Bonus Games in Slots

”Pick Me” Bonus Games

Bonus games of the “pick me” variety are extremely popular among reel spinners because they create the impression that the player has some control over the outcome. This type of bonus game first emerged in the 1990s.

Initially, the feature was straightforward: the player simply had to select a symbol on the screen to collect a cash prize. Advances in technology have since allowed slot developers to introduce more complex bonus events.

In modern video slots, players reveal items with hidden monetary prizes until they select an icon that terminates the bonus feature. Some icons award additional picks. To initiate this bonus, the player typically must land several scatters or bonus symbols on the reels.

Upon activation, players exit the base game and are taken to a new screen that presents them with a choice of several items. The number of items varies from one game to another. In some slots, you have a choice of as few as 5 objects, while in others you can pick from 20 or even more.

An example of a “pick me” game is the Griffin’s Range Bonus from The Invisible Man by NetEnt. This is a multi-level feature that takes place in three different locations: the Lion’s Head Inn, the Mansion, and the Ipping Station.

The player chooses 1 out of 5 items to reveal a prize. If they select an item with a cash prize, the corresponding number of credits is added to their balance. In this game, 3 of the items contain monetary prizes, 1 item hides a multiplier, and 1 icon with a police hat terminates the feature when picked.

Hot as Hades by Microgaming is another example of a slot with a multi-level bonus game. The first level requires the player to choose 1 of 5 Greek vases to collect a cash prize. During the second level, they choose 1 of 5 doors, with 4 doors hiding more cash prizes and 1 door terminating the bonus game. The player continues to advance through the levels until they reach the fifth and final one, where they pick from 5 treasure chests.

“Pick me” bonus games are designed with interactivity in mind. Here, the player actively participates in the game, although the probabilities are still governed by the slot’s Random Number Generator. Although the choices a player makes can matter in some bonus games, there is still no strategy that enables you to pick the largest cash prizes with certainty.

Betsoft is among the suppliers that design the most enticing slots with “pick me” bonuses, with The Slotfather II and Gypsy Rose being two prime examples.

Another game we recommend is Play’n GO’s House of Doom, where you pick from 15 skulls to reveal hidden prizes. The feature is triggered by 3 scattered symbols, and some of the skulls contain “pick again” symbols.

Wheel-Based Bonus Games

This type of bonus features a wheel divided into segments that usually contain different cash prizes. The bonus is triggered randomly or by landing a specific combination of symbols. The size of the cash prize a player collects depends on the segment where the wheel’s flipper stops.

Developers have expanded this concept by designing bonus wheels with segments that launch additional features such as free spins, respins, and multipliers. Just like the slots’ reels, these wheels are governed by random number generators.

Different wheel segments do not necessarily have the same chance of landing. Suppose you have a wheel with ten segments containing the following prizes – 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 400, 700, and 1,000. If each of the 10 prize segments occurred with equal frequency, the results would look like this:

• The average prize per spin would be 271 credits
• The top payout of 1,000 credits would appear once in every 10 spins on average
• The smallest prize of 10 credits would also appear once in every 10 spins on average

While this is only an example, real wheels in slot bonus games do not award their highest prizes as often. Developers weight them so that mid-range cash prizes hit frequently enough to keep players engaged while still giving them a shot at the top payout.

All segments of the wheel are the same size, yet the chances of the flipper selecting any given segment are not equal. Designers weight the wheel so that the average return per spin is reduced, but the bonus game still occurs with a relatively decent frequency.

Mid-range wins of 50 and 75 credits appear often enough that spinners are not discouraged by low payouts of 10 and 25 credits landing too frequently. In essence, bonus wheels operate on the same principle as the symbol stops on a slot’s virtual reels.

High-value symbols on the reels outnumber low-value ones, causing them to hit less frequently. Wheels that trigger additional bonus rounds as well as monetary prizes are weighted in the same way.

Some of the most popular slots with wheel-based bonuses include Microgaming’s Mega Moolah, NetEnt’s Mega Fortune, and IGT’s Wheel of Fortune.

Slots with Mystery Bonuses

To keep players on the edge of their seats, some game makers add mystery bonuses to their creations. These are usually not triggered by any particular combination of symbols. Instead, cash prizes are awarded at random as a pleasant surprise to the spinner. This can happen on any spin during the base game, and players are sometimes awarded a free respin of the reels instead of extra credits.

This type of bonus feature was invented by a man named John Acres. He is also responsible for other notable innovations in the gambling industry. One example is the electronic player-tracking system, which enables gambling operators to calculate individual spending and use the data to tailor bespoke promotional incentives that boost play.

A randomly triggered mystery bonus is available in the slot Goldfish by WMS Gaming. The Fish feature can start on any spin, triggering a bonus game with a fish tank and five different fish. A random fish jumps into the tank and activates its corresponding bonus feature.

For example, the Gold Fish can earn you up to 20 free spins with multipliers of up to 10x the win, while the Purple Fish blows three bubbles on the screen bearing digits 0 through 9. The digits then rearrange themselves to create a cash prize.

Surprise bonuses are also unlocked by a Random Number Generator. They can be programmed so that the mystery feature is activated at a randomly selected moment or after a given number of credits have been inserted into the machine.

Free Spins Rounds

Free spins are incorporated into the gameplay of many modern video slots and are a great way to increase your profits in a risk-free manner. They are typically activated when three or more scatters or wilds land on the reels during a spin.

This combination triggers a round of spins that can earn you payouts for matches without requiring any additional bets for the duration of the feature. Naturally, the exact triggering conditions differ from one game to another.

In NetEnt’s Dracula, for example, you receive 10 free spins when the stacked Dracula symbol and the stacked lady symbol appear simultaneously on the second and fourth reels.

In many video slots it is possible to retrigger additional free spins by landing the activating symbols again during the feature. This enables you to enjoy long strings of spins without placing any bets. However, some of the free spins you receive may fail to produce a payout.

Some software developers add extra symbols during free spins. These are usually wilds that can stand in for other symbols to help you form more winning combinations. Certain symbols can award respins or add more rounds at no cost to your free-spin total.

Sometimes the number of free spins you get depends on how many triggering symbols you have used to activate the feature. For instance, you might earn 10 free spins for 3 scatters, 15 spins for 4 scatters, and 20 spins for the maximum of 5 scatters.

Multipliers are often active during free spins to further increase players’ rewards. Some slots are even programmed to remove low-value symbols from the reels during these rounds.

There are countless video slots with free spins, but titles like Yggdrasil’s Doctor Fortuno, NetEnt’s Asgardian Stones, and Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz remain among our favorites.