What are Free Spin Slot Features? - Free Spins & Bonus Rounds Guide
Slots have come a long way since their early beginnings as mechanical units you would find in bars and saloons. Nowadays, modern online slots are almost indistinguishable, and there’s one thing that you will notice that drives that when you’re browsing the catalogue of exciting video slots here at Stake.com.
That’s the sheer number of special features and bonus games that you can find within some of the best titles. Gone are the days of the base game of a classic 3-reel slot being all you can play. Now, you have a whole host of bonus spin rounds and extra features to choose from.
In this guide, we’ll break down what you can expect from free spin slots, how they work, and how to play them here at Stake Casino.
What are Free Spins & How Do They Work?
First up, we’ll clear up exactly what we mean when we’re talking about bonus spins slots. These are in-game features where extra spins bonus rounds are triggered - most often by landing bonus symbols or a combination of symbols on the reels - giving you an extra chance to spin the reels.
They shouldn’t be confused with free or bonus spins offers that you will often find in online casino bonuses and promotions. Instead, these are game mechanics contained in the individual games and based on meeting certain parameters within the game.
Once these bonus rounds are triggered, you will play the spins in much the same way you would the standard game. However, there may be added features that up the ante in these extra rounds, including the ability to win jackpot prizes or build up multipliers.
How to Trigger Free Spins Bonus Rounds
It’s worth noting that different games will have different ways for their bonus rounds to trigger, so it’s always best to read the game description to find out exactly how your specific game will trigger. However, there are certainly some common ways that you can expect to see across a number of different titles.
Most games will have a specific symbol or set of symbols that they use to represent a bonus. These can be scatters or wild symbols that can trigger prizes, payouts and bonus rounds.
For the bonus spins games, you will usually need to land a few of these symbols for the extra game to begin. However, there are certain slots where you may not have to wait for the bonus game to trigger.
These bonus buy games allow you to skip the requirements of landing different symbols and give you the chance to pay a small amount of your bankroll to access their bonus features right away. Some of the hottest new games use this mechanic to let you have a shot at the bonus right away or make it more likely.
Some slot games like Eye of the Panda have several different free spins features that you can buy for different prices. In some games, like the candy-themed Sweet Bonanza, you can use a feature that will double your chance of triggering the bonus round without buying it.
Types of Free Spins
Free spins, much like the games that you will find them in, come in all manner of shapes and sizes. At their most basic, the normal spins bonus rounds function as simple respins, where you simply have another chance of spinning the reel without eating into your bankroll.
However, in other games, these extra rounds can give something a little extra. For example, Pragmatic Play’sGates of Olympus 1000 gives the player 15 consecutive spins for free after landing four or more scatters. Then, they can build up multipliers that they land in the bonus round and even add five extra spins by landing another three or more scatters.
Other games allow you to choose between a few different bonus rounds. Some games, like Gonzo’s Quest from NetEnt, add a twist to the free spins feature, awarding “free falls” that remove symbols from the grid and replace them with new ones.
Are Free Spin Bonuses Worth It?
This is a question where the answer might depend on exactly what you enjoy in your slots. However, we can comfortably say that they’re an exciting feature that can elevate a game to a whole new level.
No matter what you want from your games, it can never hurt to enjoy an extra few rounds of spins for no extra outlay. At the very worst, you don’t bag any extra wins. At the best, you could win bonus prizes or add to your winnings by landing high-paying symbols.
Best Slots with Free Spins Features?
All of the best slots from the hottest providers will be chock full of features, but here are just a handful of our favourites with a few different themes.
Dog Mansion Megaways: With so many potential combinations of symbols, you’ll have a good chance to land the scatters and get up to 20 free spins with Dog Mansion Megaways. The bonus round on this animal-themed game comes with multipliers and sticky wilds.
Tome of Life: In this Stake Original, you’ll be looking to land the Healer scatter symbol, and you could bag up to 180 free spins with a 3x multiplier. Tome of Life is a great slot with great potential in the bonus rounds.
Book of Dead: In this hugely popular slot game, the tomb scatter opens up the free spins round, where expanding symbols can help you win even more. There’s a reason Book of Dead and the Rich Wilde saga of adventure slots are so popular.
Hounds of Hell: If you’re looking for a terrifying horror slot with great free spins bonuses, Hounds of Hell is your game. The What the Hell feature gives you 10 free spins and the chance to build up multipliers from the base game into the bonus to increase your win.
Free Spins Slot Strategies & Tips to Win
Free spins and online slots as a whole are one big game of chance that leave you at the mercy of random number generators, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t tips to give you a more enjoyable spins experience.
Play for the max bet amount: This way, if you land a free spins round, the reels will have a high value, and if you have a win, it might be big!
Play a jackpot game: It’s always a good idea to try progressive jackpots like Mega Moolah because even if you don’t land the bonus round, you might take away a huge win.
Max out the paylines: Always play for the maximum amount of paylines because you’ll have more chances to win, and if you land a free spins round, the same paylines will be active.
Consider using strategies in your base play: you can use a more advanced betting strategy like the Kelly Criterion or Martingale to manage bankroll and stretch your session out. These can often also be applied to table games and even sports betting.
Learn the rules: you need to know how to play online slots before you get started. In our blog, there are plenty of how-to guides with information to help you get started.
Odds, House Edge & Return to Player
For each game you find in the slot catalogue, there will be different figures for the odds of you winning, the house edge, and the return to player (RTP) percentage. For the house edge, this refers to how in favour of the casino a game is. The lower the figure the better!
RTP refers to the opposite of the house edge. It is essentially how often the game is expected to pay out when played over an exceptionally large sample size. You can calculate it, if you know the house edge, by subtracting the house edge from 100.
How to Deposit & Withdraw Funds to Play Slots Online
You can play free spins slots at Stake online casino by depositing in a local currency or via cryptocurrencies.
Right now, you can play at Stake.com with the following local currencies – ARS, CLP, CAD, JPY, INR and TRY. Depending on your preferences, you can also view your balance in numerous other currencies too. You can find more information about our local currency options on our community forum, as well as our local currency payment guide.
Learn how to use the Stake Vault to securely store your funds online for all future gameplay at Stake Casino. You can also read our crypto security guide to learn more about keeping your funds safe and secure at Stake.com.
At Stake, in addition to offering some of the very best slots with free spin bonus rounds, we also provide some exciting online casino bonuses and promotions for players to take advantage of. These include rakebacks and reloads, Telegram challenges, leaderboards, and more.
For those players who choose to play regularly with us, there’s even the Stake VIP Club where you can get access to a number of different levels of rewards based on your staking history, from bronze all the way up to diamond. At certain levels, there’s even a dedicated VIP Host to help with any questions. For more information, check out our VIP FAQs page for all the details.
