People like Simmo! , Spearmaster, and many others may recount the days when the Golden Goose games were newly released and it seemed like everybody was getting phenomonel wins like crazy on those games. 5 Scatters were as common as 2 nines in Thunderstruck it seemed for awhile, but then something changed drastically with the payouts. Now assuming that the game is random, and that each reel still has the same number of symbols in the same order as they did from their inception, then what does a software manufacturer do to change the payout odds? Are the reels weighted ? Can the weights be placed in different places on the reels so as to lessen the payout? I'm speaking in terms of the physical realm, but it can be applied to the virtual also for this subject. I don't really understand how it can be changed in a purely random slot without adding or taking away one or more symbols from the reels. What is the answer to Mystery of the disappearing Goose?