What are increasing multiplier slots?

In an increasing multiplier slot, the active multiplier gets larger according to a rule built into the game. A random x10 appearing on a Wild isn’t enough to qualify. The value has to progress from one step to the next.

The closest comparison I can think of is the feature trail on a pub fruit machine, lighting up step by step as you play. An increasing multiplier feels very much the same.

How do increasing multipliers work?

The diagram below shows three games that all have one, and none of them grows the same way.

Bonanza adds +1 to its Free Spins multiplier after every winning reaction, which is Big Time Gaming’s word for a cascade that wins.

Book of Hidden Tombs is less intuitive. Its Super Free Spins multiplier starts at x1 and doubles after every spin that doesn’t win, up to x512. When a win arrives, the multiplier is applied to it, and BGaming’s current game page says it then resets.

The Green Knight doesn’t calculate anything. During Free Spins, a guaranteed Multiplier Wild moves along a fixed ladder, one step per spin: x2, x5, x10, x25 and x100.

What can make a multiplier increase?

Winning cascades or reactions

Gonzo’s Quest raises its multiplier as each new Avalanche continues the current sequence. NetEnt gives a range of x1 to x5 in the main game and x3 to x15 in Free Falls. Bonanza works on the same kind of trigger during Free Spins.

Non-winning spins

Book of Hidden Tombs is the clearest counterexample. A losing spin is what makes the multiplier bigger; a winning spin uses it.

Feature steps

In The Green Knight, the trigger is simply moving on to the next of the five Free Spins.

Collection thresholds

Big Bass Bonanza counts Fisherman Wilds during Free Spins. Its Cash Collect multiplier starts at x1, then moves to x2, x3 and x10 when the 4th, 8th and 12th Fisherman land.

Position or symbol events

Cygnus 2 makes position the trigger. When a Multiplier symbol reaches the leftmost column, its value is added to the active multiplier and the symbol turns into a Wild.

Razor Shark ties growth to Mystery symbols moving during Free Games. Every one-position nudge increases the feature multiplier.

In Gates of Olympus Free Spins, qualifying Multiplier symbol values are added into a running total, so it grows by whatever value lands rather than by a fixed step.

How fast can it grow?

Developers keep taking a simple idea and tweaking it to make their games different, and the way a multiplier grows is a good example.

Bonanza adds a fixed +1 each time. Book of Hidden Tombs doubles, so from x1, nine doublings take it to its x512 cap (x1, x2, x4 and so on up to x512). The Green Knight jumps between set values, from x25 straight to x100 on its last spin. Cygnus 2 and Gates of Olympus add whatever value lands, so the size of each jump varies.

So the idea that increasing multipliers go up by one after every win only describes one way of doing it.

What does an increasing multiplier apply to?

A climbing number doesn’t necessarily multiply every win.

In Big Bass Bonanza, the multiplier only applies to the cash the Fisherman collects from Fish symbols. Ordinary line wins aren’t multiplied. Razor Shark‘s feature multiplier, by contrast, applies to line wins and to Razor Reveal instant awards, according to Push Gaming.

How long can an increasing multiplier last?

The same game can give its multiplier a different lifetime depending on where you are. Sugar Rush marks Multiplier Spots on the grid that build from x2 up to x128 after repeated winning explosions in the same place. In the base game, those spots only last for the current tumble sequence. In Free Spins, they stay for later spins and can keep growing.

Gates of Olympus does something similar. In the base game its multipliers last only for the current tumble sequence, but in Free Spins they build a running total that lasts the whole round. That total is the number I find myself watching when I play it.

At the short end, Fire in the Hole 2 uses its increase straight away. In the base game, when an xBomb Wild explodes, its value increases the win multiplier for the next collapse only.

Elsewhere, Cygnus 2 carries its active multiplier between Free Drops, Gonzo’s Quest’s progression is tied to the Avalanches in the current sequence, and Big Bass Bonanza’s new multiplier applies to the extra Free Spins that follow each threshold until the next one moves it up.

When do increasing multipliers reset?

BGaming’s current page says the Book of Hidden Tombs multiplier resets after it’s applied to a winning spin. Big Bass Bonanza starts each new Free Spins round at x1.

For Gonzo’s Quest, the NetEnt material I’ve checked gives the ranges but doesn’t spell out when the multiplier goes back to x1, so I haven’t stated a rule.

Capped vs unlimited increasing multipliers

Book of Hidden Tombs stops at x512 and Big Bass Bonanza at x10, while Big Time Gaming describes Bonanza’s Free Spins multiplier as unlimited, with no published cap.

Those big numbers are what developers’ marketing teams push hardest, and I suspect plenty of players read a huge or unlimited multiplier as a huge win. It isn’t the same thing. Bonanza still has a maximum payout of 26,000x bet, as the Multiplier Slots guide explains.

Increasing Multipliers vs Random Multipliers and Multiplier Wilds

Increasing describes how a multiplier changes; Random Multipliers describe how a value is picked, and a Multiplier Wild is simply a Wild that carries one. The Green Knight combines two of them: its Multiplier Wild increases along a fixed ladder. The Multiplier Slots guide covers the other terms that get mixed up, including persistent and Sticky Wilds.

Increasing multiplier examples compared

Increasing multiplier behaviour in games I’ve checked

Game	What makes it grow	How it grows	How long it lasts / limit
Gonzo’s Quest	Each new Avalanche in the active sequence.	Main game x1 to x5; Free Falls x3 to x15.	Ranges differ by mode; NetEnt’s material doesn’t say when it returns to x1.
Book of Hidden Tombs	Each non-winning Super Free Spins spin.	Starts x1 and doubles; current value applies on a winning spin.	BGaming’s current page says it then resets; maximum x512.
The Green Knight	Advancing through the five Free Spins.	Multiplier Wild follows x2, x5, x10, x25, x100.	Progression covers the five Free Spins.
Cygnus 2	A Multiplier symbol reaches the leftmost column.	Its value is added to the active multiplier; it then becomes a Wild.	Active multiplier persists between Free Drops.
Big Bass Bonanza	The 4th, 8th and 12th Fisherman Wilds collected.	Cash Collect multiplier progresses x1, x2, x3, x10.	Maximum x10; applies to the feature’s collection awards.
Fire in the Hole 2	In the base game, an xBomb Wild explodes.	xBomb value increases the win multiplier for the next collapse.	Applies to the next collapse only.
Bonanza	Each winning reaction during Free Spins.	Win multiplier increases by +1.	No published multiplier cap; game still has a finite 26,000x maximum payout.

Related slot mechanics

The wider Multiplier Slots guide is the place to start. Cascading Reels and Free Spins are where most of these multipliers do their growing.