Free Slot Games with Bonus Rounds: No Download, No Registration!

Bonus rounds on slot machines are in-game bonuses you can get while playing a slot. Exactly what you’ll get will vary depending on the slot, as there are many different versions of bonus games. The most popular ones are free spins and pick-and-click games. 

A bonus game can be triggered by getting a certain combination of a special symbol in a slot, or it can be triggered randomly. No matter how it’s activated, it’s not something you’ll have to pay for with an extra bet — and this is why it’s called a bonus game or bonus round. However, there are many different types of slot machines, and all of them have their unique bonuses.

The exact period when bonus games started to appear in slot machines is not certain, as there was a slow change from a bonus feature to a bonus game. Classic slot machines often have a nudge feature, a gamble feature, and a supermeter. We often refer to these as features, but in reality, the supermeter and the gamble feature are optional bonus games.

It was in modern video slots that bonus rounds started to become a standard occurrence. This is when free spins and pick-and-click games appeared, as well as respins and other bonus features that we know well today. 

The game providers that are credited with a lot of the early bonus games are providers like Microgaming and NetEnt. Although these are still big names in the industry, game developers like Pragmatic Play and Big Time Gaming are among those that have been at the forefront of innovation in the latter years. Relax Gaming, Yggdrasil, and Quickspin are other providers well-known for their exciting bonus games.

If you’d like to know more about bonus games, rounds, and features, you can keep on reading, as we’ll be breaking down all the common bonus games you might come across while playing slots. Or, you can also play free online slots at SlotJava where you can try the bonus games yourself. We offer free slot games with bonus rounds — no download and no registration needed.

Types of Bonus Games & Rounds – Slot Mechanics & Features You Need to Know

Game providers are working hard to outdo each other when it comes to game innovation and spectacular bonus games. Every new slot machine you come across can offer a new feature or a new way of combining well-known features. Here, we’ll break down how all the popular game rounds, in-game bonuses, and features work. 

Free Spins

Free spins is a bonus game where you get to spin a certain number of spins for free. Usually, there will be some extra feature active as well, and this will help you win more frequently during your free spins, or increase your chances of getting a big win. Free spins are often combined with extra wilds, multipliers, or sticky symbols. 

Cascading Reels

Cascading reels or symbols are also known as an Avalanche feature. What it does is that when you get a winning combination on a spin, the winning symbols get removed from the reels or columns. New symbols will fall from the top to fill up the reels again. With this, you get a new chance to create more winning combinations. 

Multipliers

Multipliers that increase your wins can be attached to a certain symbol or it can apply to a whole game round. As such, it will either multiply the wins where a certain symbol is a part of the winning combination, or it will multiply the total win of a game round. The value of multipliers can be anything from x2 to x500, or even beyond. 

Respins

A respin gives you one more chance to win in a game round. Sometimes, a respin will apply to all reels and symbols in the game, but most often there will be some sticky reels or symbols that will stay in place while the rest of the game spins anew. This feature can either help you build up to a bigger winning combination or let you get another chance, with for example some sticky wilds. 

Gamble Feature

The gamble feature allows you to risk your base game winnings in a 50/50 or a 25/75 game. Usually, you can bet your winnings and pick either a card color or a card suit, and hope that you’ll double or quadruple your winnings. Sometimes, the gamble feature is also represented by a coin toss. If you win you can gamble again, or you can collect your winnings and return to the base game.

Pick-and-Win

Pick-and-win is also known as pick-and-click, and this is a game where you get to pick some symbols or icons, and they will reveal a random win. This can sometimes be a bonus game in and of itself, but it can also be a part of another bonus game. For example, you might get to pick some symbols that will reveal bonus features for your free spins bonus game.

Spinning Wheel

Spinning wheel, lucky wheel, or a wheel of fortune — this bonus game has many names. What it does is that you’ll see a wheel with pockets representing various prizes, and you’ll get the prize the needle lands on. This is also a common way for jackpot games to work, as some of the pocket prizes can be a grand jackpot. 

Hold ‘n’ Spin

Hold ‘n’ spin is a bonus round where you get to hold certain symbols or reels, while the rest spins anew. It’s a respin where you get to choose which reels or symbols should be sticky. Sometimes this feature is given as a bonus, but often you’ll have to pay extra to hold the reels, and the price is correlated to the winning potential.

Pick‘em

A pick’em game is a game where you get to pick symbols or icons, and all of them will reveal a random prize. You can keep on picking until you get one that’s empty or shows ‘collect.’ In some versions of this game, you’re supposed to pick symbols until you get three of a kind, and the prize you get three of is the prize you get to keep. Many jackpot games use this type of bonus game.

Pathway Game

A pathway game is a game where you’re supposed to make your way to the biggest bonuses, by collecting prizes or symbols. For example, by collecting a specified symbol in a free spins bonus game, you can get a higher win multiplier or extra wild symbols. You can also get more free spins, making your bonus game more valuable.

Multi-Level

A multi-level bonus game is a game where you need to complete some task or challenge, and when you do, you’ll move to the next level. You can do this by collecting symbols or getting a specific combination. The higher level you get to the bigger and better the prizes will be. Often, even the Spinning Wheels bonus has multiple levels within the wheel.

