Slot Machine Symbols: Classic Icons, Special Features & How They Work

Slot machine symbols are the pictures on the reels that show the result of each spin. They fall into two groups: regular paying symbols (fruits, bars, bells, 7s, card ranks or themed icons), which pay when enough of them line up, and special symbols (wilds, scatters, multipliers and bonus icons), which substitute, trigger features or boost wins. The paytable in every game lists exactly what each one is worth.

Knowing the symbols will not change the odds; that is set by the game’s random number generator. It does help you read a game quickly, spot where the big payouts sit and understand how volatile it is likely to be. Here is what the classic icons mean, where they came from, and how modern features work. For more on the basics, see our guides to paylines and slot volatility.

What Are Slot Machine Symbols?

When you press spin, a random number generator (RNG) picks the result instantly. The reels are just the display: they show which symbols landed, and the game pays according to the paytable. Every symbol has a set value, usually for three, four or five matching in a row. Low-paying symbols (often A, K, Q, J or simple fruits) land often and pay small amounts; premium symbols land rarely and pay more.

A practical rule: the paytable is the most useful screen in any pokie. It shows symbol values at your current stake, which symbols are wild or scatter, how features trigger, and in most regulated markets the game’s theoretical return to player (RTP).

Classic Slot Machine Symbols

Classic three-reel games use a small set of icons that most people recognise instantly. They still dominate the “classic” section of any pokies lobby, and many video slots borrow them for a retro look.

Fruit Symbols, Bars, Bells & Sevens

The Liberty Bell: The Original Jackpot

The first widely successful slot machine, the Liberty Bell, was built in San Francisco by Charles Fey, a Bavarian-born mechanic, around 1895 to 1899 (sources differ on the exact year). It had three reels and five symbols: horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a cracked Liberty Bell. Three bells paid the top prize of 50 cents, or ten nickels. The bell became shorthand for the jackpot, which is why it still appears on modern games.

Cherries, Lemons and Other Fruit

Fruit arrived in the early 1900s, when cash-paying machines faced bans in cities such as San Francisco and later across many US states. Manufacturers, notably the Mills Novelty Company, sold machines that dispensed fruit-flavoured chewing gum, and the reels showed the flavours: cherry, lemon, orange and plum. Whether the gum made the machines legal varied from place to place, and many still paid out under the counter. The fruit symbols stuck, and in the UK slot machines are still called “fruit machines”.

The Bar Symbol

The popular story is that the BAR symbol comes from the logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company, a gum supplier linked to early machines, whose emblem looked like a stick of gum. Historians treat that origin as likely but not fully proven. Either way, single, double and triple bars became standard, usually ranked in that order.

Lucky Sevens

Seven has been considered lucky in many cultures for centuries, and on slots it signals the top-paying symbol. Red 7s are especially common on three-reel games, and on many classic machines three of them land the biggest fixed win or the progressive jackpot.

Why These Symbols Became Popular

They are simple and readable. A line of three cherries or three 7s tells you that you have won before the meter even moves. That clarity is why classic symbols survived the move from mechanical reels to video screens and then to phones.

Special Symbols in Modern Slots

Video slots added symbols that change what happens on the reels rather than just paying out. You will find them across most online casino games in the pokies category.

Wilds, Scatters, Multipliers & Bonus Symbols

• Wilds substitute for regular symbols to complete winning lines, like a joker in cards. Variants include expanding wilds (fill a whole reel), sticky wilds (stay for several spins) and walking wilds (move one reel each spin). Wilds usually cannot replace scatters or bonus symbols.
• Scatters pay from any position, not just on a payline. Landing three or more usually triggers free spins.
• Multipliers increase a win by a set factor, such as 2x or 10x. Some sit on wild symbols; others build up during a bonus round.
• Bonus symbols trigger a separate feature, such as a pick-and-click game, a wheel or a hold-and-win respin round.

