PHSWERTE Scatter symbol Explained — Why Position Does Not Matter

The reader is usually assumed to know Scatter symbol already by most pages that use the word. This one does not.

Scatter symbol — Any symbol that pays out or sets off a feature, irrespective of landing position.

What Scatter symbol actually means

Field	Value
Term	Scatter symbol
In one line	Any symbol that pays out or sets off a feature, irrespective of landing position.
Fixed by	The game studio, in the paytable
Where you meet it	The feature list of a game, typically placed by the free spins

Where regular symbols must sit on a payline, scatters need not. Getting a stated number of them anywhere on the grid typically sets off a feature round, most often free spins, with a direct payout on top in some cases. A convention does not decide the number required; each game sets it and the paytable states it.

A worked example

A game that triggers free spins on three scatters with a fixed per-spin trigger probability gives exactly the same probability on spin 201, following 200 spins without one, as on spin one. No memory of the drought exists in the machine, and there is no mechanism by which one could.

The common misreading

Widely, people think scatters are ‘due’ after a dry run. They do not. No spin depends on another, and a long gap since the last trigger leaves the probability of the next one exactly as it was. Behind players chasing a feature that is no closer than it was an hour ago sits this belief, the gambler’s fallacy applied to a specific symbol.

Do not mistake a scatter for a wild: it does not substitute for anything. Rarely is two scatters plus a wild a trigger; on the overwhelming majority of games it is not. Not every scatter is a payout symbol, since on many titles it triggers the feature and pays nothing directly.

Using it in practice

Between games that otherwise look identical, the scatters needed and what they award can differ; the paytable has the details. Prevent the most common misread of a spin result by checking it, which costs nothing.

Game pages across this site use terms such as Scatter symbol, and when a studio publishes no figure for one, the page states that plainly instead of borrowing a number from a comparison site. Blanks in several spec tables here are down to exactly that.

Checking Scatter symbol at PHSWERTE

1. Find the info or help screen after opening a game at PHSWERTE.
2. Scatter symbol appears there, and the definition above tells you how to read it.
3. Look up the same entry for a different title first, then pick what to play at PHSWERTE.
4. Decide your stake and your stop point, and write them down, before you play the first round at PHSWERTE.