Online slots have taken South Africa by storm, quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of gambling entertainment. This is true for both casual players and grizzled casino veterans alike. Regardless of which category you fall into, slots offer an immersive, colourful world of entertainment at your fingertips.
Choosing the right game can be daunting with so many different titles from many game providers. Thousands of titles litter casino sites ranging from classic fruit machines to modern, feature-packed video slots. Fortunately, we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you if you’re still hunting for the best casino slot machines to play online.
In this post, we’ll look at three of our best casino slots to play online in South Africa and how to increase your chances of winning. Our selection criteria consider the entire experience. Games on this list stand for their brilliant visuals, engaging themes, rewarding features and payout potential. We’ve also looked at other factors including player popularity, RTP and volatility, bonus features and paytable potential.
Now our team of experts will guide you through some of the top slot games that combine engaging gameplay with the chance to score huge wins. With a wide range of features and themes, these titles are sure to deliver engaging experiences for newcomers and veterans.
Big Bass Bonanza - Pragmatic Play
Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass Bonanza is arguably the most popular online slot machine on the market. Sure, the graphics might be just a little dated by today’s standards, but what it lacks visually, it makes up for in substance.
Lurking just beneath the calm waters of this seemingly basic-looking slot is a best-in-class bonus feature. For real though, this game doesn’t even have a wild symbol during regular play. Instead, landing 3, 4 or 5 Fisherman Symbol Scatters will earn you 10, 15 or 20 games respectively.
And it’s this bonus feature that makes Big Bass Bonanza one of our top five best online slot machines. If you trigger this bonus feature, the Fisherman symbol now becomes a wild and can stand in for all others provided he features in a winning combination.
The star of the show is the Wild symbol during the Bonus Games. In fact, there are few games out there in which the disparity between regular play and Free Spins is more stark. Absolutely nobody is playing this title for the base game potential. Let’s dive into the feature.
Free Spins if You're a Lucky Fish
You’ll trigger the free spin feature when you land three or more Scatter symbols anywhere across the reels during the base game. Three, four or five Scatters will award you 10, 15 or 20 free games respectively.
During these free spins, you need to be on the lookout for the Fisherman Wild symbol. Of course, he acts as a normal wild and can substitute for all other symbols. However, his reel value lies in his proficiency with the fishing rod!
You will notice that Money Fish symbols land during the free spins. Land a Fisherman Wild and he will collect all the Money Fish on screen, with their values added to your balance. So if you have R20, R50, R100 and R150 Money Fish symbols on screen as well as a Fisherman wild, you’ll score R320 (R20 + R50 + R100 + R150 = R320).
Land multiple Fisherman Wilds and each of them will collect the Money Fish symbols on screen. So in the example above, two Fisherman Wilds will land you R640. Each Fisherman Wild that you collect during free spins will be added to a counter at the top of the screen. Collect four, and you will retrigger the feature, earning additional spins and an increased multiplier on your wins.
See below how these retriggers affect your multipliers and extra free spins:
- First Retrigger (Four Fisherman Wilds) 10 extra free spins and a 2x multiplier
- Second Retrigger (Eight Fisherman Wilds) 10 extra free spins and a 3x multiplier
- Third Retrigger (12 Fisherman Wilds) 10 extra free spins and a 10 multiplier
Big Bass Bonanza Verdict:
The 18 spin-offs produced by Pragmatic Play underline the popularity of Big Bass Bonanza. With the focus entirely on the Free Spins feature, with anything that takes place in the base game negligible. If you can re-trigger the Free Spin Feature three times, the 10x multiplier added to your wins make this one of the best paying slot games out there.
Starburst - NetEnt
A quick Google search for “which slot machines are the best to play?” will invariably return a list with NetEnt’s Starburst near the top of the rankings. And that should come as little surprise. This title has achieved legendary status since its release way back in 2012.
Unlike Big Bass Bonanza, Starburst is a simple game with limited mechanics. It features five reels and 10 paylines, with the option to spin from as little as 10 cents all the way up to R1 000. The symbols comprise high-paying Bars and a 7s and low-paying Yellow, Green, Red, Blue and Purple Gems.
