Slot machine symbols come in two groups. Paying symbols award a win when enough of them line up. Special symbols do a different job. Wilds substitute, scatters and bonus symbols trigger free spins or features, and coin symbols collect prizes. Every game’s paytable shows exactly what each slot symbol does.
Two Kinds of Slot Symbols
So, what are the symbols on a slot machine? Every slot machine symbol you’ll see falls into one of two groups.
- Paying symbols. These are the regular icons, like fruits, card values, or themed pictures. Land enough of them on a payline, and you get paid. Low-value symbols appear often and pay little. High-value symbols appear less often and pay more.
- Special symbols. These don’t just pay. They change how the round plays out. That covers wilds, scatters, bonus symbols, coin symbols, and jackpot symbols.
That’s the whole system. Once you know which group a symbol belongs to, the paytable gets a lot easier to read.
Classic Icons and Where They Came From
The oldest slot machine icons are still around. Cherries, bars, bells, and lucky 7s show up in plenty of modern games.
Take Classic 777 on Lucky Stars. BitofGold describes it with “cherries, bars, and lucky sevens” on a 3x3 setup with five paylines. Retro Reels, on the same platform, uses bars, bells, and sevens. On Astro7, All Ways Fruits sticks with bright fruit symbols and 243 ways to win.
These icons date back to the earliest machines. Charles Fey, a San Francisco mechanic, built the Liberty Bell slot in the late 1800s. It had three reels with horseshoes, card suits, and a cracked Liberty Bell. Three bells paid the top prize. Sources don’t agree on the exact year, so you’ll see a few different dates.
Fruit came later. Around 1910, Mills Novelty’s Operator Bell also sold fruit-flavored gum, so fruit symbols appeared on the reels. The bar started as a picture of a Bell-Fruit Gum pack.
Doing a crossword that asks for a “common slot symbol”? CHERRY or BAR often fits.
Wilds and Their Variants
A wild substitutes for other symbols to complete a win. In many games, though, it can’t replace scatters. Here are the main types you’ll run into.
- Standard wild. It fills in for a missing symbol on a payline. In Book of Ra Deluxe, one of the slots on Astro7, the book symbol works as the wild.
- Expanding wild. It stretches to cover its whole reel, which can complete several lines at once. Book of Ra Deluxe has a close cousin of this. Before its free spins start, the game picks a random symbol that can expand across the reels.
- Sticky wild. It stays locked in place for a set number of spins, often during a bonus round. The paytable tells you how long it sticks.
- Multiplier wild. It completes a win and boosts it too. In Dolphin’s Pearl Deluxe on Astro7, a dolphin wild doubles any win it helps make. Great Blue on V-Blink does the same with its whale wild.
- Stacked wild. It fills several spots on one reel at once. Wolf Run on Lucky Stars uses a howling wolf that can land stacked.
Scatters and Bonus Symbols
Scatters don’t need to sit on a payline. They count wherever they land, and the right number usually triggers free spins. Book of Ra Deluxe makes this easy to see. The book is both the wild and the scatter, and three or more books anywhere give you 10 free spins.
Dolphin’s Pearl Deluxe uses an oyster with a pearl. Three or more trigger 15 free spins, and all wins in that round are tripled. In Great Blue, three or more pearl scatters start the bonus with 8 free spins at 2x. You then pick oysters that can add more spins or a bigger multiplier.
Bonus symbols work a bit like scatters, but they open a feature. Wolf Run is a good example. Its bonus symbols only land on the middle three reels. Landing three in one spin unlocks five free spins, with all payouts doubled. The free spins can retrigger too.
Super scatters are a newer twist. Pragmatic Play added them in Sweet Bonanza Super Scatter in 2025. If you land them alongside regular scatters, you can collect an instant prize. In that game, it ranges from 100x to 50,000x.
Coin, Cash and Jackpot Symbols
Coin and cash symbols often show their value printed on them. Collect enough, and you start a feature, or you pick up their values.
They’re the key to Hold and Win games. In the usual setup, 6 or more special symbols start the round. They lock in place, and you get three respins; also, every new symbol that lands resets the count to three.
