Online slots easily win the hearts of Canadians because of large winnings and interesting gameplay. And a well-designed bonus round is a sure way to improve them even more. Let us speak about bonus rounds and their influence on gameplay, and introduce the 10 best slots with extra features.
What is RTP?
RTP is a ratio of all winnings to all money that is spent for betting. For online slots, an average RTP is 96% and RTPs of the best slots exceed 99%. For example, with an RTP of 96%, 100 bets for $1 return to player $96 winning.
An average bonus round is a free mini-game with extreme profitability. Winnings in some bonus rounds exceed their jackpots. Therefore, bonus rounds increase an average game RTP. However, bonus round slots do not obligatory have the highest RTPs: developers may change basic gameplay to limit the total profitability.
What is Volatility?
Volatility reflects a dependency between the frequency of winnings and their sizes.
In general, developers divide volatility into 3 types: low, medium and high. Sometimes, they add very high and very low, medium-low and medium-high subversions. Low volatility reflects frequent but small winnings, high volatility goes for huge rare winnings. Compare 200 winnings of $1 and a single $200 win per session. Slots with different volatility may have the same RTP.
Bonus rounds increase a total game’s volatility because of their profitability. The better the bonus round, the higher volatility.
How to Pick a Winning Slot Machine?
The spinning of slots gives random results. Therefore, the best way to increase winning chances is to choose the best slots at the very beginning. Follow these tips:
- Find a slot with bonus rounds, cascade payouts, stacked symbols and other extra features.
- Prefer games with an RTP of 98% and more.
- Select a game with an interface that suits you personally. Try it in demo mode, then play for money.
- Autoplay with advanced settings and turbo spin are advantages.
- Read professional reviews and compare opinions.
- Between two casinos with your chosen game, prefer the one with the biggest bonuses.
Top 5 Best Slots with Bonus Games
Mega Joker
Mega Joker by NetEnt is a retro fruit slot with bells, sevens, chests and jokers. It has 3 reels, 3 rows and 5 paylines, offers bets of $1-10 and quick spin mode.
Mega Joker is unique because of its fluent RTP of 85-99%, very high volatility and supermeter mode as a bonus variation. Supermeter rounds start after every winning and allow increasing it to 20x. Besides, Mega Joker gets extra score points for paid scatters and wilds of up to 200x and a progressive jackpot that is collected as 3% of each bet.
Starburst
Starburst is a NetEnt gem slot complemented with golden bars and sevens. Its grid contains 5 reels and 3 rows with multicolor and multi-shape gem symbols. The game assumes 10 paylines with up to 250x payouts. With bets of $0.1-100, it is $25,000 per payline. The maximum Starburst win per round is $50,000—a worthy result for an RTP of 96.09% and low volatility. Its interface includes left-hand mode, quick spin and autoplay.
The game’s wild and scatter at the same time is a rainbow star. 3 rainbow stars on a gird trigger bonus round of up to 100 free spins. Scatter dropping in the bonus round adds 15 respins, and the bonus round may repeat 3 times.
Starmania
Starmania was developed by NextGen Gaming. It is a classic gem slot with ingenious jewelry stars, obvious wilds and bonus symbols. The slot assumes a wide bet range of $0.01-50, with winnings of up to 500x. Its RTP of 97.87% and high variance are keys to big winnings. The Starmania grid is formed with 5 reels and 3 rows, and its symbols may create 10 paylines.
3 bonus symbols on the same grid initiate 10 free spins. The same bonus symbols may also appear in bonus rounds and launch the same 10 free spins unlimited times.
Immortal Romance
Immortal Romance by Microgaming is a movie slot in vampire style, complemented by ingenious characters and their stories. This highly volatile slot has 5 reels and 3 rows, an RTP of 96.86% and 243 winning ways. In Immortal Romance, players may bet for $0.3-30 and win up to $364,500 or 12,000x per round.
3+ scatters initiate bonus rounds, and the software counts its dropping. A certain bonus round not only triggers rewards (up to 25 free spins and 6x multiplier), but also unlocks stories by Amber, Troy, Michael and Sarah. In addition, the wild feature is combined with the drop&wins feature: Wild Desire randomly adds wilds to all 5 reels.
Dead or Alive 2
Dead or Alive 2 is a part of the Wild West series by NetEnt with high variance and RTP of 96.8%. The game has 5 reels and 3 rows, assumes 9 paylines and a maximum win of, 111111x. Its bets of $0.09-9 suit any player, meanwhile, auto, left-hand and quick modes make spinning even more convenient.
The game’s zests are 5 types of wilds and a buy bonus feature. In addition, bonus rounds are triggered after 3+ scatters appear on the grid. The game contains one of three mini-games:
- Old Saloon (17 fs, 2x multiplier);
- High Noon Saloon (2-3x multiplier, 17 fs),
- Train Heist (+1 fs and +1 to multiplier per wild).
Best Land-Based Slots With Bonus Games
Book of Ra
Book of Ra is a Novomatic game that gained the best slot award by IGA in 2009. The slot is dedicated to Egyptian archeology, has an RTP of 96% and winnings of up to $500,000.
Its grid includes 5 reels, 3 rows and 9 potential paylines, and its interface allows you to chill while auto-playing.
The book of Ra is the game’s scatter. 3-5 expanding scatters trigger 10 free spins and assume gains of up to 180,000 coins. In addition, after each win, the player receives an offer to start a gambling round—to choose a black or red card to double the current winnings.
Bier Haus
Bier Haus (Beer House) was created by SG Interactive. This game with a German pub theme has 5 reels and 4 rows which assume 40 paylines with up to 5x per payline. Its main zests are a few symbol types and numerous stacked symbols, which partially causes its medium volatility and a return-to-player of 96.28%.
5+ scatters launch bonus Feature or Gold Feature and start a set of 5 free spins. They may retrigger up to 80 free spins. A dropped Gold Feature symbol also changes into the sticky wild and increases winning chances.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra is an IGT Egyptian slot dedicated to the famous queen. The slot grid contains 5 reels and 3 rows that may form 20 paylines. The game has an RTP of 95.02%, medium volatility and bets of 20-20,000 coins per round.
3 and more scatter Sphinx symbols initiate a bonus round of 15 free spins. In the bonus round, each new scatter combination adds 15 more free spins. The maximum package is 180 free spins with a maximum win of 25,000,000 coins.
All winnings in bonus rounds are tripled. Besides, the Cleopatra wild symbol also doubles winnings.
Buffalo
Buffalo is a Wild West animal slot, created by Royal Slot Gaming. Its RTP of 94.85%, bets of up to $1200, and a max win of $7,600 per bet. The player can also count on 4 jackpots, the largest of which reaches $1,000,000. The Buffalo slot has a 5-reel grid that assumes 1024 ways to win.
A single bonus symbol on the current grid multiplies winnings of up to 20x. 3-5 bonus symbols reward a player with 20 free spins. During bonus rounds, 2+ bonus symbols add 5 free spins. The maximum is a record quantity of 999 free spins.
Fruit Party
Fruit Party Bonanza was developed by Pragmatic Play. The high-volatile game has advanced paylines, cascade payouts and an RTP of 96.47%. Fruit Party players may place bets of $0.2-100 and win up to 5,000x per bet and up to 300x per line. Additionally, each winning symbol may become doubling, and the additional multiplier can reach 256x.
The bonus round is triggered by 3+ scatters. It contains 10-14 free spins, depending on the scatter quantity. Besides, the game offers to buy a bonus round for 100x of the current bet.
