There’s no question about it: Slot games are the most popular gambling games at casinos. They’re easy to play, fun and offer the biggest jackpots of any game in a casino. But there are some things you should know before you spend your money on these addictive machines.

The first thing you should do before playing any slot machine is check its payout percentage. It’s often posted on the rules or information page of a particular slot machine. If it’s not, you can do a quick search online using the slot’s name and “payout percentage” or “return to player.”

Once you’ve found a machine with a good payout percentage, test its performance by putting in a few dollars and seeing how much you get back after some time has passed. If you find that you’re consistently breaking even, it’s probably a good machine to stick with. If not, keep searching.

Also, be sure to read the game’s paytables and bonus round rules before you start playing. These will tell you how much you can win on each spin and whether or not there are any special symbols that trigger a bonus round, free spins, extra reels, mystery bonuses or progressive jackpots.

Another tip is to avoid complicated slot games with too many perks. Keeping track of all those special features can be confusing and distract you from your goal of hitting that payout. Plus, complicated slots have worse odds than their simpler counterparts.