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Availability & Competition
The direct answer: yes — they are still on the floor and still beatable. They have not been phased out; the families that use them are commercial favorites. What changed is competition — more players read counters, so the best spots get claimed faster. Find them by scouting the mechanic, not by hoping one old machine is still there.
“Findable” and “uncontested” are two different things. Must-hit-by machines are easy to find — the games that use the mechanic are among the most placed titles in the country. What is harder is finding one sitting player-favorable that nobody has already grabbed. That is a competition and timing problem, and it is solvable with a better scouting route, not a sign the plays have disappeared.
Scout the mechanic, not the memory
Titles rotate; the mechanic does not. If you can recognize a must-hit-by ceiling on whatever games are current, you never depend on a single machine still being there. That is the durable skill.
Learn the families that use it
Focus your route on the link and hold-and-spin families known to carry must-hit-by tiers, so every lap covers likely candidates.
Work quieter rooms and hours
Off-peak times and less-trafficked banks often hold counters other players have not reached, lowering the competition on a given spot.
Read every ceiling you pass
Do not just eyeball the big number — check the counter against its ceiling on each machine so you never walk past a quiet, near-ceiling tier.
Move fast on a good one
When a counter checks out, take the seat — in a competitive environment hesitation is how you lose the play to someone else.
For the full scouting route, see how to find must-hit-by slots and must-hit-by hunting.
The 204+ Run the Slots guides tell you which current machine families use must-hit-by tiers and where their counters have to sit — so your scouting route stays pointed at real, findable plays.
View PricingYes. Must-hit-by progressives are still widely placed, largely because the machine families that use them — popular branded link and hold-and-spin titles — are commercial favorites that casinos want on the floor. What has changed is not that they vanished, but that more players know how to read them, so elevated counters get claimed faster. The mechanic is alive and well; the competition around it is simply heavier than it used to be.
Not as a category. Individual older titles rotate off floors the way all machines do, and some quieter locations carry fewer eligible machines than they once did. But new must-hit-by and link games keep arriving, so the pool refreshes rather than shrinks to zero. The practical effect for an advantage player is that you should scout by mechanic — recognizing the must-hit-by ceiling on whatever titles are current — rather than relying on one specific old machine still being there.
Two reasons. First, more players read counters now, so the best spots — a counter sitting just under its ceiling — get taken quickly. Second, foot traffic and machine mix vary by property and time of day, so a floor that looked rich last month can look thin today. The edge still exists on the plays you catch; you just have to cover more floor and move faster to catch them. That is a volume problem, not a proof that the plays are gone.
Scout by mechanic, not by memory. Learn to spot the small 'must hit by' or 'must award by' text under a tier value, focus on the machine families known to use it, and walk a consistent route that hits the banks where those titles are placed. Read the counter against its ceiling on each one. Off-peak hours and less-trafficked rooms often hold counters others have not reached yet. Our finding and hunting guides lay out a repeatable route.
For a disciplined player, yes — heavier competition lowers how many plays you grab but does not remove the edge on the ones you do. The players who still profit are the ones who scout more of the floor, recognize the mechanic instantly, and calculate fast. If you want the honest cost-benefit view including the competition factor, see our 'is must-hit-by worth it' breakdown.
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