Predictions for Decision-Based Mechanics in Future Pokies

Pokies are built around chance, but that does not mean every part of the game has to make the decisions for you. Developers have plenty of room to give players a bigger role, and the most interesting ideas leave the reels alone while changing what happens around them.

A pokie usually asks very little of you once the reels start moving. You press spin, watch what happens and go again. That basic routine has lasted for decades, but game developers now have far more room to play with it. Future pokies may start asking you to make choices along the way, turning parts of the game into something you actively take part in rather than simply watch.

Pokies Already Have the Building Blocks for More Choice

Online pokies have already moved well beyond lining up three fruit symbols. Bonus rounds interrupt the reels, features change what happens during play, and different games ask you to follow their own rules. Adding more player choice is another step along the same road.

That progression is already visible in the way players browse for games. The pokies lobby at VegaStars online casino separates new releases from exclusive picks, so the choice begins before the reels even start moving. The next step is bringing more of that decision-making into the game itself.

A future pokie might let you choose which bonus route to take or decide where collected symbols are used. Another decision might carry into the next feature. The basic spin can stay intact while the player gets more say in what happens around it.

The important part is that the choice has a purpose. Pressing a different button means little when both buttons lead to exactly the same place.

Choice Can Sit Around the RNG

Randomness does not prevent a game from giving you decisions. Videogames have spent years combining random events with choices about what the player does next. A game can determine what appears at random, then hand control back to you.

That distinction opens up plenty of room for pokies. The reels might produce a particular bonus state, for instance, while you decide which route to follow once you get there. Randomness determines the situation; your decision determines what you do with it.

Developers also have better tools for testing these ideas. NVIDIA researchers Alex Zook, Josef Spjut and Jonathan Tremblay demonstrated at CVPR 2025 that an AI design system could analyse behavioural data produced by a reinforcement-learning player and adjust game mechanics toward a specified gameplay goal.

That type of automated testing gives designers a practical way to run large numbers of interactions before a game reaches players. As pokies become more interactive, testing what people can do inside them becomes as important as testing what the reels produce.

Bonus Games Give Decisions Somewhere to Live

Bonus rounds are an obvious place to add more player control because they already break up the standard spin-and-result routine. The reels can trigger the feature in the usual way, then the game can ask you to take part.

Future bonus games might let you:

Choose between different pathways and routes through a feature.
Select which modifier becomes active.
Put collected resources toward a chosen objective.
Carry progress into another bonus sequence.
Complete a simple timing or selection task.

These choices work when the result of the decision is clear. Picking a door is hardly interesting when every door does the same thing behind a different animation.

The wider VegaStars product already extends activity beyond an isolated spin through tournaments and its loyalty programme. Bringing that sense of progression into the pokies themselves would give designers another layer to work with. A bonus could remember an earlier decision or let an objective continue beyond its first appearance without changing the basic reason you opened the game in the first place.

Skill Changes What Players Think They Control

Once skill enters the game, designers have another issue to handle: players need to know exactly what their skill changes.

Matthew Rockloff and his colleagues tested that question with 1,260 participants in a 2024 study. Participants used simulated traditional and skill-based gaming machines with identical payout structures. Those playing the skill-based version were more likely to believe their ability influenced the outcome and that practice could improve their results, although the researchers found no significant overall increase in betting intensity.

That distinction becomes important when a pokie asks you to aim, choose or react. A genuine gameplay decision can affect part of the experience without giving you control over every part of the wager.

GameCo founder and CEO Blaine Graboyes explained the issue in a 2017 interview: “In a skill-based game a player is impacting the result, and we want to have as much clarity as possible on exactly how players’ skills are leading to their payout.”

Future pokies will need that clarity. A player needs to know whether good timing changes a bonus result, unlocks another route or simply changes what appears on screen.

More Decisions Do Not Automatically Make a Better Pokie

Adding choice has a practical limit. Nobody needs a pokie that asks for a committee meeting before every spin. The appeal of the format still comes from being able to understand what is happening without studying a page of controls first.

Mobile play puts an extra limit on complexity. Tapping an object or choosing between clearly marked routes works on a phone screen; piling menus and complicated controls onto the same game gets in the way.

A useful distinction is where the decision ends and randomness begins:

Decision Mechanic	Player Controls	RNG Can Still Control
Route selection	Which path is followed	Outcomes on that path
Feature selection	Which mechanic activates	Result produced
Collection or progression	Where progress is directed	Trigger frequency
Timing or skill task	Performance in the task	Separate random elements
Persistent choice	Future game state or content	Later random outcomes

The best use of choice will probably be selective. Give the player a decision when there is something worth deciding, then let the game continue. That keeps the immediate rhythm that makes pokies easy to pick up while leaving room for deeper features when they appear.

The Pokie Could Remember What You Did Last Time

The next step is allowing a decision to survive beyond the feature where you made it. A route chosen during one session might open different content later, while collected progress could remain available when you return.

Account-level systems already give online casino activity a longer memory. VegaStars, for example, runs a loyalty structure with tiers from Starter through to Black Ultimate, with different rewards becoming available as players move through the programme. Future game design can take the same basic idea of persistence and put it inside the pokie itself, where previous decisions affect what the player encounters next.

That does not require replacing the spin or turning every pokie into a videogame. The likely development is much simpler: the reels keep doing their job, while the spaces around them give you more control over where the game goes next.

Online casino games are intended for adults aged 18 and older. Gambling should remain entertainment, with spending and playing time kept within personal limits.