Bonus slot machines are simply those slot machines that feature bonus games and other bonus features in the slot game. Such machines are also video based machines means to play online or classic machines you find at land casinos. These machines give the player chances to win extra prizes. Bonus slot machines have high definition screens and have the exciting bonus rounds and complex winning combinations to make wins.

Features of Bonus Slot Machines

There are many features found at such bonus slot machines.

• Players can place bets on many lines increasing their chances of winning. Winnings can be in the thousands if one plays long enough.
• Most machines are a penny or nickel denomination because players can play over a hundred credits in one spin.
• Players can opt to get a hand pay machine or one that plays with tickets at no extra cost. Eliminating printer tickets can save money down the road.
• A slot machine may contain any combination of a bonus game, free spins and a gamble feature, in fact, many slots contain all three features and some slots even have multiple bonus games.

There is an additional bonus game which can also be triggered when you play this slot and this is a simple pick to win type of bonus round, this is awarded when three or more of the Bonus symbols line up on any activated payline starting on reel one onwards, this for information purposes will be awarded on average, due to the reel layout, once every 63 spins.

Bonus game feature

A bonus game feature is any sort of feature that is additional feature to the normal spin function of the slots game For example if the slot takes you to a different screen where you get to spin a wheel that would be a type of bonus game, but if the reels of the game suddenly changed and you had to select the symbols to discover point values behind them that would also be classed as a bonus game. This is not the same as a free spins feature or gamble feature, although a gamble feature can be classed as a type of bonus game, it is often just a gamble of your winnings. Whilst a genuine bonus game will ‘usually’ (but not always) result in you winning some extra credits and very rarely does it ever involve risking any of your winnings from the previous spin.

• Free Spins: Best Bonuses. Get free spins in a slot machine slot by spinning matching symbols on the reels. Most gambling machines release free spins when appropriate matching symbols appear on reels. See the different reel combination for slot machines: Reels 1, 3 &5 or 2, 3 & 4 or 3, 4 & 5. Scatter symbols are the chief icons that trigger free.
• CashaPillar Slot – There are a huge number of paylines that can be activated when playing the CashaPillar slot, however as the scatter symbols do not have to land on an activated payline to trigger the bonus game, you will find that the free spins feature round will be awarded to you on average around once every 169 base game spins you play off, no matter how many line you have in play.

Free spins feature

A free spins feature is also sometimes called a free games feature and this is where a player wins extra spins that they would usually have to pay for. This is a different feature to a bonus game or gamble feature. Often when a slot is in free spins mode there will be a change in sound, and sometimes even colour or lights flashing to signify you are in a free spins feature. There is often a count down so you can see how many free spins you have remaining. On some slots the free spins will spin on their own (meaning you will not need to click spin or pull the lever) whilst on others you will still need to click spin but on all of them you will not have to pay anything for each free spin. Whilst at the same time the machine will payout on any winning combinations that you land on whilst in free spin mode.

Gamble feature

On 5 reel video slots a gamble feature usually takes the form of a player being offered the choice to select a card; the choice is usually either red or black, or guess a suit, if the color of the card is guessed correctly the winnings are usually doubled. If the suit is guessed correctly the winnings are usually quadrupled. This feature is usually played once the player has made a winning combination and actually has some winnings to gamble with.

Fruit machines also have an option to gamble winnings. Usually this is a more simple version where a number is displayed (usually between 1 and 12) and the play has to guess if the next number generated will be higher or lower. If the player guesses correctly then his/her winnings are doubled and they can choose to collect the winnings or gamble again for another chance to double their winnings. If the player guesses wrong then the players winnings from that spin (and any previous gambles since the spin) are lost.

The slot machines with bonus features

The first slot to offer a bonus game on a second screen was Reel Em In; a slots game that was a game developed by WMS Industries Inc in 1996. But now video slots and microchip technology has meant that there is far more creative scope for the developers of slots to provide increasingly entertaining and unusual bonus games. This means that bonus games can be like mini computer games or arcade games which is a great feature for any slot machine.

In the world of online slots the software provider Rival has manufactured iSlots with many interesting bonus games that are interactive and relate to a story line. This makes these online slot machines interactive and they can be likened to a cross between a slots game and a computer game and a short movie.

Another popular slot is Winning Bid with its auction themed bonus game, Here you select an item to auction off and the bidding starts. Then there is the Holy Grail slot machine which is a Monty Python themed slot machine, Neon Nights, Monopoly, Terminator and Top Gun. All of these can be found in Las Vegas land casinos.

If you are looking for video slots then there are also a great deal of online slot machines with bonus games such as Bearly fishing which is a Microgaming slot with free spins and a gamble feature. As the Reels Turn 1, 2 and 3 which all have both skill based or pick an item style bonus games. Elvis Multi Strike which has bonus features that contain film and concert footage of the King himself and finally a great example of a slot with free spins is Get Rocked slots which has a great free spin feature.

Other popular slot machines you can buy are Jackpot Party and Wolf Run or Gold Fish giving the player huge wins.

How to play Bonus Slot Machines?

In these real slot machines the bonus games and free spins are often triggered by a bonus symbol, like three or more bonus symbols falling anywhere on the reels may trigger a bonus game. This is why it is important to look at a slots paytable as bonus symbols are often clearly marked and there will often be a brief explanation of how the free spins or bonus features are triggered. Scatter symbols can also trigger bonus features.

Gamble features are usually triggered by getting a winning combination of symbols as this means that you win some money. You need to have something to gamble with to play a gamble feature.

