Slots Guide

Certain slots offer bonus games as built-in ‘mini-games’ that add to the gambling experience. Most, if not all, bonus games have no skill element and are as random as the main slot game.

Types of bonus games

There are no set rules for what a bonus game should and should not be, but there are a few popular formats around.

The ‘pick and click’ bonus game presents the player with a number of things to choose from, each containing a prize. Prizes can include coin wins, bonus feature activation, multipliers or free spins. The player chooses the chest, bauble, seashell or whatever it is and receives the prize.

The bonus wheel is also a popular choice. This is simply a wheel covered in prizes that the player spins. Whichever prize the wheel lands on is awarded to the player.

Multipliers

Some games include multiplier features which will multiply a win by 2, 3, 4 or more times. They can either be triggered via certain symbols, accumulated over several spins, or awarded as part of a bonus feature.

Nudge feature

This feature comes in handy when a player narrowly misses landing a desirable combination. A nudge will knock one reel or more one space up or down, giving you a chance to beat a near-miss situation.

Gamble feature

When you land a win, some slots will offer a Gamble feature, which you can accept or reject. If you take the gamble, the feature offers one of two outcomes – losing the win entirely or doubling it.

The feature usually takes the shape of a guessing game, whereby you bet you win on the result of a random event, such as the next card drawn from a deck. The Gamble feature can add thrills if you enjoy a little extra risk in your play.

Jackpots

A Jackpot is a top prize that a slot game offers. Jackpot slots can come in many formats, but the only constant feature is the jackpot prize on offer. Jackpots can be local, network, fixed or progressive.

Local Jackpots

This jackpot builds up from players at a specific online casino only and isn’t linked to any other casino sites.

Network Jackpots

This jackpot also called a pooled jackpot, is made up from the bets of all players across all online casinos that host that slot game. Think of it like a lottery, where everyone contributes to the total prize fund wherever they are playing from.

Fixed Jackpots

As the name suggests, this jackpot offers a fixed prize amount, which does not grow with the number of bets. The fixed prize fund is specific to that game and isn’t part of a network, either.

Progressive Jackpots

Games such as Mega Moolah hit the headlines by creating instant millionaires from a single spin. This is possible as all bets placed, regardless of casino or location, contribute to the jackpot’s total.

This can often build into the multi-millions and keeps growing until one lucky player scoops it. These mega payouts only happen every few months but are truly life-changing when they occur.

Autoplay

A large proportion of slot games offer an autoplay feature. This basically spins the reels on behalf of the player, who can simply watch or perhaps navigate to another page.

You can choose how many auto-spins you would like and the bet size, and then press the Autoplay button. Most games have the feature to stop the autoplay if a win occurs.

How to play slots and win

Playing slots for fun is one thing, but serious players are always looking to find their next big online slot win. Rather than just randomly hitting the spin button and hoping for the best, there are a few simple strategies that you can use to level up your slot play.

Follow these online slot tips to massively improve the chances of a win.

Find the best casino offers

Just taking a quick look around, you can see that there’s a massive choice of online casinos out there. The number of casinos is growing daily, and so are the range of welcome offers and bonuses on offer.

Competition amongst online casinos for your time and money means they are offering up more than ever to tempt in new players. From free spins to bonus cash, the rewards for signing up can be pretty generous.

That said, always check the terms of any bonuses to ensure that they are worth taking on. Heavy wagering requirements or cash out limitations can quickly make some offers less enticing than they first appear.

Know your slot stats

The difference between a novice and a pro online casino player is how much attention they pay to the stats of an individual slot. Most online casinos will display statistics like RTP and volatility alongside each slot title.

Read up on what these terms mean below and this will help you to seek out the best online slots and forget the rest. If you’ve been playing any game for some time, and it’s not paying out, then it’s best to step away. Pumping in more funds does not mean that the game owes you anything and will produce a big payout.

Play for free/fun

Many online casinos offer the option to play their video slots for fun rather than real money. This gives players the chance to see what a specific game is all about and test it out fully before putting in any of their own funds.

RTP

RTP stands for Return to Player and is always displayed as a percentage. It indicates to you how much of your bankroll you are likely to win back from a specific casino game over time.

Any RTP percentage given is the result of a calculation based on the result of thousands, if not millions, of spins on a specific game. It’s not intended to be any kind of guarantee of what you can win back from a game, only an idea of the amount you can expect to gain back over time.

As an example, in a game with 96% RTP, the casino will likely receive 4% of player wagers through this particular game. This is often known as ‘house edge’. There are no games around with 100% RTP, otherwise casinos would quickly go out of business.

Given this, you might wonder why it’s worth playing slot games. With the outcome of each spin being as random as possible and the RTP only an indicator ‘over time’, the wins or losses each individual player gets from a slot game can vary massively.

Volatility

Volatility, also known as variance, describes the estimated size of your wins and how frequently they occur. It refers to the overall frequency and size of payouts you can expect from a specific slot game.

Slot games are usually classed as having either low, medium or high volatility. Lower variance slots will pay out smaller amounts on a regular basis, making them ideal for casino newbies. Whereas high variance slots will pay out bigger amounts but less often.

Medium variance slots are a happy balance between the two extremes and are the most common type found at online casinos.