Understanding Slot Bonuses

One of the things that attracts slot players to different slot games is the different bonus games and bonus features that they have on offer. Some slots are built around one main bonus feature, whilst others pack in lots of different features. Some are easy to understand whilst others may seem more complicated. In this blog post, we will look at all the different types of bonus features and rounds, how they work and some of the top games with the very best examples.

Paylines

To start understanding how slot machines work, you have to know about the paylines. Paylines are the basics of any slot game. Every single slot game has one payline or more. However, it is the evolution in the role of paylines that has turned it from a base game necessity into one of the most interesting slot game features. Although this isn’t a ‘bonus’ feature, the addition of bonus features to a game has an effect on the number of paylines a game has. Thus, it affects the overall winning potential.

The first slot games simply had one payline right across the middle. Soon, it became standard for a classic slot to have between 5 to 25 paylines, which is true of games such as Fire Joker, which offers a standard 5 winning ways. We were then introduced to slot games with 243 ways to win – meaning that paylines just meant adjacent reels. Then, certain bonus features added extra reels, meaning more paylines. Some slot games also started including win both ways paylines, which means that wins are paid out both left to right and right to left… doubling your winning potential.

The invention of different game mechanisms increased the number of possible paylines even more – with Power Reels offering 6×8 gaming grids – and Megaways games offering over 117,649 ways to win. There is also the Cluster Pays mechanic, which means that wins are made by forming clusters of 5 or more matching symbols – offering massive winning potential.

Progressive Jackpots

Progressive Jackpots aren’t new, but they are always the most popular games to play because they have the potential to pay out millions. That is why we have lots of jackpot games at Rizk NZ that are often the most popular in our games catalogue.

A progressive jackpot game works the same as a standard slot game, but every time you spin the reels, you add to the jackpot and watch as it grows. For example, Mega Moolah, by Games Global is a network game that is played in all different casinos all over the world.

Every time a person spins the reel, a small percentage of that bet is taken out and put into the jackpot. As you can imagine, with thousands of people playing every day, the jackpot grows quickly and it can become huge. Then randomly, some lucky player will trigger the jackpot round and be in with a chance to land the win of a lifetime – millions of dollars in fact (with the biggest win being recorded at NZD 31,631,396.25 on Mega Moolah Absolootly Mad).

For example, In Mega Moolah, you will need to trigger the jackpot wheel. There are 4 progressive jackpots available to win – Mini, Minor, Major and Mega. You will win the prize (whatever it stands at) on which the arrow lands.

The good news is that even if the jackpot is won, it never goes down to zero. Each progressive jackpot has a ‘seed’ amount, which is the minimum you can win. From every spin thereon, the seed continues to grow. Find out more about how jackpots work right here in our ultimate guide to jackpots.

Free Spins

One of the most common bonus features found in the most popular slots at Rizk NZ is the free spins round. This is a bonus round that awards you a certain amount of free spins on a game. However, the quality and quantity of this bonus round depends on the game and how you trigger it.

With most slot games, such as Sugar Rush, you need to land three or more scatters on the reels at once to trigger the round. The more scatters you land, the more free spins you win. So, in Sugar Rush, you can potentially get 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30 free spins depending on whether you land 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 scatters.

As well as free spins, you often get added extras in this round. This might include multipliers, the removal of lower value symbols, extra wilds etc. usually, you can win a lot more money in the free spins bonus feature than in the base game. And – sometimes these can even be retriggered…

Retrigger Free Spins

As we mentioned above, the beauty of free spins bonus round is that it can often be retriggered. This means even more spins – and possibly even more wins. In order to retrigger the free spins bonus round you need to land more scatter symbols. Sometimes the retriggers are limited, but some allow you to retrigger the free spins over and over.

Then, we get games such as Immortal Romance, which is all about the free spins. Each time you trigger the free spins bonus, it gets better and better. The first time you get 10 free spins with a 5x multiplier, then you unlock the rest of the free spins rounds which might be:

• 15 free spins with random multipliers
• 10 free spins with avalanche reels
• 25 free spins with spreading wilds

Normally, if you unlock the free spins rounds and the retriggered free spins, you will have the best chance of landing the game’s maximum win.

