Best Slot Machines With Bonus Games 2024

What Are Bonus Games In Online Slots?

Bonus games are similar to hidden worlds in online slots, which are usually triggered when special symbols appear. Then you get to the heart of the slot machine, but keep in mind that the best award-winning slots often contain more than one game or round. You usually get a free spins feature with additional modifiers and higher chances of getting big wins. However, there are also click-and-pick or hold-and-win style bonuses, jackpot bonus slots, and anything in between.

Types Of Bonus Features In Slots

The number of reward features available in modern online video slots is massive, or at least if you count all variants of each feature. Look a little deeper, and you will see that there are a lot of repeating patterns as well. Popular features come in many variations to keep things fresh, and below we’ll cover the most important features you’ll find when you play slots with bonus games online.

Free Spins

This is by far the most common bonus game you’ll find in most modern video slots, and even many classic-looking slots are sporting a free spins round these days. Usually triggered by 3+ scatter symbols anywhere in view, the free spins round is typically an enhanced version of the base game with extra modifiers and a higher chance of winning big.

Multipliers

Multipliers come in different forms. They can land as multiplier symbols that add up to a total win multiplier, or the multiplier can increase per consecutive tumble win to boost the total win. You can also get random multipliers out of the blue in some games, and multipliers can significantly increase your winnings.

Wild Symbols

Wild symbols are present in most online slots, whether the slot has a bonus game or not. Wild symbol's core function is to substitute for any regular pay symbol and thus help complete or improve winning combinations. However, wilds will many times come with multipliers attached as well, boosting any win they partake in. Wilds can expand in different ways, they can be moving or walking wilds, and they can even explode to remove or transform symbols.

Scatter Symbols

Scatter symbols are special symbols that don’t need to line up on a payline to do their magic.In slots with bonus games, the scatters often trigger a special round or a free spins round, and often you also receive a payout for more than 3 scatters. The loss of scatters during the reward usually gives you additional free spins.

Cascading Reels

This is a game mechanic made popular by NetEnt’s iconic Gonzo's Quest. It spread like wildfire through the world of online slots, and many of the best slots with bonus games come with this feature. Winning symbols are removed and the gaps are filled by new and existing symbols dropping down. This repeats indefinitely as long as you keep winning, giving you extra wins per round.

Gamble Features

Many of the best bonus games slots come with gamble features in different forms. Many times, you can gamble your winnings on some kind of card pick game, where you can double or even quadruple your initial win. However, sometimes you can even gamble to win free spins or other bonuses, or gamble to prolong the this game.

Progressive Jackpots

Progressive jackpots build until they drop, as a certain percentage of each wager contributes to the jackpots. Jackpot slots are popular choices due to the potentially life-changing payouts they offer, and in most cases, the jackpot bonus triggers at random times. Exactly how the jackpots are won varies, but it can be a wheel of fortune or some other reward game feature that ultimately determines your fate.

Pick And Click

The pick and click bonus is found in many of the best bonus slots out there, and it’s a popular sidekick to the regular free spins round. Once the pick bonus is triggered, you will usually see a lineup of items to click and pick. Each item reveals a cash prize, or you can win jackpots by matching 3 revealed items.

Retriggering

The best slot machines with bonus games usually allow you to re-start the prize round. This is most common for free spins features, where landing scatters typically award extra spins. Landing 3+ scatters can retrigger the whole feature with the same amount of free spins you got in the first place.

Stacked Symbols

Stacked symbols are common in many of the best slot games with bonus. The stacks can be regular pay symbols, wilds, or mystery symbols, and the latter reveals a random matching symbol type. Landing stacked symbols and stacked wilds increases your chances of larger payouts, as it can lead to full-screen wins.

Megaways

The Megaways engine revolutionized the world of online slots with the release of Big Time Gaming’s legendary Bonanza Megaways. Megaways slots come with a dynamic grid where each reel can land between 2 and 7 symbols per spin. The number of win ways vary accordingly and it usually tops out at 117,649 ways to win. This is an immensely popular system found in many of the best bonus slots.

Feature Buy

Although not available in all jurisdictions (such as the UK), the feature and bonus buy menu is something that keeps popping up in many slots with gift games these days. It’s quite common to be able to pay a certain amount to get directly to the bonus game or free spins round, and you can even pay to trigger certain features as well.

How To Trigger A Bonus Round In Slot Machines

In this section, we’ll briefly cover different ways you can trigger the bonus round in slot machines.

• Landing 3+ Scatter Symbols: This is the classic way of triggering the free spins bonus round, and you usually get more free spins the more triggering scatters you land.
• Removing All Blocker Tiles: Blocker tiles is a newer innovation and these are removed by landing adjacent winning combinations. Remove them all to trigger the bonus game.
• Symbol Collection To Fill The Meter: Sometimes you need to collect a certain amount of symbols of different kinds to trigger the bonus round or game.
• Land Special Symbols On Specified Reels: In rare occasions, the bonus round is unlocked when special symbols appear on specific positions or reels at the same time.
• Bonus Buy Option (not UK): This is a shortcut that’s available in many video slots these days, and you can simply pay a larger sum to get the bonus round directly.

How To Pick The Best Slots With Bonus Games

Having many years of experience playing online slots together, we will tell you how to choose the best bonus slots when you play online. It's not enough to just look at the game's reward round or other features. You also need to look under the hood and consider the mathematical model of the game. Here are the most important things to pay attention to before you make your final choice.

Type Of Bonus Features

If you’re looking to play the best bonus games slots, you will need to check the features department first and foremost. What you want is elaborate bonus rounds with plenty of modifiers and extras, as well as reward features also in the base game. Nitropolis 4 is a perfect example of a game that’s jam-packed with features in all stages, and it comes with a highly engaging and modifier-rich bonus round as well.

Volatility

A lot of the best slots with bonus games are highly volatile games these days, as this is the way the world of online slots has been trending for some years now. These games will take your bankroll for a rollercoaster ride in most cases, and it may not be for the faint of heart. You can find plenty of solid bonus game slots with medium or low volatility as well, of course, but always check this before you start playing for real money.

RTP

We always list the RTP for every game in our catalog, and the Return To Player percentage is a crucial thing to be aware of. It hovers around 95 to 96 % in most cases, which means that the house edge hovers between 5 and 4 % for most slots. We recommend that you play games with an RTP of at least 96 %, and also beware that many slots have customizable RTP settings.

Betting Range

The betting range can vary a lot from game to game, but many of the best bonus slots cater to both penny punters and high rollers. You will most likely be able to place bets of £0.1 or £0.2 per spin, and most players prefer lower bets in our experience. Either way, you need to check the bet range of the game before you get started, and make sure it suits your needs.

Reviews And Ratings

We review tons of new slot games every month, and you can find a review of all the latest slots right here on this website. We recommend that you check our review before you make your final decision about which slots with bonus games you want to play online casino for real money.

Demo Play

After you have read the review, or before if that suits you better, you can play the free demo version of the game. You will find the demo slot at the top of each review page, and you can simply hit the play demo button to test the game as much as you like. You will find verified casinos to play the game at right below the demo game.

The 10 Best Bonus Slots In 2024

We have just given you our recipe for how to choose the best bonus slots, and the time has come to put our money where our mouth is in that regard. Our team of slot review experts has hand-selected each game in the list below, and you can read the review of each game and test the free demo version via the link. These are the best bonus game slots of 2024, and you cannot go wrong when you pick from this top list.

Big Bass Bonanza

Big Bass Bonanza is Reel Kingdom’s smash hit that’s spawned a whole series of charming fishing slots. The round is all about reeling in fish prizes, while also upgrading the fish prize multiplier and winning extra spins as the fisherman himself is collected.

Starburst

Starburst is a timeless classic from NetEnt, and this game has been going strong since 2013. Glimmering gems fill the reels, and the big highlight is the expanding wild respins feature that can fill the 3 center reels with wilds. This is a low volatility game, and you can win up to 500x your stake.

Bonanza Megaways

Bonanza Megaways is the Big Time Gaming release that catapulted the Megaways engine into stardom, and it comes with a now iconic mining theme. You get cascading reels in all stages, and the progressive win multiplier keeps building per cascade in the bonus round. The max win is a solid 26,000x your stake.

Book of Dead

Book of Dead is the legendary Play’n Go release that has spawned more copycats than any other game. It’s admittedly a copycat itself, but Book of Dead is still among the most popular slot games ever. A symbol is chosen to be expanding and scatter-pay in the bonus round, leading to possible full-screen wins up to 5,000x your stake.

9 Pots of Gold

9 Pots of Gold is an immensely popular Irish Luck installment from Gameburger Studios, and the lure comes in the form of instant scatter jackpots up to 2,000x the stake. You can land these on any spin, and you’ll benefit from an x2 or x3 line-win multiplier in the bonus round.

Rainbow Riches

Rainbow Riches is a charming Leprechaun game from Barcrest. It comes packed with features, and the Road to Riches bonus game can take you all the way to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. There are click-and-pick bonus games to look forward to as well, and this is a classic release with nostalgic value.

Shaman's Dream

Shaman's Dream is a popular Native American-themed game from Eyecon, and all wins with wild symbols are boosted by x2. You can retrigger the bonus round up to 30 times to get a total of 450 free spins, and all bonus round wins are boosted by x3 (wild wins are still boosted by x2) for payouts up to 9,500x your stake.

Gates Of Olympus

Gates Of Olympus is Pragmatic Play’’s popular Greek mythology release, where Zeus is by your side at all times. Multiplier symbols add up to boost the total win from your tumble sequence, and the multiplier only keeps building in the bonus round. The max win is 5,000x your stake.

Reel King Mega

Reel King Mega is a highly popular release from Red Tiger, and the big attraction is the charming Mini Slot feature. It comes with a win guarantee, and the mini slot keeps spinning as long as you keep winning.

Fluffy Favourites

Fluffy Favourites is an all-time favorite amongst many players, not least in the UK. The cozy visuals hold nostalgic value for sure, and the same can be said about the famous Toybox Pick Bonus Game. This game is guaranteed to lift your mood, and you can win up to 5,000x your stake.

Best Casinos To Play Slot Machines With Bonus Games

Our best tip is to check the review page of any bonus slot machine games you are interested in, as we provide a list of the best casinos to play each game directly below the free demo game. This list is verified by our automated casino crawler to carry the title in question, but you also cannot go wrong with the casinos we have hand-selected for you below.

Providers With The Best Slots Bonuses

Some game providers stick out with their innovative abilities and their determination to give players tremendous experiences out of the ordinary. We can’t do justice to all of them in this brief section, but below are 3 providers that have come up with highly successful slot bonus features and rounds.

Reel Kingdom

Reel Kingdom was catapulted into stardom when they released the first installment in their now world-famous Big Bass series. This fishing slot range has changed the world of online slots forever, and they have built on the core concept to give you plenty of exciting extras and modifiers. This includes fishing expeditions with bazooka and dynamite modifiers.

Big Time Gaming

Big Time Gaming is an Australian game provider that became world famous with the innovation of the Megaways engine. They have licensed it to countless other providers by now, but BTG has plenty of interesting games that don’t rely on the dynamic grid mechanic as well. Their take on the fishing slot concept, Golden Catch, is well worth a closer look, for example.

Play'n Go

Play'n Go is a veteran developer of slots with bonus games, and they have more than 330 video slots in their back catalog. They release several new games every month, and they keep adding twists and innovating new bonus rounds and features all the time. This is a highly popular developer that most players love, and all their games come with high production value and solid max wins.

Tips For Getting The Most From Bonus Slot Machine Games

Leveraging our vast experience playing the best slots with bonus games online, we’ll give you some of our best insights and tips based on what we have learned.

Pros And Cons Of Slot Games With Bonus Rounds

Final Thoughts

As you now understand, looking for the best bonus slots means you need to look beneath the surface and explore the depths of the math model. We have given you all our best tips picked up from our many years of testing and reviewing slots with bonus games. Embracing the thrill of the experience itself is important, and try to avoid getting too focused on winning big all the time. Payouts will come when you least expect it, which is part of the fun, and you can check the FAQ below if you have further questions.