every standard symbol, shows how much each winning combination pays, and explains any game-specific exceptions before you start spinning.
Wild Symbols: The Substitutes
A wild symbol is a special symbol that stands in for standard symbols to complete a winning combination.
Wilds usually substitute only for standard paying symbols. In most slots, they do not replace scatter or bonus symbols because those symbols trigger special features under their own rules. If a game breaks this convention, it will make that clear in the paytable.
There are more types of wild symbols than just the standard substitute, adding unique variations and features.
Stacked wilds appear across multiple positions on the same reel, like a vertical block. They touch multiple paylines, thus giving you more chances of forming winning combinations on one spin.
Expanding wilds land as a regular, one-symbol wild, but then they grow to cover the entire reel. That’s the difference between stacked and expanding wilds; a stacked wild is already “grown” when it lands.
Sticky and walking wilds are yet two more popular variations of the wild symbol.
Sticky wilds land as usual, but then they stay in place for multiple spins instead of disappearing after one.
Walking wilds shift one reel space with each spin, usually starting at the leftmost reel.
Wild multipliers are very common. They substitute like normal wilds but also multiply the payout of any winning combination they help create.
In many modern slots, you won’t find just one type of wild, but rather, multiple working in combination.
For example, a game might feature expanding multiplier wilds or sticky stacked wilds, giving a single symbol more than one ability.
You’ll know for sure how the wilds work when you read the slot’s paytable.
Scatter Symbols: Wins From Anywhere on the Grid
A scatter symbol is a special symbol that pays or triggers a feature regardless of where it lands on the reels. It does not need to land on a payline like a regular slot symbol.
Scatter symbols typically serve two purposes: awarding a win or triggering a free spins round.
Some award an instant cash prize based on your total bet. For example, landing three or more scatters might pay three times your bet (3x). More commonly, scatters trigger free spins.
In that case, the more scatter symbols you land, the more free spins you receive. A game might award 10 free spins for three scatters, 15 for four, and 20 for five.
Some modern slots even include two different scatter symbols, with each one unlocking a separate feature or bonus round.
Again, the only way to know for sure what the scatter does and how much it pays in a particular slot is to review the paytable before you play.
Bonus Symbols: What Opens the Feature
A bonus symbol unlocks special bonus rounds. Like scatters, they do not need to land on a payline to count. A bonus symbol might trigger a pick-me game, a hold-and-win round, a jackpot game, or any other bonus within the slot.
The difference with a scatter, however, is that a bonus symbol usually has to land on specific reels, whereas a scatter can land anywhere. For example, the bonus symbol might only count if three of them land on reels 1, 3, and 5.
Some slots blur the line by using a single symbol as both a scatter and a bonus trigger, or by referring to scatter symbols as bonus symbols in the game’s rules.
Special Symbol Variants in Modern Slots
Beyond wilds, scatters, and bonus symbols, there are many additional slot machine features that have become standard in modern slots.
These symbols could appear during the base game or only within the bonus round; every slot is different.
Sticky symbols: These land as regular symbols, but instead of disappearing on the next spin, they stay locked in place. As new symbols land around them, they can help form new winning combinations across multiple paylines. They’re very common in hold-and-win slots.
If you’re not familiar with what the hold-and-win feature is, it’s a bonus game where symbols stick to the grid and usually award fixed jackpots.
Multiplier symbol: If you land a multiplier symbol, it will multiply either a win it helps complete or your current bet at the time that it lands. Its value is determined by the number it shows, such as 5x or 10x. Free spins rounds often have multiplier symbols.
Walking or shifting wilds land on the reels and move one reel space as the reels keep spinning. They continue to shift until they reach the edge of the grid.
Colossal or giant symbols take up multiple positions on the grid, forming a block. You might find one as 3×3, 4×4, or as an even larger block.
Cascading and cluster reels: Some slot games don’t use paylines at all, but rather “cluster pays.” This means a number of matching symbols land touching horizontally or vertically to award a win.
Cluster reels usually go hand-in-hand with cascading reels, where winning symbols disappear, and new symbols fall into their place.
Where Classic Slot Symbols Come From
The classic slot symbols you still see today are leftovers from the earliest mechanical slot machines.
Some were inspired by the earliest gambling devices ever built, and others were clever workarounds to gambling laws in the early 1900s.
Bells
The Liberty Bell was the first widely successful slot machine. Players in the early 1900s would have been rooting for combos of card symbols, horseshoes, stars, and a cracked Liberty Bell.
