Slot Game Guides
I started with ten of the best-known slots in UK casinos, the games you’ll find in almost every lobby. I’ve been through each one’s rules, played them on UK casino accounts, and for six of them I also recorded the RTP that each casino showed.
These are guides to how the games work, not reviews of where to play them.
Researched slot games
Big Bass Bonanza is probably my favourite of the ten to examine. It combines two different collection mechanics in the same Free Spins feature, making it a particularly useful example of how mechanics can work together.
Big Bass Bonanza
Two collection features in one bonus. During Free Spins, Fisherman Wilds pick up the cash values shown on Fish symbols. The game also counts the Fishermen: the 4th, 8th and 12th each add 10 spins and raise the multiplier to x2, x3 and then x10.
Maximum win: 2,100×
Book of Dead
Rich Wilde in an Egyptian tomb, and a formula players understand straight away. Three or more Books start 10 Free Spins, and one ordinary symbol becomes the Special Expanding Symbol. A lot of later “Book of” games follow a very similar pattern.
Maximum win: 5,000×
Dead or Alive
The base game is plain: nine fixed paylines. Free Spins are where it comes alive, with every Wild staying put for the rest of the bonus and line wins doubled.
Current max payout: 8,600×
Gates of Olympus
Matching symbols pay wherever they land, and winning ones tumble away for new ones to fall in. Multiplier symbols carry anything from 2× to 500×. In Free Spins they add to a running total that lasts the whole feature.
Maximum win: 5,000× total bet
Gonzo’s Quest
The game where I first noticed cascading reels. NetEnt called it Avalanche: winning symbols fall away, new ones fall into the gaps, and consecutive wins raise the multiplier within the sequence. For me it’s one of the games that made NetEnt’s name.
Current max payout: 2,200×
Legacy of Dead
Same reels and selectable paylines as Book of Dead. In Free Spins a symbol is picked at random to expand, and retriggers can add more expanding symbols.
Maximum win: 5,000×
Razor Shark
Four-high Mystery Stacks drive almost everything here. A Golden Shark sets off Razor Reveal, a feature played on separate mini-reels. In the Free Games the stacks nudge down the reels, and the multiplier rises as they move.
Volatility: High
Reactoonz
No paylines at all. Reactoonz looks for groups of matching symbols on a 7×7 grid, clears winning clusters and drops in replacements. Those wins also charge its Quantum Leap meters and set up feature events.
Maximum exposure: 4,570.3×
Starburst
About as simple as modern slots get: wins pay from either direction, and Wilds on the middle reels expand and hold for respins. The surprise was the RTP. At 11 UK casinos I found five different settings, from 92.05% to 98.05%.
Maximum payout: 800×
Sugar Rush
Cluster wins and tumbling symbols, with a twist: the multipliers belong to positions on the 7×7 grid, not to symbols. Those Multiplier Spots build up where wins land and carry on through Free Spins.
Maximum win: 5,000×
One game name, more than one version
The name on the loading screen doesn’t tell you which version of a game you’re playing. Developers often supply several RTP settings, and a feature offered abroad can be switched off in Great Britain.
When I checked Starburst at 11 UK casinos, the RTP on screen ranged from 92.05% to 98.05%. Gates of Olympus has UK-certified settings from 92.10% to 96.50%, and its Buy Free Spins option is disabled in those UK versions. That’s why the RTP lines on the cards above say what kind of figure they are: what I saw at UK casinos, what the developer documents or what it lists publicly. The full casino-by-casino results are in the RTP study.
Where the guides come from
Every guide starts from the game’s own rules and developer material, then my own checks in the game itself.
Safer gambling support
These guides explain slot games rather than encourage play. If gambling is causing concern, see the Safer Gambling Support page for UK support options.