AP Glossary
WhatIsPersistentState?
A game feature that carries over between player sessions, such as collected wilds, counter values, or bonus progress. Persistent state mechanics are what make advantage play on slots possible — without them, every spin would be independent and always -EV.
Why It Matters
Why this matters for advantage play
Persistent state is the structural reason slot AP exists. Memoryless slots cannot leak value between players; persistent-state slots can and do. Recognizing whether a game has persistent state is a faster screen than computing EV — no persistent state, no AP, no exceptions.
Persistent State Slots GuideCross-Reference
Related terms
Accumulator
A slot machine that collects or banks a resource (coins, orbs, counters) over time toward a bonus trigger. Previous players' progress carries over, creating advantage play opportunities when the accumulated value is high enough.
Counter
A visible or hidden tracker on a slot machine that accumulates toward triggering a feature. Counters may display as collected items, filled meters, or numerical values. When a counter is elevated, the machine may be in a +EV state.
Banked Bonus
A bonus feature that saves progress between players. When a previous player leaves a machine with a partially filled bonus meter, the next player inherits that progress — the core mechanic behind most accumulator advantage plays.
Vulture / Vulturing
The practice of finding and playing machines left in +EV states by previous players who didn't realize the value they'd built up. The term comes from the player 'swooping in' to collect value that others left behind.
Live Examples
Machines that use this
Documented Accumulator machines on Run the Slots. Tap any title for the full advantage play guide.
Frequently Asked
Common questions about persistent state
Walk away briefly and come back. If a counter, meter, or collected display retained its value, the state is persistent. If everything reset, it's memoryless.
No — most bonus rounds are ephemeral. The persistent-state subset is specifically those that store progress to a cabinet-level memory between rounds and players.
Almost never per-account. Some platform-level features (loyalty meters, jackpot drops) approximate persistent state, but the per-game persistence common on land-based slots is rare online.
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