Three bells awarded the top prize, and the hype from that era has carried over to the modern day, with the bell still one of the most iconic symbols in slots.
Fruit Symbols
Fruit symbols arrived a few years later for a different reason. In places where cash-paying slot machines were legally restricted, manufacturers built machines that dispensed fruit-flavored chewing gum instead of awarding money.
The symbols on the reels matched the flavor of the gum you won, which is how cherries, lemons, oranges, and plums became a staple of slot symbols.
BAR Symbols
The BAR symbol also has an unexpected origin. It comes from the Bell-Fruit Gum Company logo, which displayed the word “BAR” inside a black rectangle.
Even after players stopped winning chewing gum, the logo remained on the reels and eventually became one of the defining symbols of classic slots.
Lucky 7s
Lucky 7s rose to the top because the number seven has long been associated with good fortune in many cultures.
Slot manufacturers embraced that reputation by making three 7s the highest-paying standard combination in many classic games, a tradition that continues today.
Although modern slots are now bustling with vivid movie characters, mythical creatures, and elaborate themes, fruit, BARs, lucky 7s, and the Liberty Bell remain the visual language of classic slots.
You’ll still find these symbols front and center in retro and classic-themed games decades after they first appeared, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down.
How Symbols Shape Payouts and Features
All symbols have their place, but each slot defines them differently. The same symbol can behave differently from game to game because each slot has its own rules for creating wins.
Most slots use paylines, where matching symbols land from left to right across predetermined lines. Others use ways-to-win, where matching symbols simply need to land on consecutive reels, regardless of their position. That’s the difference between payways vs. paylines.
Some games use cluster pays, which award wins when matching symbols touch horizontally or vertically.
Generally speaking, low-value symbols land more frequently, creating smaller wins that keep the game bumping along. Premium symbols appear less often but usually pay more.
Together, that’s how paylines and hit frequency work. When you add in RTP for slots, you get a good idea of how often you’ll land winning combinations and how a slot session feels.
So we’re clear: RTP, or Return to Player, is the theoretical percentage of wagers a slot pays back over millions of spins. A higher RTP generally returns more over the long run, but it doesn’t change the outcome of any individual spin.
As for the fairness of your game, every spin is determined by a random number generator (RNG). The actual symbols you see don’t have any bearing on what will happen next or make any future result more or less likely.
Reading the Symbols in Any Slot Game
Slot symbols might show astronauts, fruits, or bank vaults. Impressive as they are, the artwork is merely decoration. What the symbols actually do is determined by the paytable.
Each slot symbol has one of 4 jobs:
- Standard symbols pay on paylines or through ways to win
- Wilds substitute for other regular symbols
- Scatters pay and trigger from anywhere on the grid
- Bonus symbols land on specific reels and trigger special features and mini games
Always take a few seconds to read the paytable before you spin so you’re clear on what each symbol does. Once you know how to read a slot paytable, everything else falls into place.
The best way to understand how slot machine symbols work is to see them for yourself with online slots at SlotsLV Casino.
More About Slot Machine Symbols
What are the symbols on a slot machine?
Slot machine symbols fall into two groups. You’ll find standard symbols such as card ranks, fruit, BARs, lucky 7s, and premium, themed icons that create winning combinations. Special symbols such as wilds, scatters, and bonus symbols add features or trigger bonus rounds.
What does a wild symbol do in slots?
A wild symbol substitutes for standard symbols to complete or extend winning combinations. It usually can’t replace scatter or bonus symbols, although games often add variants such as stacked, expanding, sticky, or multiplier wilds.
What is the difference between a scatter and a bonus symbol?
Scatter symbols pay or trigger features from anywhere on the reels. Bonus symbols usually need to land on specific reels to activate a bonus round.
Which slot machine symbols pay the most?
The rarest standard symbol usually pays the most. In classic slots, that’s often the lucky 7, while video slotsreserve the top payouts for premium themed symbols such as characters, treasures, or logos.
Do the symbols on a slot machine affect my odds?
No. A random number generator (RNG) determines every spin independently, so the symbols you see don’t change your odds on the next spin. RTP and hit frequency provide a much better picture of how a slot pays over time.
Why do slot machines use fruit symbols?
Early slot machines awarded fruit-flavored chewing gum instead of cash in places with gambling restrictions. The fruit on the reels matched the flavor of the prize, and the symbols remained even after cash payouts returned.
How many symbols are on a slot machine reel?
Most slots use 8 to 15 symbols, although the exact number varies by game. That’s different from the number of symbol positions on a reel, which determines how many icons each reel displays during a spin.
