Every licensed slot ships with a paytable — the info screen behind the menu or the “i” button. It’s the game’s rulebook, and the ninety seconds you spend in it before your first spin is the highest-value time you’ll spend on the slot.
The five things to check
- RTP. Look for “RTP”, “return to player” or “theoretical return”. This is the deployed figure for this casino’s build — the one that actually applies to you. If it’s lower than you expected, that’s a casino running a reduced-RTP version. See RTP explained.
- Volatility / variance. Often shown as a 1–5 meter or “low/medium/high”. It tells you how the wins arrive — see volatility explained.
- Max win. The ceiling, as a multiple of your stake (e.g. 5,000×). On high-variance games this number is huge and rare; treat it as the top of the range, not the target.
- How the feature triggers. Usually three or more scatters. The paytable shows the scatter symbol and what the free-spins round does — multipliers, sticky wilds, retriggers. This is where most of the RTP lives.
- Bet range. Minimum and maximum stake. Confirm the minimum sits comfortably inside your bankroll and your chosen volatility band.
Reading the symbols
Symbols are ranked high to low. The “royals” (10, J, Q, K, A or card suits) are the low-pays; themed symbols pay more; wilds substitute for others; scatters trigger features and usually pay regardless of position. The paytable lists the payout for 3, 4 and 5 of each — note how steep the jump to 5-of-a-kind is, because that steepness is the volatility you’ll feel.
The variant flag
If a slot can run multiple RTP builds, the paytable is the only place that tells you which one you’re on. We note known variants on each game page — but the in-game paytable always wins, because it reflects what’s actually deployed.
Do this once per new slot and you’ll never be surprised by how a game pays. Then go browse the catalogue and put it to work.
18+. Play responsibly. National Responsible Gambling Programme: 0800 006 008.