Other Special Symbols You Will Meet

Beyond the big four, modern pokies use a handful of symbol mechanics that change how a spin plays out. Each one shows up in the paytable or the game rules screen, usually under “features”.

• Stacked symbols fill several positions on one reel at once. A stack of premium icons on the first three reels can produce many line wins in a single spin.
• Colossal or giant symbols cover a block such as 2×2 or 3×3 and count as that symbol on every position they cover.
• Mystery symbols land as a blank or question-mark icon, then all reveal the same random symbol after the reels stop.
• Cash or coin symbols carry a value, often shown as a multiple of your bet. Six or more usually start a hold-and-win respin round, where they lock in place and each new one resets the respin counter.
• Collector symbols gather the values of every cash symbol on screen when they land.
• Jackpot symbols award a fixed or progressive prize, such as Mini, Minor, Major and Grand, either directly or inside a bonus round. Our jackpot pokies guide explains how progressive pools grow.

Cascades and Cluster Pays

Not every game pays along lines. In cascading (also called tumbling or avalanche) reels, winning symbols disappear and new ones fall into their place, so one paid spin can trigger a chain of extra wins at no extra cost. Many of these games raise a multiplier with each cascade in the chain.

Cluster-pays slots drop the reel-and-line idea altogether. Wins come from groups of matching symbols that touch horizontally or vertically, typically five or more, anywhere on a larger grid. Play’n GO’s Reactoonz is a well-known example. The symbols are the same kind of pictures, but the paytable lists values by cluster size rather than by how many land in a row.

How Special Symbols Affect Gameplay

Special symbols shift where the money is. In many modern pokies a large share of the game’s total return comes from features rather than base-game line wins. That usually means longer dry spells in the base game and bigger swings when a feature lands, which is what players mean by higher volatility.

Checklist: How to Spot High-Value Symbols

• Open the paytable: premium symbols are listed first or with the biggest values.
• Look for the game logo or main character, which is often the top-paying symbol.
• Check what five wilds pay; in many games it is the highest fixed line win.
• Expect card ranks (A, K, Q, J, 10) to be the lowest payers in themed slots.

Example: How a Paytable Ranks Symbols

This made-up five-reel paytable shows a typical layout, with payouts as multiples of the line bet:

The pattern holds across most video slots: card ranks pay least, themed icons pay more, and the wild or logo pays most. Scatters usually sit outside this table, with their own payouts and feature triggers.

How to Read Symbols in a Paytable, Step by Step

1. Set your stake first. Most online paytables update their figures to match your current bet, so a value shown at a 20c stake changes when you move to $1.
2. Find the wild. Check which symbols it replaces, whether it carries a multiplier and whether it pays on its own.
3. Find the scatter or bonus symbol. Note how many trigger the feature and whether they must land on specific reels (often reels 1, 3 and 5).
4. Rank the regular symbols. Compare the five-of-a-kind values; the gap between the top symbol and the card ranks tells you how much of the return sits in rare hits.
5. Check the win rules. Look for “left to right”, “both ways”, “ways” or “cluster” so you know how symbols are counted.
6. Read the RTP and volatility line. Where the game shows them, they describe the long-run return and how bumpy the ride is likely to be, not what will happen in your session.

Two minutes on this screen tells you more about a game than any review headline. If a game has no paytable, no RTP figure and no named developer, skip it.

Classic vs Modern Slot Symbols

How Many Symbols Are on a Slot Machine?

It depends on whether the reels are physical or virtual.

Symbol Count in Classic vs Video Slots

A traditional mechanical reel typically has around 20 to 22 stops. With three reels of 22 stops, there are only 10,648 possible combinations, which limits how big a jackpot can be. Modern machines map those visible stops to a much larger “virtual reel” in software, a technique patented in the early 1980s, so the game can make the jackpot symbol far rarer than it looks. Video slots take that further, with reel strips that can hold dozens or hundreds of positions.