Jackpot symbols often sit inside that same feature. Most of these games use four tiers: Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. Our guide covers how hold and win works step by step. You can also read about progressive jackpot slots, where the top prize grows over time.
For more examples, browse the reel slots on V-Blink and check each game’s paytable for coin icons.
Symbol Reference Table
|
Symbol type |
What it does |
Example game |
Platform on BitofGold |
| Low-value paying symbol | Pays small amounts and lands often | Card ranks (9 to Ace) in Wolf Run | Lucky Stars |
|
High-value paying symbol |
Pays more and lands less often |
Explorer in Book of Ra Deluxe |
Astro7 |
| Classic icon | Cherries, bars, bells and 7s on simple reels | Classic 777 (cherries, bars, sevens); Retro Reels (bars, bells, sevens) | Lucky Stars |
|
Standard wild |
Substitutes for other symbols to complete a win |
Book in Book of Ra Deluxe |
Astro7 |
| Multiplier wild | Substitutes and doubles any win it is part of | Dolphin in Dolphin's Pearl Deluxe; whale in Great Blue | Astro7; V-Blink |
|
Stacked wild |
Fills several positions on one reel at once |
Howling wolf in Wolf Run |
Lucky Stars |
| Scatter | Counts anywhere on the reels; 3 or more trigger free spins | Book in Book of Ra Deluxe (10 free spins); oyster with pearl in Dolphin's Pearl Deluxe (15 free spins, wins x3) | Astro7 |
|
Scatter with picks |
3 or more start 8 free spins at 2x, then picks add spins or multipliers |
Pearl scatter in Great Blue |
V-Blink |
| Bonus symbol | Opens a feature; 3 on the middle reels give 5 free spins with wins doubled | Bonus symbol in Wolf Run | Lucky Stars |
|
Super scatter |
Pays an instant prize (100x to 50,000x) when it lands with regular scatters |
Sweet Bonanza Super Scatter (Pragmatic Play, 2025) |
Not listed on the platform pages checked |
| Coin or cash symbol | Carries a value; 6 or more special symbols usually start Hold and Win with 3 respins | Check the game's paytable | Varies by game |
|
Jackpot symbol |
Awards Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand; the Grand usually needs a full grid |
Check the game's paytable |
Varies by game |
Read the Paytable First
Every slot has an info or paytable screen. It’s usually behind a button marked “i”, “?” or “Paytable”. Open it before your first spin.
Look for three things. First, compare what each symbol pays, from lowest to highest. Second, find the symbols that trigger features and how many you need. Third, check what the wild can and can’t replace.
Also check whether the game pays on lines or ways. Classic 777 uses five fixed paylines. All Ways Fruits pays across 243 ways instead. That changes how your symbols need to line up for a win.
Want to test a few games before you load anything? New accounts currently get a $20 sign-up bonus to use as BitofGold free play. Check the current terms first, since the site lists the bonus rules and cashout limits. BitofGold accounts are for adults 21 and older.
FAQ
How many symbols are on a slot reel?
There’s no fixed number. If you’re wondering how many symbols are on a slot machine reel, the answer depends on the game. Modern slots use virtual reels, so you don’t see the full set. A random number generator picks a stop on a virtual reel that can hold far more positions than the visible window shows.
Are some symbols luckier than others?
No. A random number generator decides every result, so no symbol is luckier than another. Higher-value symbols just appear less often, which is why they pay more. Wearing a lucky shirt or picking a “hot” game won’t change the odds. Check the paytable for what each symbol pays.
What is the highest-paying symbol?
It depends on the game. Usually it’s a themed premium icon or the wild. In Book of Ra Deluxe on Astro7, the explorer is the top regular symbol. The in-game paytable shows exactly what it pays. Every game lists this in its paytable, so look there before you play.
What is a stacked symbol?
A stacked symbol fills several positions on one reel at once. That means one reel can cover more than one payline in a single spin. Wolf Run on Lucky Stars is a clear example. Its howling wolf wild can land stacked, often covering a whole reel. One stack like that can complete wins on many lines at once.