Because online slot games and, for that matter, slot machines are the most popular and the largest among casino games, it only makes sense that they take the lion’s share of the bonuses. While there is much attention deserved for the tremendous casino bonuses, the purpose of this article is to talk about the amazing in-game bonuses that are only available when playing slot games.
Understanding the Slot Game Bonus System
In most cases, a bonus game will be triggered by landing a certain combination of regular symbols. This combination will usually happen during the base game. When playing online slots for real money, there are two levels, regular gameplay, which is also known as the base game, and the bonus round play.
You should make it a point to review the slot machine’s paytable before playing any single slot. However, some slot games, especially three-reel ones, are known for not having any in-game bonuses at all. Since one of your main reasons for playing the slot in the first place is to win money, you should also make it a point to make sure that the slot machine’s bonus rounds pay out well. Some players prefer straightforward slots with a few simple bonus rounds. Others prefer more complex ones that are loaded with progressive jackpots.
The Pick Me Bonus
Other times this is called a pick me bonus, which is a mini game where you select one or more objects to reveal an instant prize or a loss. Some pick me games give multipliers or special symbols that may increase your chances of landing another winning combination. For instance, if you pick the correct symbol, you could win up to 100 free spins or a 50x multiplier. Usually, the pick bonus game matches the game’s theme. If you pick an object that doesn’t offer you a prize, it might lead to the end of the bonus round.
The instant win bonus is probably the easiest, as most of the time, all that is required is for you to land multiple bonus symbols. When doing so, you trigger an instant win and a win bonus cash. A wheel-based bonus requires you to spin a wheel for a random prize. You usually play for the bonus wheel offer by either spinning a special slots reel or playing a mini-game.
Instead of one mini-game, pathway games are a series of mini-games. Pathway games that increase the value of your prize, and if you lose at any point, you’ll be sent back to the main game. However, if you can make it to the end, you could win the biggest jackpot.
The In-Game Wilds
Today’s slot games go beyond the standard wild symbol doubling winning combinations. Some games might have multiple wilds that land on different reels, or wild symbols that offer different random winning multipliers. There are expanding wilds that lead to massive wins.
There are colossal symbols that sometimes explode on the screen. There are walking wilds, which are wild symbols that nudge onto other reels to help make bigger winning combinations. Also, there’s a wild reel feature and sticky symbols, even stacked symbols.
Re-Spins
Of all the in-game slot bonuses, re-spins have truly come a long way. Traditional re-spins offered gamers the chance to get stacked wins with certain reels frozen in place and the other reels spun. Usually, this process could be repeated. Thanks to technological leaps, especially with AI advancements by the top game developers, today’s re-spins have morphed into hold-and-win and hold-and-spin.
Thanks to the in-game mechanics, players have more control over trying to slow down or speed up the reels to get re-spin symbols to land. Usually, the prize is three re-spins with additional winning multipliers and the chance to trigger other in-game bonuses like free spins and even jackpots.
Free Spins
The bread and butter for slot games is the free spins round. The main purpose of having a scatter symbol is to trigger the free spins round. As the name says it all, player get a set of free spins without making a bet. Advanced slot games offer a variable free spins round.
For example, the more scatter or bonus symbols that land on the reels, the more bonus spins you play. Most likely, you can earn additional bonuses in free spins mode, such as expanding wilds, re-spins, and jackpots.
The Jackpots
There’s no way we could close out this slot bonus guide without talking about jackpots. By now, I’m sure everyone is familiar with the monster seven-figure progressive jackpots that more players are winning than ever before. While these types of slots are higher in volatility, the allure of winning life-changing money in one spin continues to be hard to ignore. Besides progressive jackpots, these are the common jackpots available when playing slot machines.
- Network Progressives: The reason why today’s slot machines like Wheel of Fortune top six and seven figures is that they are linked up to a progressive network. This means the same game is available at several casinos, which quickly builds the pot with each wager. That way, one lucky winner, perhaps you can seize the massive pot.
- Local Progressives: The reason why these type of progressive slot machines are considerably less, like the daily jackpots available at FanDuel because these progressive slots are only available at that particular site.
- Fixed Jackpots: Believe it or not, many popular slot machines like Divine Fortune and Fortune Coin feature multiple in-game jackpots. While these aren’t progressive, the fixed jackpots pay quite nicely, offering the chance to win multiple fixed jackpots in the same gaming session.
Another jackpot element is mystery jackpots. Sometimes, landing a mystery or bonus symbol delivers a random fixed jackpot to keep you on your toes.
Conclusion
As technology improves, so does the caliber of slot game bonuses. The joy of new slot machines coming online is the innovative bonuses. However, in any situation, playing responsibly with small regular bets is a sound strategy for playing any slot machine. To complement the in-game slot bonuses, most online casinos offer a load of bonuses, including free spins for the most popular slot machines, to help unlock the glorious in-game bonuses.
