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 the player has some control over the outcome. This type of bonus game first emerged in the 1990s.

Initially, the feature was simple. The player only needed to select a symbol on the screen to collect a cash prize. The advance in technology 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.

They exit the base game and are taken to a new screen which gives them a choice from several items. The number of items varies from one game to another. In some slots, you have a choice from as little 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 which 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 make a 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. The choices one makes do matter in some bonus games but there is still no strategy that enables you to pick the largest cash prizes with accuracy.

Betsoft is among the suppliers to design the most enticing slots with “pick me” bonuses, with The Slotfather II and Gypsy Rose being two of the 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. Some of the skulls contain “pick again” symbols.

Wheel-Based Bonus Games

This type of bonus involves 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 the player collects depends on what segment the wheel’s flipper chooses.

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

Different wheel segments do not necessarily have equal chances 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 had the same frequency of occurrence as the rest, this would mean the following:

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

While this is just an example, the wheels in slot bonus games do not produce their highest prizes as often. Slot developers design them in such a way so that mid-range cash prizes hit frequently enough to maintain the interest of spinners while still giving them the chance to pocket the highest payout.

All segments of the wheel are of the same size, but the chances of the wheel flipper choosing each of these segments are not equal. Developers weight the wheel so that the average return per spin is reduced but the bonus game still has a relatively decent frequency of occurrence.

Mid-range wins of 50 and 75 credits would occur often enough so that spinners are not discouraged by the lower payouts of 10 and 25 credits landing too frequently. The bonus wheels essentially operate on the same principle as the symbol stops on the slots’ virtual reels.

High-value symbols on the reels outnumber low-value ones, which causes them to hit less frequently. Wheels that trigger other bonus rounds in addition to awarding monetary prizes are also weighted like this.

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 at 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. Cash prizes are awarded at random as a pleasant surprise to the spinner.This can happen on any given spin during the base game. Players are sometimes awarded a free respin of the reels instead of extra credits.

This type of bonus feature was invented by a man called John Acres. He is also responsible for the introduction of other notable improvements in the gambling industry. One example is the electronic system for player tracking which enables gambling operators to calculate the spend of individual players and use it to tailor bespoke promotional incentives to boost play.

A randomly triggered mystery bonus is available in the slot Goldfish by WMS Gaming. The Fish feature can start on any given spin. This triggers a bonus game with a fish tank and five different fishes. 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 with digits 0 through 9. The digits rearrange themselves on the screen to create a cash prize.

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

Free Spins Rounds

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

The combination then triggers a round of spins which can earn you payouts for matches without you making any bets for the duration of the feature. Of course, the exact triggering conditions differ from one game to another.

In NetEnt’s Dracula, for example, you get 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 more free spins when you land the triggering combination of symbols within the feature. This enables you to enjoy long strings of spins without placing any bets. However, some of the free spins you get would 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 reward respins or add more rounds at no cost to your free spins total.

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

Multipliers are often in place during free spins to further increase players’ rewards. Some slots are programmed in such a way so that the low-value symbols are removed from the reels during free spins.

There are many video slots with free spins but titles like Yggdrasil’s Doctor Fortuno, NetEnt’s Asgardian Stones, and Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz are on top of the heap in our opinion.