Wilds

Wilds are symbols that you’ll find in most new online slots, as they are the symbols players tend to love the most. They can substitute for other symbols in the game, and therefore help you win more often. Sometimes, a wild can also be sticky, walking, falling, expanding, or moving, or it can give you multipliers or other features to make it even more valuable. 

Wilds & Scatters: The Staple Features in Most New Slots with Bonus Rounds

A scatter is a symbol that’s not bound by a payline, as it can pay in any position, as long as you have the required number of them. But, often they don’t pay out a specific prize at all, as they are rather the symbol that triggers a bonus game. 

Wild symbols are one of the most popular symbols in a slot machine, as they substitute for other symbols, helping you win. Often, a wild can replace all standard symbols in a game, so basically all symbols except a scatter or bonus symbol. 

There are many versions of a wild symbol, and some of them we’ve explained in greater detail here: 

Stacked Wilds

A stacked wild is a wild symbol that covers more than just one spot on a reel or in a column. It can be stacked two-high, or more. In some games, it can even cover the whole reel it lands on. 

Sticky Wilds

A sticky wild is a wild that gives a respin. The wild will stay where it is, and all other symbols will spin again. This gives you a second chance to win. Often, getting more wilds will make them sticky as well, and you can get respin after respin as long as you get more wilds. 

Expanding Wilds

An expanding wild is a wild symbol that will expand to cover the whole reel or column it lands on. In some games, you can get these wilds on multiple reels at the same time, and that’s how you get some truly huge wins.

Shifting Wilds

A shifting wild is a wild that gives respins, but instead of staying sticky where it is, it will move to a new position on your new spin. It can be falling, moving sideways, or just skipping to a random place. Often, shifting wilds will stay for a set number of respins, or they will stay until they “fall” out of the reels or columns. 

Choosing a Slot: Which Bonus Games & Rounds Should You Look Out For?

Which bonus game you should aim to play is completely up to your personal preferences. Choose the one that you find the most exciting, as enjoying the game is the main purpose of playing online slots. 

To find the in-game bonus you like the best, make sure that you try out plenty of free casino slot games. By playing the games you get to see what each bonus round has to offer, and this is especially important if you want to also play slot machines for real money. You should make sure that the game you choose has the potential to pay out a decent amount in its bonus game before you risk your own funds. 

Here at SlotJava, you can try more than 2,200 slots for free, and this gives you plenty of opportunity to try different bonus games. You’ll find that some slots have complex and intricate bonus rounds, while others keep it simple. 

Also, make sure to pay attention to the volatility of the bonus games. Some in-game bonuses will give you fairly consistent wins almost every time, while others can either pay out almost nothing or give you a massive win. 

Our Hand-Picked Selection of the Best Slot Machines with Bonus Rounds

Our experts have reviewed more than 2,200 online slots in our hunt for the best slot games. Based on our team’s experience, we have collected the top slot games for any category, including the best ones for players who love bonus games. 

To get to know various types of in-game bonuses in some of our top-rated slots, try some of these: 

Starburst

In Starburst from NetEnt, you’ll get to try one of the first online slots machines with an expanding wild that offers respins. It’s the star that’s the wild, and once you get it anywhere on reels 2, 3, or 4, it will expand to cover the whole reel. And, it will stay in place while giving you a respin. If you’re really lucky, you can get expanded wilds on all three middle reels, guaranteeing a big win. This combination will ensure that you win on all 10 paylines, that go both ways across the five reels.

Immortal Romance

Immortal Romance is a lot machine created by Microgaming, and it’s one of the first slots that were made with progressive multi-level bonus games. The bonus game itself offers free spins, and as you play and trigger the free spins game over and over, you unlock new levels. A new level offers a new version of the free spins, where you have different features to help you win. The volatility of the free spin games varies, so you get to pick the one you prefer. 

88 Fortunes

Shuffle Master is the game provider behind the popular slot game 88 Fortunes. In this slot machine, the bonus game gives you free spins, and if you’re lucky, you can get some great wins. While spinning your 10 free spins, all the low-value symbols are removed from the five reels. This means that you’ll have more of the high-value symbols, increasing your chances of triggering a big win.

Bier Haus

Bier Haus is a slot from WMS, and in this game, you get to experience persistent wilds, in other words — sticky wilds. The sticky wilds appear in the free spins bonus game, and you can trigger from 10 to 80 free spins per game. This, in combination with 40 paylines on the five reels, offers the potential for a huge win. 

Cleopatra

In the popular Cleopatra slot by IGT you get to familiarize yourself with the bonus feature that gives you multipliers. In the bonus game, which offers 15 free spins, all your wins are tripled, making the biggest payline win a whopping 30,000 coins. You can also retrigger free spins to a maximum of 180 spins, so you can get plenty of opportunities to triple your wins.

Software Providers Embracing Bonus Rounds & Features

All game developers use bonus rounds and games in their slots, so no matter which game provider you pick to play, you’ll get to enjoy some nice bonus features. The difference is in how innovative the providers are Some just reuse the mechanics and bonuses that others have created. Then, some software providers are constantly working on improving game features or inventing new in-game bonuses for their slots. 

Below, we’ve listed five game developers that are well-known for being at the forefront of game innovation. We’ve also listed some of their games that we think you’ll enjoy: