Guide

Slots with the best bonus rounds, sorted by what the round does

A bonus round is where a high-volatility slot keeps its RTP, so the round's design is the game. This guide sorts the rounds on the twelve slots covered here into their types, from the studio's own descriptions: wilds that stick, wilds that expand, a floor that cannot be missed, a choice the player makes on the way in, and multipliers that build on the grid. Each type has a page behind it and a different answer to what 100 free spins turn into.

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Illustration for Best bonus rounds

Sticky multiplier wilds

The design most of the no deposit spins on this site land on. In The Dog House three scatters open a round where every wild that lands stays until it ends, and since the wilds on reels 2 to 4 carry multipliers, one that sticks under a live line pays on every later spin that crosses it; the 6,750x ceiling is a round where several stick early. Cleocatra runs the same rule on a five-by-four grid with 2x and 3x wilds, 8, 12 or 16 spins for three to five scatters, and two more spins whenever a full stack of cats lands on reel one. Wild West Gold gives eight spins with 2x, 3x and 5x wilds that add together on a line and stick, and adds 4 to 20 spins on two to five further scatters.

What the type does to a session: the round is decided in its first few spins. An early sticky multiplier is the round; a late one is wasted; none is a dead round, and dead rounds are common.

Best for

A free-spin bonus with a cashout cap, where the best case is the cap and the round is the only way to reach it. The sticky round is the lottery ticket the codes hand out.

Expanding wilds

A wild that grows to fill its reel pays every line through that reel on the spin it lands. Heroic Spins attaches a 2x multiplier to an expanded wild, rising to 4x for two on the same reel and 6x for three, and before its free spins a wheel sets both the number of spins and the multiplier on every win. Zeus vs Hades puts expanding wilds with multipliers up to 100x on every reel, and in its 10 free spins they stick, so an early 100x reel multiplies the rest of the round. The expanding type pays immediately where the sticky type pays over time, and in Zeus vs Hades the two are combined.

Best for

A deposit player who wants the base game to matter: an expanded multiplier reel is a base-game event on both titles, so a session has more in it than the wait for the feature.

A guaranteed floor

The Hand of Midas is the one game here whose round cannot pay nothing. Three, four or five scatters guarantee a minimum of 10x, 20x or 30x the bet; each triggering scatter awards three mini reels of 1 to 3 free spins, up to 45 in total, wilds stick, and if the spins end below the guarantee the game awards another mini reel per scatter and continues until the floor is paid. The price is a smaller average round, because the floor is funded by the ceiling, and a 5,000x cap that is the lowest of the sticky-wild games here.

Best for

A cash bonus with wagering to clear, where a round that always pays something keeps the balance alive across the hundreds of spins a requirement takes.

A choice on the way in

Two games here hand the volatility decision to the player. The Dog House Megaways opens a choice on three to six scatters: Sticky Wilds, 7 to 20 spins with up to 7 sticky wilds per reel, or Raining Wilds, 15 to 30 spins with up to 6 wilds falling fresh on every spin. The first is the all-or-nothing round, the second spreads its wilds across more spins with a smaller ceiling in practice. Zeus vs Hades makes the choice before every spin: Olympus triggers the bonus more often with a lower average win, Hades more rarely with a higher one. The choice changes nothing about the RTP the studio publishes and everything about the shape of the session.

Best for

Anyone who read the volatility guide and has an opinion. Raining Wilds and Olympus for wagering, Sticky Wilds and Hades for the ceiling.

Multipliers that build on the grid

The scatter-pays and cluster games keep their multipliers on the screen, with no wild to carry them. In Gates of Olympus multiplier symbols up to 500x add together at the end of each tumbling sequence, and in the 15 free spins every multiplier that lands on a winning spin joins a running total that applies to the rest of the round; the Super Scatter edition keeps that and adds instant prizes of 100x to 50,000x when Super Scatters land with the trigger. In Sugar Rush 1000 and Sugar Rush Super Scatter a grid position that wins twice in one sequence earns a multiplier that doubles from 2x up to 1,024x, and in the free spins the marked positions and their multipliers stay for the whole round, so the grid is worked over and keeps what it built. These rounds build where the wild rounds strike: the value climbs through the round, and the last spins are worth more than the first.

Best for

A player who wants to watch a round accumulate. The ceilings are the highest here, 25,000x and 50,000x, and the pages print the odds beside them.

Where this applies first

The two lowest-wagering codes we verified, with the slot, the multiplier and the cap on each card.

Questions about bonus rounds

Which bonus round type pays the most

The ceilings on this site are the Super Scatter instant wins at 50,000x, then the persistent grid multipliers of Sugar Rush 1000 at 25,000x and the sticky expanding wilds of Zeus vs Hades at 15,000x. The ceiling says little about a typical round; the guaranteed floor of The Hand of Midas pays less at the top and never pays nothing.

What is a sticky wild round

A free spins round where every wild that lands stays in place until the round ends. On The Dog House the wilds carry multipliers, so a multiplier wild that sticks under a live line pays on every later spin that crosses it; Cleocatra and Wild West Gold run the same idea on their own grids.

Which round is best for a bonus with wagering

The one that keeps the balance alive: a round with a floor, as on The Hand of Midas, or a game whose base game hits often. A round that pays everything or nothing, which is most sticky-wild and expanding-wild designs, is a lottery ticket with the cashout cap as the prize.

Can I buy the bonus round

On many Pragmatic Play titles a bonus buy is offered at a multiple of the bet, where the casino and the country allow it; Gates of Olympus Super Scatter offers two. Bonus buys are excluded from bonus play at nearly every casino here, and the slot pages note where a buy exists.

Last updated - Checked by: Karssen Avelar