The term volatility or variance often pops up on slot sites and online casinos. Seasoned players consider it to be the most critical aspect while picking a winning slot. Unlike the RTP, the variance or volatility of a game is presented in percentage, and it is not usually easy to find, although it can be deduced from several indications. Slots are generally divided into three categories in terms of volatility:
- Low volatility slots
- Medium volatility slots
- High volatility slots
In the text below, I will be focusing on the third and the most intriguing kind; the high volatility slots. So stay with me as I will try to list out everything about higher volatility slots, their pros and cons and later, you will be able to find the best high volatility slots on the internet. But first, let's find out what volatility exactly is?
What is Slot Volatility?
Variance and volatility are two statistical terms used interchangeably to refer to the average between payouts and spins. In general terms, variance is a characteristic present in all slot machines, which is indicative of the level of risk of any game of chance. It is the detrimental factor that decides how often a slot machine plays and the size of those payouts. Therefore, it can be conducive when choosing your preferred slot because it is essential to understand the dynamics of a slot machine. As it determines the interaction between the two temporal factors that make up the personality of any game, that is, how many spins or bets will it take for you to get a win? So that you can be clear about slot behaviour right from the beginning.
The slot volatility works on a simple rule: the higher the volatility, the higher the payouts, but the frequency of those payouts will be below. In simple words, a high volatility slot will produce bigger payouts at a lower frequency.
Volatility is expressed on a scale of levels, depending on correlation between each slot machine's size and the regularity of payouts. Based on these correlations, the slots can be divided into three basic levels; high, low and medium.
What are High Volatility Slots?
As stated above, high volatility slots are those where you will have to wait for quite a long time before a win will drop. However, once that win is triggered, it will be good enough to make up for your previous bets. Risk in high volatility slots is also higher as compared to the lower volatility slots because it will take much more bets to trigger a payout. If that payout doesn't live up to the expectations, you might end up losing a lot. However, on the other hand, if that win is good enough, you will not only get your money back, but you might also end up with an excessive balance in your casino account. So, in simple words, high volatility slots make you take a greater risk for better rewards.
Payouts in High Volatility Slots
When playing high volatility slots, you will notice that the prices are much higher than regular slots. It is because maximum winnings are considered in the range of 500x to 1000x your stake, making for huge winnings. However, these slots can also give you prizes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if you are lucky enough to win a great combination of prizes.
Smaller symbols in high variance games are pretty generous. The payouts for low-paying symbols in such machines can go as high as 50x or more. Therefore, you can certainly make some impressive earnings if you manage to win on a high-volatility slot. However, keep in mind that these big payouts come with an extensive risk that is way higher than that in the low or medium volatility slots.
Is it Worth Playing High RTP Slots?
The answer to this question depends on how much you can afford to spend, as the risk factor on high volatility slots is way higher than on the low volatility slots. Yes, such slots can be pretty advantageous and quite profitable, but only if the luck is by your side or otherwise, these machines will eat up your balance pretty quickly. So, if a high volatility slot is worth a go or not pretty much depends on how much you can spend to get to those promised payouts. If you have the finances, I highly recommend you try your luck on a high volatility slot. And if you can't afford to lose more than a hundred pennies, then you might want to start with a low volatility slot and play on the safer side.
How to Win on High Volatility Slots?
There are no guaranteed techniques or strategies that can make you win any slot machine, whether it has lower or higher volatility levels. It's all about luck as each spin on a slot is random, and there is no way to predict what the next spin can bring. The only thing you can do is bankroll management to make the maximum out of your session. It becomes even more critical to play carefully if the machine you are playing on has higher volatility because the risk factor is higher. However, if you are really looking for those big payouts, I recommend you play with the highest possible stakes to maximize your wins. Secondly, high volatility slots take some time before showing their real potential, so be patient and have enough balance in your casino account to go for a long session. Have a look at the RTP and make sure it's on the higher side, 96% or more. Lastly, always know your limits and back off before it's too late.
Top 10 High Volatility Slots
Here are the top 10 high volatility slots to play in 2021:
1. Reactoonz Slot
The online slot Reactoonz from PlayNGo is a beautiful looking slot dedicated to cartoon aliens. The slot machine consists of a 7 × 7 grid and uses a cascading game engine where you can win repeatedly on every spin of the reel. Thanks to the high volatility, you can win 4570 times your stake. A winning combination is formed of 5 or more matching symbols if they touch horizontally or vertically. The symbols on the slot machine's reels include four low-paid aliens, four high-paid aliens, and a wild symbol. The most valuable symbol is the pink monster, which gives you 750 times your stake. Wild simply replaces all of the slot's symbols to help form winning combinations.