Like many other titles, Starburst comes in a multitude of RTP variances. It can be as low as 90.05% and as high as 96.09%. Thankfully, Hollywoodbets have cranked the RTP% to its max of 96.09% so you can expect a bit more bang for your buck.
Simple Feature, Big Payout Potential
The symbol you’re looking out for, however, is the Starburst Wild. The multicoloured star acts as an expanding wild and triggers a re-spin whenever it lands. Let’s break it down a bit more below.
Starburst doesn’t feature a traditional free spins round. Instead, it focuses wholly on the Starburst Wild feature. Whenever the multicoloured Starburst lands on reels two, three or four, it expands to cover the entire reel. The game awards a re-spin with the wild reel locked in place.
This can occur up to three times. If no further Starburst Wild symbols land, the feature ends. You can win up to 250x your bet in this game, with five Bar symbols on a payline awarding the game’s biggest win.
Starburst Verdict:
If you want a simple game with low risk and decent returns, Starburst could be your ideal title. It delivers a sublime visual experience, while its high RTP and low variance mean your float will go further. The Starburst Wild feature lands fairly often, with three fully expanded wild reels that give you a decent shot at landing the maximum payout of 250x your bet.
Gates of Olympus - Pragmatic Play
Gates of Olympus is a feature-packed ride featuring a tumble win feature and sky-high volatility, and is one of our favourite themed slots. As such, this title isn’t for the faint of heart. The game’s theme places Zeus – the ancient Greek thunder deity – front and centre.
Seriously, the designers hit it out of the park creating this game. Zeus’ presence amplifies the game’s palatial aesthetic. He floats ominously in his crisp white chiton and gold jewellery. But we’re not here to discuss this title’s look and feel.
A Treasure Trove of Features
Gates of Olympus really stands apart from other titles with its outstanding suite of features. Tumble Wins apply on every single spin while Multiplier, Free Spins and the ability to outright purchase Free Games are added sweeteners.
Tumble Wis
The first feature we’re zooming in on is the game’s Tumble wins. Landing a winning combination of eight or more symbols across the 6×5 grid will activate the tumble feature. The symbols that make up your win will pay out and then disappear from the grid, allowing new ones to come tumbling down.
This gives you multiple chances to win on a single spin. Remember that many providers know this tumble feature by different names. Some providers refer to it as Cascades or Cascading Reels, while in rarer cases, they call it Avalanches.
Multipliers
Zeus is always keeping on eye on proceedings as you play. From time to time he might even bless you with one or several multipliers. He can add between one and four multiplier orbs to the grid which range from 2x up to 500x.
If more than one multiplier orb lands, their values are added together and applied to any winning combinations. These multiplier orbs can land both in the base game and during the Free Spin Feature.
Free Spins
You’ll unlock the Free Spin Feature by landing four or more Zeus Scatter symbols during base gameplay. The game awards you 15 free spins irrespective of how many Scatters you land.
Zeus awards you multiplier orbs far more frequently during the Free Spins than in the base game. All multiplier orbs that form part of winning combinations will see their values added to the feature’s overall multiplier. The total multiplier doesn’t reset until the end of the feature, with multiplier orbs continuing to increase to the overall multiplier.
You can retrigger this feature by landing three or more Zeus Scatters on the same spin, with five additional spins awarded. There is no upper limit to this, so you can theoretically trigger it infinitely.
Buy Feature/Ante-bet
The Ante-Bet Feature allows you to double your chances of landing the Free Spins Feautre by adding 25% more to your stake per spin. So if you spin for R10 and select the Ante-Bet Feature, you will pay R12.50 per spin with an increased chance of landing four or more Zeus Scatters.
You can forgo this altogether and just outright buy your Free Spins. This comes at a significant cost – 100x your current bet. So if you’re spinning for R2, you’ll need to pay R200 to purchase your free games.
Gates of Olympus Verdict:
Gates of Olympus is for players who have a bigger float to play with. If you spin for a couple of cents, swerve this title. If you’re a R10+ per spin player, this game could be right up your alley. With sky-high volatility and an RTP% of 96.5%, there is every chance you could land an enormous payout.
