Free Slots
Bonus buy slots are one of the latest inventions of the online gambling world and they are changing the game and the way we know online slots work. If you’ve ever played a game and thought it took too much time to get to the bonus features, then the invention of the bonus bet couldn’t have come soon enough for you.
Let’s find out together how buy feature slots can help you get that elusive big win and how to use them to your advantage.
What Are Bonus Buy Slots?
A bonus buy slot is an online slot game which allows you to instantly access a bonus round by purchasing it in advance. Usually, in most slots, when you buy a bonus it will cost you around 100x times your stake.
That means that if your bet level is of €0.10 per spin then you might need to pay €10 to enter the bonus round. It can also mean that if you’re betting €100 per spin you might need to bet €10000 to get there.
Bonus buy features have very quickly become insanely popular with slot players, and a lot of new releases in 2020 have this option.
Just recently, NetEnt has released Serengeti Kings, which has a bonus buy feature, and many other software providers who haven’t considered adding the feature are jumping on this bandwagon.
The feature buy slot option was first introduced in the online gambling world in 2017 when White Rabbit from BTG was released. Big Time Gaming’s trademarked Feature Drop™ option set the path to be followed by many other slots, both from Big Time Gaming and their competitors.
White Rabbit is in many ways one of the most interesting and unique titles ever made. First off, it has a huge RTP, then it also benefits from the Megaways slots, it has an insane amount of bonus features and, last but not least, even to this day its bonus buy system is different than all the rest.
While other slots allow you to pay a fixed sum correlated to your bet size to enter the free spins bonus round, White Rabbit is the only one which allows players to collect tokens in order to lower the price of the feature buy. If you get enough tokens you can even trigger the bonus for “free”.
White Rabbit soon became a huge hit all over the world, but the bonus buy feature caused a lot of controversies. Some argued that vulnerable players will be at risk of spending insane amounts of money in a short period of time which led to the game and all games using this feature being banned in the UK by the UK Gambling Commission.
While there are indeed grounds for some concern, it needs to be stated that having the freedom of choice is important and that, in the long term, you can just as easily lose the same amount of money by spinning and spinning trying to get the bonus to trigger as opposed to buying it.
In our opinion, responsible gambling is key (as always) and the feature should be used carefully. This means setting your budget beforehand and deciding what you can afford to spend on the feature without jeopardizing anything.
Bonus Buy Feature Slots – Everything You Need to Know
One of the most important things you need to know is that opting to activate the bonus buy option will usually get you a better RTP so your chances of winnings are increased as opposed to regular gameplay.
On the downside, you need to be careful when getting it and really look at the price. Not all slot games have the same prices for buying the feature. Some are lower, others are higher, and some even change depending on how many scatters you can get to trigger the free spins bonus round thus getting you more or fewer free spins and winning chances.
While some are the standard 50-100x you find on Big Time Gaming slots, other providers can have 300x+ so make sure you pay attention.
Also, keep in mind the existence of volatility levels. In order to get you that huge winning potential of gigantic jackpots, they will come up less frequently and have higher volatility. So high volatility slots might take you hundreds of spins before a bonus round is triggered. With the existence of a buy option, you get to skip directly to the bonus round.
Of course, nothing can guarantee that once you reach the bonus round you will win great prizes. The RNG is still functional, so you might win, but you might also not win.
Furthermore, the bonus buy option is available in all jurisdictions except for the UK where it was banned in 2019. Also, some online casinos might not allow slot machine games with buy features to qualify for no deposit bonuses or any other type of promotion. So make sure you check the terms and conditions beforehand to see what you can and cannot play.
Top 5 Online Slots with Bonus Buys
Deciding on the best slot games with a bonus buy option is no easy task. We, of course, love White Rabbit, but there are dozens of other great options to try.
Each player has his/her own preferences when it comes to graphics, themes, RTPs, volatility levels, bet sizes, bonus features, gameplay, and all other things that make up a slot game.
That being said, these are the top 5 slots which caught our eye the most, the online slot games which we find the most fun and rewarding; along with the price of buying the feature for each of them:
- Money Train 2 (Relax Gaming) – 100x
- Extra Chilli (Big Time Gaming) – 50x
- Genie Jackpot Megaways (Blueprint Gaming) – 100x
- Dark Vortex (Yggdrasil Gaming) – 80x
- Fat Santa (Push Gaming) – 80x
Try them in play for fun demo mode on SlotsCalendar and see if they are worth the hype. With no risks, as free slots, you get to see if should or should not play them.