2. Dog House Megaways
Dog House Megaways is a dog-themed slot that is almost identical to the original The Dog House slot. The game takes you to a pleasant courtyard filled with all sorts of cute little pups—a colourful, vibrant online slot with cartoon high definition graphics and fun, energetic music. The Dog House Megaways slot uses the Big Time Gaming Megaways engine, so it has 6 reels, 7 rows and up to 117,649 ways to win coupled with highly volatile mechanics to put out wins as high as 70,000x. Each reel can contain from 2 to 7 symbols. The more symbols on the reel, the more megaways.
3. Book of Dead
Released in 2016, this online casino game is currently one of the most popular high variance slot machines. Book of Dead is a 5-reel, 3-row, 10-payline slot game inspired by Novomatic's Book of Ra slot machine. All symbols are inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology. Book of Dead comes with an exciting free spins bonus with scatters, wilds and expanding symbols, as well as a "special symbol" that is awarded to all players when using their free spins. This special symbol becomes a scatter symbol and spreads throughout the reel. But here's what you are waiting for: The maximum payout in the bonus round is 50,000 times your stake.
4. Online slot Money Train 2
Money Train 2 is an online slot from Relax Gaming with five reels and four rows. The storyline of this game follows the settings of Wild West. While, it contains a bonus round that starts with the scatter symbols appearing on reels 1, 3 and 5. During the free spins, there are multipliers, expanding reels and special golden symbols. The slot has a good RTP of 96.2% and exceptionally high volatility.
5. Golden Tour slot machine
This slot machine uses five reels, three rows and a total of 5 paylines. To win, you need 2, 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols from left to right, starting on reel 1, on any of the five paylines. Inspired by golf, the Golden Tour is based on the world-famous PGA Golf Tour. Released in September 2012, you might think this is a rather old game as the graphics and animations are simple compared to modern slots. In the background, you will hear birds chirping, which relaxes and soothes. This game showcases all the sports symbols, such as golf shoes, pints of beer, flags, golf bags, buggies, and two kinds of golf balls. The game made it to this list thanks to a highly volatile slot delivering a max payout of 2,000x.
6. White Rabbit Megaways
White Rabbit Megaways slot is based on Lewis Carroll's tale about Alice. It is a beautifully designed slot game from Big Time Gaming. The RTP of the White Rabbit Megaways slot is 97.77%, which is an excellent indicator for slot machines. Against the backdrop of a forest filled with trees and giant mushrooms, you will see the author's most famous heroes spinning around the drums.
7. Razor Shark Slot
Razor Shark is an underwater-themed online slot that will take you to the depths of the ocean. The game features a vibrant aesthetic with characters that depict all kinds of sharks. The slot machine has the highest RTP in this rating - 96.7% and relatively high variance (long expectations of winning can be more than justified).
8. Extra Chilli Megaways
Extra Chilli Megaways is a Mexican-themed slot machine set against a market serving Mexican street food. Different Chilli slot uses Megaways game engine from Big Time Gaming. The number of ways to win depends on each spin. With each spin, 2 to 7 symbols appear randomly on each reel. As for volatility, the game serves you with the highest levels, while the RTP for Extra Chilli is 96.19%.
9. The Fortunes of Alibaba
The Fortunes of Alibaba is yet another piece of art from Play'n GO. The game is based on the famous fairy tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves". A new chapter of the story opens up exciting adventures for the bettors, where they have to get into the lair of bandits and pick up the treasure. The cartoon style of the Fortunes of Ali Baba slot machine emphasizes the theme, and a variety of symbols will help you collect line wins. Without rewards, the online slot remains loose, and the tasks are reduced to launching the bonus mode. The slot machine has relatively high volatility levels and with the RTP cloaking at 96.89%. The playing field consists of 5 reels and 20 lines. The minimum bet starts at £0.20, and the maximum goes up to £100.
10. Bonanza
Bonanza is a video slot created by Big Time Gaming with six reels and varying numbers of rows. The game uses the Megaways mechanics - changing the number of paylines with each spin of the reel, there are up to 117,649 ways to win. The slot has a high RTP for this type of slot machine - 96% and high variance levels set to deliver some big wins.
Any Free Spins/Welcome Bonuses References are subject to the following: NEW PLAYERS ONLY, MIN DEPOSIT £10, MAX BONUS EQUAL TO LIFETIME DEPOSITS (UP TO £250), 65X WAGERING REQUIREMENTS AND FULL T&CS APPLY.
All values (Bet Levels, Maximum Win, etc.) mentioned about these slot games are subject to change at any time.