Slots with Valuable Bonus Rounds

Does anyone know off hand what common slot machines (not VP) out there have Bonus Rounds that account for a large portion of the machines overall payback percentage? Maybe something like Wheel of Fortune or Top Dollar?

Quote: PartialInfo

Does anyone know off hand what common slot machines (not VP) out there have Bonus Rounds that account for a large portion of the machines overall payback percentage? Maybe something like Wheel of Fortune or Top Dollar?

Double Diamond (;

Interesting question.

Quote: PartialInfo

Does anyone know off hand what common slot machines (not VP) out there have Bonus Rounds that account for a large portion of the machines overall payback percentage? Maybe something like Wheel of Fortune or Top Dollar?

"Large Portion," is a somewhat relative term, so I'm going to take that to mean 15%+. If I define it as such, a few examples of which I can think are:

Basically any Quick Hits machine
Double Diamond Run
The WMS must-hits seem to rely pretty heavily on Free Games
Rock Around the Clock (If you're betting the minimum, which you should be)
Sex & The City
Top Dollar & Wheel of Fortune (as you pointed out)

I've also not really played the Blue Moon, Fire Island (or another one I forget the name of) but they seem to hit Bonus Games a lot and it lights up one or more values and for each symbol you get in the Free Games it pays that multiplier * your base bet per line.

There are probably a few others I'm not thinking of at the moment, generally any game with a moderate-high Bonus Games frequency is going to have a good bit of the return be based on the Bonus Games. There are also a couple Video Keno games, as well, but I don't know if you care about those or not.

For me Lets Make a Deal seems to have large bonus games, especially if you bet enough to qualify for the super bonus amounts

A large portion relying on the bonus round, I think almost every machine. At least talking about 20% going up from there, quoting common knowledge. The bonus round also can these days differentiate payback if I paraphrase Drich correctly.

Hot Shot Progressives, those too.

I also think OneNickelMiracle is right, slot machines where the machine's Bonus Games DO NOT contribute at least 20% to the return would be a much shorter list. I tend to think that Sun God and Moon Goddess might not, that'd be pretty close, I think. I've not played those extensively. They sure as heck didn't hit often or pay a lot in the roughly 10,000 spins I have played and/or watched (mostly watched) lifetime.

Honestly, I also have trouble remembering the names of slot machines because I just look for Progressives to be at an advantage of some kind, or something otherwise vulturable. I think the only slot machine that I genuinely like and would ever (but still probably not) sit down and just play...in Vegas or something...would be Quick Hits Platinum. Maybe a Quick Hits flat-top, $0.05-$0.25/spin, or something, for the drinks, still not difficult to envision a $50 win on Bonus Games betting $0.25 if you get the 20 Games with 3x, or two 20 Games with 3x + Wild + Five Games for a total of 25 with 3x...and maybe hit a re-trigger.

Likely, Hell no, but difficult to imagine, not by any means.

EDIT: Actually, I KIND OF like Dynamite Blast, not enough to play it at a disadvantage, but I do somewhat enjoy it when I find it at an advantage.

Most the [casino-style] machines in the UK now come with features where quite a reasonable chunk of payback comes from the feature. Typically, for a 50p bet, you can win from (say) £5 to (very unlikely) £1000 (which I did once) - however most operate a system similar to free spins, although the end payout is pre-determined. Unlike the US, machines can pay in multiples of 1p (though typically 5p) so wins such as 10p, 25p etc keep the player interested. Some link up to a jackpot (or several such as bronze,silver,gold) but currently have to be within the casino max (£20k). Normally people ignore the wins and only go for the feature or bust.

You can see some of the games at http://www.gaminator-slots.net/ - I'm told Lucky Lady's Charm is the favourite at my local.

Quote: Mission146

"Large Portion," is a somewhat relative term, so I'm going to take that to mean 15%+. If I define it as such, a few examples of which I can think are:

Basically any Quick Hits machine
Double Diamond Run
The WMS must-hits seem to rely pretty heavily on Free Games
Rock Around the Clock (If you're betting the minimum, which you should be)
Sex & The City
Top Dollar & Wheel of Fortune (as you pointed out)

I've also not really played the Blue Moon, Fire Island (or another one I forget the name of) but they seem to hit Bonus Games a lot and it lights up one or more values and for each symbol you get in the Free Games it pays that multiplier * your base bet per line.

There are probably a few others I'm not thinking of at the moment, generally any game with a moderate-high Bonus Games frequency is going to have a good bit of the return be based on the Bonus Games. There are also a couple Video Keno games, as well, but I don't know if you care about those or not.

Thanks for your response. Which one would you say has the highest portion of it's EV derived from the bonus rounds?

Quote: PartialInfo

Thanks for your response. Which one would you say has the highest portion of it's EV derived from the bonus rounds?

IMO, MegaMillions would be the top of that list. In my experience (not much just because of this) it's a complete drain feeding the Nevada-wide progressive; never had a significant spin on it. Also, they promote it as that kind of machine.

After that, nearly any big progressive, like Wheel of Fortunes that require you to put all 3 wheels in a row to get a spin. Again, my experience with them; BR killers, steady drain trying to hit anything, let alone a bonus, but the bonus is usually in the millions on the $1 machines and close to it on .25's.

Quote: beachbumbabs

IMO, MegaMillions would be the top of that list. In my experience (not much just because of this) it's a complete drain feeding the Nevada-wide progressive; never had a significant spin on it. Also, they promote it as that kind of machine.

After that, nearly any big progressive, like Wheel of Fortunes that require you to put all 3 wheels in a row to get a spin. Again, my experience with them; BR killers, steady drain trying to hit anything, let alone a bonus, but the bonus is usually in the millions on the $1 machines and close to it on .25's.