How Symbol Volume Affects the Odds

The more positions on a reel, the less likely any single symbol is to land on a given spin. Game designers use that to balance hit frequency against prize size: rarer premium symbols allow bigger top wins, which is how progressive and high-volatility games fund large payouts. The overall return is still set by the RTP, so more symbols does not mean a worse game, just a different distribution of wins.

Slot Reels, Rows, and Paylines Explained

Symbols land on a grid of vertical reels and horizontal rows. Whether they pay depends on how the game counts wins. Our guide to pokies paylines goes into more detail.

How Symbols Align to Trigger Wins

Classic games often use a single centre line. Video slots commonly use 10, 20 or 50 fixed paylines, “ways to win” systems (243 or 1,024 ways), or Megaways mechanics with up to 117,649 ways. In most games, matching symbols must run from the leftmost reel to the right.

“Win both ways” games also pay right to left. NetEnt’s Starburst is the best-known example: it has 10 paylines that pay in both directions, and its published RTP is 96.09%. When a full line of five matches, the game pays it once, not twice.

Evolution of Slot Symbols (From Mechanical to Digital)

Visual Design, Animations & Themes

Symbols now animate, explode, transform and cascade. Themes range from ancient Egypt to space travel, and symbols act as characters in a story rather than static pictures. Features such as cascading reels remove winning symbols and drop new ones in, so a single spin can produce several wins.

Local Flavour: Australian-Themed Pokies

Australian manufacturers such as Aristocrat built much of the modern pokie style, and outback themes remain popular: kangaroos, koalas, Uluru and gold-rush imagery all turn up as premium symbols. Many of the “hold and spin” and stacked-symbol features now common in online slots were first popularised on Australian pub and club machines.

Final Thoughts: Spotting Symbols That Suit Your Play Style

Read the paytable before you bet. If you want simple, steady sessions, classic fruit-style games with few special symbols suit you. If you are after bigger swings, look for games with sticky or multiplier wilds and feature-heavy bonus rounds, and expect longer dry spells. Either way, the symbols do not change the maths, so set a budget and stick to it. For an overview of game types, visit our casino games hub. Our guide on how to win on the pokies explains what you can and cannot control, and our responsible gaming page lists support services, including Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858.

FAQ

What symbols are on a slot machine?

Regular paying symbols such as fruits, bars, bells, 7s, card ranks (A, K, Q, J) or themed icons, plus special symbols such as wilds, scatters, multipliers and bonus icons that trigger features.

What do fruit symbols mean on a slot machine?

They date from early-1900s machines that dispensed fruit-flavoured chewing gum as prizes during US bans on cash payouts. The flavours were shown on the reels, and the icons stuck.

What are wild symbols in slots and how do they work?

Wilds substitute for regular symbols to complete winning lines. Some expand, stick in place or move across the reels. They normally cannot replace scatter or bonus symbols.

What is a scatter symbol?

A scatter pays wherever it lands on the reels, not just on a payline. Three or more usually trigger free spins or another bonus feature.

What are the signs of a rigged slot machine?

Regulated games use independently tested RNGs and publish their RTP. Warning signs include no licence information, no named game provider, missing paytables or RTP data, and copies of well-known games from unfamiliar sites. Stick to games from established providers.

What is the highest-paying symbol on a slot machine?

It varies by game, so check the paytable. On classic machines it is usually the red 7 or a triple bar; on video slots it is normally the wild, the game logo or the main character.

What is a cash or coin symbol?

A symbol that carries a prize value, usually a multiple of your bet. Landing enough of them, often six, starts a hold-and-win respin round where they lock in place.

How many symbols are there on a slot machine reel?

Physical reels usually have about 20 to 22 stops. Software maps these to larger virtual reels, and video slots can have reel strips with dozens or hundreds of positions.

What does the 🎰 emoji mean?

It shows a slot machine, often with 7s on the reels, and is used to mean luck, a jackpot or gambling in messages and social media.