WJ2 Scatter symbol Explained — Why Position Does Not Matter
Scatter symbol: This kind of symbol pays or sets off a feature, and where it lands is of no consequence.
- Term
- Scatter symbol
- Set by
- The game studio, in the paytable
- Where you meet it
- Next to free spins in a game's feature list, as a rule
- Not the same as
- A scatter cannot stand in for anything, being no wild. The overwhelming majority of games give no trigger for two scatters plus a wild. It is not always a payout symbol as well, given that on many titles the scatter's role is triggering the feature, not paying directly.
Short for: not published.
Most of the confusion around Scatter symbol is caused by the imprecise version of it, because the term itself has a precise meaning.
Scatter symbol — This kind of symbol pays or sets off a feature, and where it lands is of no consequence.
What Scatter symbol actually means
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Term | Scatter symbol |
| In one line | This kind of symbol pays or sets off a feature, and where it lands is of no consequence. |
| Fixed by | The game studio, in the paytable |
| Where you meet it | Next to free spins in a game’s feature list, as a rule |
You do not need a scatter to sit on a payline, unlike regular symbols. Usually a stated number of them anywhere on the grid triggers a feature round, free spins being most common, and a direct payout sometimes accompanies it. How many are needed differs per game, and it is the paytable, not convention, that states it.
The common misreading
Wide belief says scatters turn ‘due’ after going through a dry run. They do not. Gaps between triggers, however long, leave the probability of the next one alone, since each spin is independent. Behind this belief lies the gambler’s fallacy applied to a specific symbol, and the result is players chasing a feature no nearer than it was an hour ago.
A scatter cannot stand in for anything, being no wild. The overwhelming majority of games give no trigger for two scatters plus a wild. It is not always a payout symbol as well, given that on many titles the scatter’s role is triggering the feature, not paying directly.
Using it in practice
Scatter counts and awards differ from game to game, including games that otherwise look identical, and the paytable is where they are given. Nothing is spent on checking it, and that spares you the most common mistake in reading a spin result. A page explaining one almost always explains the rest, so keep what free spins means beside it.
Wherever a studio has not published the figure behind a term such as Scatter symbol, the game pages on this site flag it, and they never quote a comparison site’s number in its place. Several spec tables here carry empty cells, and the explanation is the one above.
A worked example
Exactly what it was on spin one is the probability on spin 201, if the trigger probability for free spins on three scatters is fixed per spin and 200 spins passed without one. No memory of the drought lives in the machine, and no mechanism exists that could put it there.
Checking Scatter symbol at WJ2
- Open a game at WJ2 and find its info or help screen.
- You will find Scatter symbol there, and the definition above is the key to reading it.
- Compare it with the same entry on another title before you pick one to play at WJ2.
- Have your stake and your stop point written down by the time you reach the first round at WJ2.
Related terms defined here
FAQ
Does a casino have any say over Scatter symbol?
Not on this site's evidence. Whenever the game's own mathematics sets a value behind scatter symbol, the studio holds it rather than the operator, and an unpublished one cannot be confirmed by any outside source either.
What does Scatter symbol mean?
This kind of symbol pays or sets off a feature, and where it lands is of no consequence.
Which misconceptions surround Scatter symbol?
Wide belief says scatters turn 'due' after going through a dry run. They do not. Gaps between triggers, however long, leave the probability of the next one alone, since each spin is independent. Behind this belief lies the gambler's fallacy applied to a specific symbol, and the result is players chasing a feature no nearer than it was an hour ago.