I think he means machines with a Free Games feature, not necessarily Progressives.

Quote: PartialInfo

Thanks for your response. Which one would you say has the highest portion of it's EV derived from the bonus rounds?

You're welcome, and that's a tough question because what I usually track is Progressive probabilities and overall coin in/out when watching machines and I just count Free Games features as part of the Base Pays.

I would probably have to say Rock Around the Clock, if you're betting the minimum, because in no fewer than 100 (and probably closer to 200) plays I've only ever been ahead once by the time I hit the Bonus Game, and it was by less than $1.00. With that said, I've almost never lost, it's a vulture-type of play.

Aside from that, I think it would be a toss-up between Quick Hits Platinum and the Blue Moon/Fire Island type of machines. I'd say the Blue Moon/Fie Island because the game (without Free Games) has a terrible return and Quick Hits Platinum because of a high frequency of one Bonus Game per 96 games.

Ok. Then I don't know. Most of them.

Quote: Mission146

You're welcome, and that's a tough question because what I usually track is Progressive probabilities and overall coin in/out when watching machines and I just count Free Games features as part of the Base Pays.

I would probably have to say Rock Around the Clock, if you're betting the minimum, because in no fewer than 100 (and probably closer to 200) plays I've only ever been ahead once by the time I hit the Bonus Game, and it was by less than $1.00. With that said, I've almost never lost, it's a vulture-type of play.

Aside from that, I think it would be a toss-up between Quick Hits Platinum and the Blue Moon/Fire Island type of machines. I'd say the Blue Moon/Fie Island because the game (without Free Games) has a terrible return and Quick Hits Platinum because of a high frequency of one Bonus Game per 96 games.

Thanks again. A few more questions for you, if you don't mind:

1) What makes Quick Hit Platinum more desirable in this scenario than the other variations, like Black Velvet?

2) On 1 cent Quick Hit Platinum betting the max ($1.50), am I correct that the odds of hitting a W2G are fairly slim? It would seem it will only happen for the 9QH for $3,000.00 (which is 1/2,073,600 spins).

3) Is it generally correct to assume the base HE for Quick Hit Platinum (1 cent denomination) is 88%, and it increases from there based on the progressive meters? As an aside, how often do these machines become +EV?

4) Do you have any estimate for the HE on 5 coin Double Diamond Wheel of Fortune (25 cent denomination)? The minimum return set by the state in question is 85%.

Quote: PartialInfo

2) On 1 cent Quick Hit Platinum betting the max ($1.50), am I correct that the odds of hitting a W2G are fairly slim? It would seem it will only happen for the 9QH for $3,000.00 (which is 1/2,073,600 spins).

The QH Plat machines I've seen offer the 5 levels of QH progressives, plus the Platinum-QH progressive.

The $1.50 ones I've seen usually have the 8QH (once it's grown a bit - which is usually), the 9QH, and the Platinum-QH in the W2G range.

I believe I've also seen the free spin bonuses hit for W2G payouts, but I wouldn't swear to it.

None of these hit for W2G particularly often at the $1.50 level that I can tell.

Many of the newest video slot machines have bonuses that return between 25% and 40% of the payback through the bonus.

Quote: PartialInfo

Thanks again. A few more questions for you, if you don't mind:

1) What makes Quick Hit Platinum more desirable in this scenario than the other variations, like Black Velvet?

2) On 1 cent Quick Hit Platinum betting the max ($1.50), am I correct that the odds of hitting a W2G are fairly slim? It would seem it will only happen for the 9QH for $3,000.00 (which is 1/2,073,600 spins).

3) Is it generally correct to assume the base HE for Quick Hit Platinum (1 cent denomination) is 88%, and it increases from there based on the progressive meters? As an aside, how often do these machines become +EV?

4) Do you have any estimate for the HE on 5 coin Double Diamond Wheel of Fortune (25 cent denomination)? The minimum return set by the state in question is 85%.

1.) I didn't name Black Velvet because I've not really played that machine, at all, so I'm not qualified to answer the question.

2.) I would say the Odds are fairly slim. You'd need to hit all five QHP symbols, Nine Quick Hits, Eight Quick Hits with the Progressive over $1,200 (while hitting that is rare, the Progressive being that high isn't too rare) or if you hit any 8QH during Bonus Games, that would also do it. There would be other combinations during Bonus Games that could yield that result, particularly with 20 (or 25) initial Free Games * 3x pays, but that'd be pretty unlikely to do it without hitting the 8QH.

In short, it's not going to happen often, no.

3.) The lowest possible base return is 88.05%, so that would be a safe assumption without exhaustively playing/observing the machine to make an educated guess as to it being higher. I don't have an exact frequency for how often the machines become +EV because I just do the math when I see that they may be close. It's not infrequent enough to call it, "Rare," but it's not a regularly occurring thing, either, unless you find one with a really strong meter. If you do find one +EV, it'll usually be because of 5QH, 6QH and 7QH, and more typically, a combination of those.

4.) I'm afraid I would have no idea. Different machines have different payback percentages.

Quote: DRich

Many of the newest video slot machines have bonuses that return between 25% and 40% of the payback through the bonus.

Do you know off hand which ones are near the 40% mark?

Partialinfo,
what is your motivation to even know these things? I have an impression you may have a reel stopping delusion, so I ask.

Quote: PartialInfo

Do you know off hand which ones are near the 40% mark?

No, not off the top of my head. I see lots of PAR sheets but I really don't pay attention to much other than the total payback and hit frequency.

Quote: PartialInfo

Do you know off hand which ones are near the 40% mark?

If you're that determined to play a game in which the return of the bonus is greater than 40% of the ER of the game, just play Cleopatra Keno and select seven or ten numbers.

You may want to consider DEAL OR NO DEAL in this analysis