PHMAPALAD Hit frequency Explained — How Often a Game Pays Anything
Hit frequency (also called hit rate): How often spins return any win at all, however small, whatever the total returned over time.
Key facts and contents
- Term
- Hit frequency
- Short for
- also called hit rate
- Set by
- Handled by the studio that builds the game, through its paytable and reel maths
- Where you meet it
- Spec sheets and studio info panels, which publish this less often than RTP
- Not the same as
- Comparison tables sometimes blur hit frequency, RTP and volatility into one 'how good is this game' impression, though hit frequency is neither RTP nor volatility. High hit frequency with low volatility, high hit frequency with high volatility or any other pairing is possible, since the three numbers vary independently and the full picture needs every one of them.
Hit frequency shows up on every casino page, yet almost none of them explain it.
Hit frequency (also called hit rate) — How often spins return any win at all, however small, whatever the total returned over time.
What Hit frequency actually means
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Term | Hit frequency |
| Written out | also called hit rate |
| In one line | How often spins return any win at all, however small, whatever the total returned over time. |
| Fixed by | Handled by the studio that builds the game, through its paytable and reel maths |
| Where you meet it | Spec sheets and studio info panels, which publish this less often than RTP |
Hit frequency simply counts what fraction of spins played return a payout of any size, including one below the stake. Though determined by the paytable and reel maths together with RTP and volatility, it answers a different question from either of them. Total returned over the long run is what RTP describes, how that total splits between frequent-small and rare-large is volatility, and hit frequency is only how often the reels stop on any winning combination.
A worked example
A stated 25% hit frequency means that over a large sample about one spin in four pays something while the other three pay nothing. Across 400 spins, expect around 100 winning ones, and with moderate RTP and volatility most would probably be smaller than the stake. Whether those 100 wins add up to more or less than the amount staked is not something the figure reveals; RTP answers that.
The common misreading
A high hit frequency tends to be read as proof that a game pays more or is ‘looser’. It does not follow. Hitting on 40% of spins yet returning only 90% overall is possible because most hits are smaller than the stake, and another game hitting on 15% of spins can return 97% since its hits pay well. Win frequency and the size of the total return are set separately.
Comparison tables sometimes blur hit frequency, RTP and volatility into one ‘how good is this game’ impression, though hit frequency is neither RTP nor volatility. High hit frequency with low volatility, high hit frequency with high volatility or any other pairing is possible, since the three numbers vary independently and the full picture needs every one of them.
Using it in practice
Visible dry spells last longer with a low hit frequency than the RTP alone would suggest, and that affects how a session feels even if the long-run maths is unremarkable. Reading hit frequency and RTP together, when a studio publishes both, says far more about how a session will actually feel than either figure by itself.
Game pages on this site use terms such as Hit frequency throughout, and when a studio publishes no figure behind one, the page says that plainly in place of borrowing a number from a comparison site. Several spec tables on this site have blank cells because of this.
Checking Hit frequency at PHMAPALAD
- At PHMAPALAD, once a game is open, track down its info or help screen.
- Hit frequency is the entry to find there; interpret it with the definition above.
- Weigh it against the same entry on a second title before choosing what to play at PHMAPALAD.
- Jot down your stake and your stop point, and do it before the first round at PHMAPALAD.
FAQ
When picking a game, how do I put Hit frequency to use?
Visible dry spells last longer with a low hit frequency than the RTP alone would suggest, and that affects how a session feels even if the long-run maths is unremarkable. Reading hit frequency and RTP together, when a studio publishes both, says far more about how a session will actually feel than either figure by itself.
Is changing Hit frequency up to a casino?
Not on this site's evidence. The studio, not the operator, owns any figure behind hit frequency that the game's mathematics fixes; when the studio keeps it unpublished, no outside party can back it up.
How is Hit frequency usually misunderstood?
A high hit frequency tends to be read as proof that a game pays more or is 'looser'. It does not follow. Hitting on 40% of spins yet returning only 90% overall is possible because most hits are smaller than the stake, and another game hitting on 15% of spins can return 97% since its hits pay well. Win frequency and the size of the total return are set separately.