Six slot machines. None of you knows which is which.

You have four minutes to figure it out.

Identify the Settings of more Slot Machines than your opponents to win.

Strange Slot Simulator Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

Strange Slot Simulator is a real-time deduction game.

The six slot machines are each a shuffled deck of 20 symbol cards with their own unique combination of card types

These are placed face down in the centre of the table. None of the players knows which machine has which settings. Your job is to figure it out.

Before play starts, each player blindly shuffles and repositions the machines. This is obviously so no one knows which is which. Then a card with a letter from A through F is placed on top.

Each of the four rounds has three phases. First, players choose which slot machine to reserve, selecting one and placing its letter card visibly in front of them and the deck behind their player screen.

In the Spin! phase, players have four minutes of real-time play. All players here take one of two actions as many times as they can in the time limit.

Pull the lever: draw three cards from your reserved machine, recording the symbols on your game sheet, and shuffling them back in. This is the action you’ll take the most, often with the same deck over and over.

Or swap your reserved machine for a different one on the table. Shout aloud which machine you’re now investigating.

After the timer, there is a short Analysis Phase. This gives you one to two minutes to study your notes and deduce which numbered settings match which lettered machine.

You record your answers in answer boxes on your sheet.

How do you win?

After round four, all machines are revealed, and you score one point per correct answer.

Most correct answers win.

Main Mechanisms

Real-time deduction, hidden information, probabilistic reasoning.

USP

The mathematics. Each machine has a known settings profile, and you can see exactly how many of each symbol type should appear in each configuration.

As you draw cards and record what you see, its expected value and weighted averages start to show.

Theme

Retro Japanese slot machine aesthetics with fruit symbols and bonus chips. It’s thin, but that’s OK.

Setup

The initial setup is the most demanding part of the game.

I only demoed this at UKGE, so I’m not sure how to set the decks up. But you will need to build each slot machine to its specific set of cards before play. Hopefully, you only have to do this once.

But first-time setup is a meaningful time investment. Also, you need to be careful keeping the decks seperate after each game.

Components & Artwork

Player screens, game sheets, six card decks, lottery cards, and signboard cards. Functional and clear.

The game sheet design is well-considered. Tracking six machines’ card distributions simultaneously while playing in real time is no small thing.

The sheet handles it well as long as you don’t make too many mistakes.

Ease of Teaching

The concept is simple.

The execution demands comfort with probabilistic thinking that some players will take to immediately and others will find weird and an impossible task.

Similar Games

Sleuth is the natural comparison. Both are deduction games built around gaining and using hidden information.

Strange Slot Simulator Review

Positives

The real-time play creates tension in a way turn-based deduction wouldn’t be able to do.

The deduction puzzle is satisfying, and using draw samples to narrow down which settings match which machine rewards careful thinking.

Using expected value and weighted averages as a core game mechanism is original.

Negatives

Setup is a chore. You have to check each deck before you play unless you’re really careful.

Long-term replayability is an open question with the six settings fixed.

Summary

A clever and original deduction game that turns math into a four-minute adrenaline puzzle. It’s not for everyone, but very much for me.

Jesta ThaRogue