Today’s Almost Entirely Useless Slot Machine Hack

If you’re a slot machine player, you have undoubtedly had the experience of trying to feed a bill into a machine, only to have it spewed back out again.

Sometimes, bill acceptors (yes, that’s what they’re called, although “bill validator” is also acceptable) can be temperamental, but here’s a quick workaround. Because you know calling an attendant can take forever.

If you’ve tried inserting your bill several times, to no avail, put it into a nearby machine and cash out immediately. Assuming you’re in a ticket-in/ticket-out casino, you’ll get a ticket. Now, take that ticket and try feeding that into your original machine. Bill acceptors that have trouble with a given bill are likely to accept a ticket without hesitation, and you’ll be well on your way to your next slot jackpot.

Slot machine
Don’t let a touchy machine stand between you and a hand-pay win, baby.

Bill acceptors scan paper currency to determine if a bill is real or a counterfeit. These devices can scan for a bill’s conductivity, fluorescent properties and optical properties. Some bill acceptors scan for size, the bill’s ink or the security strip.

Sometimes, your bill acceptor might just be having a bad day.

Now that you know the ticket trick, though, you can outsmart the bill acceptor and get on with your play, already. You’re welcome.