Wilds

Most games, even the oldest and most classic games, include wild bonus symbols. It used to be that they simply substituted for all pay symbols to help create a win. They then evolved to become substitutes and big paying symbols in their own rights. Many also now add multiplier values to your win if they make part of the winning combination. If you take the multiplier wilds in The Dog House Megaways as an example, wins with these can reward 2x and 3x multipliers. This may not sound like much, but if you land 3 wilds with a 3x multiplier, this will end up as a 27x multiplier, which can lead to huge winning potential.

However, the evolution of wilds in the slot game industry is constant. Wilds come in all different shapes and sizes.

• Stacked Wilds: Stacked wilds can cover the entire reel – which can result in more chances of a winning combination.
• Expanding Wilds: Some slot games offer expanding wilds. These land as a single wild symbol but expand to adjacent rows and reels, sometimes covering the entire reel.
• Walking/Wandering Wilds: These are wilds that move around the reels after every spin. They can walk left to right, right to left, up and down and are usually on the reels for a longer period of time. For example, if one lands on the leftmost reel, they walk one reel across after every spin, staying on the reels for as long as 5 spins.
• Sticky Wilds: These are the opposite of wandering wilds. These remain in place for a certain period of time. It could be for one respin or an entire free spins bonus round.

Different games offer all kinds of different wilds. These can not only be exciting and offer more wins, but they often mean even bigger wins as well!

Multipliers

Multipliers do very much what they say… they multiply your wins for even bigger payouts. You will find different types and sizes of multipliers depending on the game or the bonus feature they are part of. These could be wild multipliers, free spins multipliers, pick me bonus multipliers, jackpot wheel multipliers – and random multipliers.

One game that makes excellent use of multipliers is Chaos Crew. This game has a Cranky Cat wild symbol which is accompanied by a random multiplier (2x, 3x or 5x your stake). If you land more than one, then they are multiplied by each other… with three 5x multipliers, this could potentially be 125x your win.

It gets even better in the free spins round. Here the multiplier number above the reels starts at 1x. Every time you land one of the four special symbols, the multiplier value above the reels grows:

• Skulls: adds 1, 2, 5, 10 or 20 to the multiplier above that reel.
• Epic Sketchy Skull: adds a random value between 1 and 20 to the multiplier above every reel.
• Cranky Cat: multiplies the reel multiplier by 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x or 20x.
• Epic Cranky Cat: multiplies the multiplier above all reels by a random value between 2x and 20x.

It is the multiplier in the free spins round that is the real star of the show in this game – and you could end up with a massive 10,000x your stake!

Cascading Reels

A cascading reels feature, sometimes known as an avalanche reels bonus feature, adds winning potential to the base game and the bonus rounds. It is a very simple mechanism but can turn one win into lots of wins.

This is found in a number of popular slot games, including the famous Big Time Gaming slot, Bonanza. Whenever you land a win, the symbols that contribute to it are removed from the reels and new symbols drop down from above to fill the gaps. If this leads to another win then the pattern repeats until there are no more wins. So, what would have just been one simple win could end up being 3, 4 or sometimes even more – without having to respin at all.

This feature can get even more interesting in bonus rounds. For example, in Bonanza, it is one of the most rewarding factors in the free spins bonus round. Every time you get a consecutive win from a cascading reel your multiplier is increased by one – and the multiplier in this feature is actually limitless. This means that your winning potential could be huge!

Gamble Feature

Lastly, we will look at the gamble feature, which is perfect for those that like to take risks in life. This is usually a voluntary feature that you can accept and ignore. If you get a win then the slot will give you the option to gamble it… double or nothing. Often the game will ask you to choose the colour (red or black) of the playing card to be drawn. You have a 50% chance of winning or losing.

This bonus feature goes even further in Play‘N Go’s Book of Dead. After your win, you can click on the Gamble Button above the reels. You then have the choice to bet on the colour of the card – or, if you are feeling even more daring you could try and guess the suit of the cards and quadruple your bet. But be careful, this also means that there’s a bigger chance of losing it all.

Big Bonuses Mean Big Wins

There are so many more features we could add… pick me bonuses, wheel of fortunes – and lots of new games have unique game-themed bonus features that offer huge winning potential. What’s more, bonus features and bonus rounds are getting better and better every single month. With each new game release, we can expect something even more innovative and engaging than ever before.

We started in a slot game world filled with 3 rows and 1 payline, but it has grown into a world that we would never have believed. Technology advancements mean that there are more options for developers to become ever more creative. New games have more reels, more payline, more bonus features – and more winning potential than ever before and we can only imagine where we’ll be next year. For now, simply try out our very best bonus features and see exactly what we mean!

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