Bonus games generally fall in to one of two categories. Some bonus games will be very simple and a player simply has to select items to reveal additional prizes; this is known as a pick an item style bonus game.

Some bonus games will require a degree of skill. For example, you may have to aim and shoot at moving objects and if you hit them you will be awarded a prize for each item you hit. This is known as a skill based game.

All such bonus slot games spice up game play and add an extra dimension to your slot playing. When the bonus game finishes and you are back to the reels as the regular slot machine game and continue playing.

Where to buy Bonus Slot Machines

You can buy real bonus slot machines at many online websites like EBay, Slotsforsale,Amazon or at realslotmachinesforsale and cost between the range of $1000-$3000.

How Frequently are Slot Bonus Games Triggered

Free spins, pick to win games, and wheel spinning bonus features are just some of the many additional bonus games which you can trigger and be awarded with when playing online slot games.

Yet when you do play any video slot game which boasts a bonus game, you can often be quite frustrated by the frequency at which that bonus game is triggered and awarded to you. You could be quite lucky and get several bonus games triggering in a very short period of time. However, the opposite is also true, and you could often find you have to play hundreds of base game spins before triggering a bonus game!

The actual odds of you being awarded any slot games bonus features are determined by several different things. These include how many Bonus or Scatter symbols you need to spin in to trigger the bonus game including the way in which these symbols must spin in, and also the actual number of those symbols on each reel and the length of each reel strip.

Once you are aware of those two aspects in regards to the way the bonus games are awarded on any slot, you can then accurately work out what the odds of you being awarded the bonus game are. That is of course, if the slot you are playing is truly random.

Note: This article features MicroGaming slots, though the logic and background works for those from all the software providers. Check out my main Casino Slots Software article for the full list!

How Many Spins Per Bonus At Popular MicroGaming Slots?

Below I have listed several of the most popular Microgaming slot games, each of these slots have been certified as being 100% random, and each of them does of course award a bonus game! We have also listed below the number of base game spins required between each bonus game being awarded, and these figures are based on the number of bonus game awarding symbols on each reel and also the number of reel symbols found on each reel.

Please be aware, the number of base game spins between each bonus game being awarded and triggered is the average number of spins. Since distributions are also random it there will be periods when more bonus rounds are triggered and also periods where it takes many more spins than this to trigger the bonus features.

But by knowing just how often and on average those bonus games are triggered, this listing may give you some ideas of just which slots to play, for the best chances of triggering the respective bonus game!

Slots For Free With Bonus Spins

Spring Break Slot – The reel strips on reels one to four of Microgaming’s Spring Break slot are 30 symbols long, with the fifth reel strip containing 44 reel symbols. There is just one Scatter symbol on each of those five reels, and as such the odds on you being awarded with the Free Spins bonus game feature by spinning in three of the Scatter symbols when you are playing this slot are on average once every 143 base game spins.

The number of base game spins required to trigger this bonus game via four Scatter symbols spinning in is once every 2895 spins, and to spin in all five Scatter symbols to trigger the bonus game you will on average have to wait until you have completed a total of 146,667 base game spins!

Be aware that as the Scatter symbols are used to trigger the bonus game it does not matter how many paylines you activate, the average number of spins between each set of free spins being awarded works out to be the same.

Cashville Slot – Scatter symbols are used to trigger the pick to win bonus feature round on the Cashville slot from Microgaming, this is a 20 payline slot, and as the Scatter symbols can spin in anywhere in view, the number of spins between each bonus game triggering are the same irrespective of just how many paylines you choose to put into play.

You will get awarded with a higher number of picks during the bonus feature depending on just how many scatters you spin in. There are a total of 23, 24, 31, 34 and 32 reel symbols on paylines one to five respectively, and reels one to four have one Scatter symbol on them with the fifth reel containing two Scatter symbols.

This therefore means the number of base games spins required on average to trigger the three Scatter symbol bonus game is 98, whilst the number of base game spins it will take on average to spin in four or five Scatter symbols is 1,741 and 76,617 spins respectively.

Cashapillar Slot – We have included in this listing the Cashapillar slot for this is a 100 payline slot game which offers an enormous jackpot on which up to 6 million coins can be won! The reel strips on this slot game are huge with reels one to five containing a total of 79, 78, 74, 94 and 94 symbols each.

There is just one bonus game awarding Scatter symbol on reels one, two and three, with the fourth reel containing three of them and the fifth reel containing two Scatter symbols. You will therefore find the average number of base game spins required to spin in three of these symbols, which is the minimum number required for you to trigger the Free Spins bonus game is 169 spins, with the number of spins on average to spin in four or five Scatter symbols is 3,765 spins and 214,885 spins respectively.

How To Trigger Bonus On Slot Machines

Secret Admirer Slot – One final slot game which is quite unique in what it has to offer via its bonus game is Microgaming’s Secret Admirer slot. This is one of their 9 optional payline slots, and when playing it you can trigger a set of Free Spins, however as they are in play only the Scatter symbols can award you with winning payouts!

How To Trigger Bonus On Slot Machines Without

To trigger this bonus game two of the Scatter symbols need to spin in both on reel one and reel two in the same base game spin. There are 50 reel symbols on both reels one and two and reel one has one single Scatter symbol on it with reel two having two Scatter symbols on it.

This means that should you play this Secret Admirer slot game online, then the number of spins on average you will need to play off before the bonus games is awarded to you is every 139 spins, and being Scatters the number of paylines you play has no effect on the average number of spins required to trigger the feature.

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