False Flag Slots (Fake Advantage Games)

I referenced this in a couple of other posts and mentioned it briefly in the book, but this deserves its own section, especially these days.

Why did advantage slots exist in the first place? Well, to draw in more people and keep them on the machine so they’d eventually lose all their money. But then these games started getting exploited by people like me. Thousands of people like me.

What can a manufacturer do? Regular folk love advantage slots, but casinos don’t love it when these people get obliterated faster than they should because advantage players are scooping all of the positive plays.

Enter fake advantage games. Of course, plenty of “false flags” existed in slots before manufacturers intentionally started pumping out these curveball slots. But never before have there been so many where there’s never going to be any possible advantage.

I covered one example, Buffalo Ultimate Stampede, in the video below, where there’s a fake meter that might look like you’re building. But what are some other common types of gimmicks that don’t mean anything?

A common one involves various pots or chests collecting what looks like a lot of gold and other jewels. This game, Mystical Treasures, looks very similar to another game that can offer an advantage (Magic Treasures), but even the advantage version has these “bullshit pots,” as I like to call them.

Here’s another somewhat common one:

That Super Burst Cartin’ Gold might look interesting with the “build” of dynamite at the bottom, but it’s all for show.

This “Fever Mode” might look like something on Golden Phoenix, and it gives off a Super Bowl Jackpots vibe:

But it’s also all for show and won’t ever offer an advantage.

Maybe there’s something here with Honey Bomb, as some reels look more promising than others, and it seems like there is a build of sorts happening with the honey:

Trust me, there is nothing there.

Here, it looks like a build with the chests or perhaps the firecrackers in Money Gong:

Unfortunately, it’s all for show.

One more, since I could be here all day with all the nonsense out there. These “wild eggs” must be something in the Willy Wonka I Want It Now! slot:

Nope. They offer no possible advantage.

A lot of newer AP games that come out these days aren’t nearly as good as the AP games of 2023 and prior. Even the ones that can offer an advantage (Voodoo Jackpots, What the Duck, etc.) pale in comparison to the AP slots of yore.

Then, even with decent AP games, there may be a couple of distractions that offer no possible advantage while something a little more hidden does:

With Grand Buddha Link, pay no attention to the pots with gold, but do pay attention to the symbols directly above the reels.

How can you look out for this?

Number one, read the game rules, where it will often tell you that something is just for show and has no bearing on being far or close to a feature. I have been guilty of neglecting to do this at times, and it has cost me in the past.

Number two, ask me (or another slot pro) questions if you’re unsure. I do this all the time myself when I see a game for the first time. It’s great to have a network of pros to bounce questions off.

Number three, go through all of the bets. Often (not always), if it’s not AP, the build will not change. Examples to the contrary exist, such as with Shark’s Lock and Devil’s Lock, but this will help quite a bit.

Here’s my video where you can see a fake AP game in action.