Bonus Features: Play for Free and Win Real Cash

Spinning the reels to form winning combinations of 2, 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols can be fun by itself, with the anticipation growing as spinning slows down and finally stops – hopefully to reveal that you've won more than has been invested. For some players, primarily those into classic slots, that's more than enough. But many of us love action-packed games with tons of bonus features which offer additional opportunities to spin and win real money.

They come in many different forms and can be either symbol-triggered or awarded completely at random. If you belong to this group, you'll find Springbok a bonus paradise, thanks to Realtime Gaming slots renowned for abundance and generosity of special features. Let's have a look at some. 

Stacked and Expanding Symbols

Regular symbols normally occupy a single position on a reel, but sometimes they also come in groups of various sizes. This will inevitably increase your winning chances, especially when the stacked icon in question is Wild – as is the case in Megaquarium slot. Sometimes Wild symbol first appears as a single and then expands to cover the entire reel. You'll see this kind of action in Triple Twister slot, with Wild Twister landing exclusively on reel 3 and then stretching to cover all reel positions. Get it engaged in a winning combo and it will also triple the prize. In Dragon Orb slot, Wild Orb will not only expand but also award a free re-spin with Wild reel held in place. 

Free Spins

While fun play option, offered by the majority of online casinos, allows you to play without risking any of your own cash, there's no chance to win any either. Real money has to be invested for an opportunity to increase your balance, and as any investment, there's always a risk involved. That's why it's so gratifying being offered to play with someone else's cash, which is really what Free Spins are. Sometimes these are simply rounds played at no cost, but frequently they'll come with additional goodies attached – multiplier of your wins, additional special icons, or an opportunity to re-trigger the feature and extend your free spins session.

Ocean Dreams slot, for example, offers you to play 10, 25 or 100 rounds on the house once you land 3, 4 or 5 Scattered Islands. All Wild Orcas change to Gold Orcas to pay 4 times as much, and all your wins are doubled. The feature can be re-triggered, and this slot additionally offers Win-win bonus feature activated if the overall free spin win equals 10 times the triggering bet or less.  

Cash Bandits 2 will let you spin for free as many as 190 times (!) with a multiplier of up to x17 (!!). To win your free games, you'll first need to get 3 Scattered Robbers, and then demonstrate your thieving talent by punching in codes to open 5 vaults. Return of the Rudolph slot offers complex feature activated by 3 or 4 Scattered Thugs, starting you off with a pick-and-click affair to launch one of three bonus games – either Rudolph's Rampage sending you to look for elves in ransacked Santa's factory and win free games with extra Wilds, x4 multiplier or an expanded Wild icon on the middle reel, Santa Strikes Back feature playing free spins with a reset option and an increasing multiplier, or Rudolph's Revenge feature with additional Wilds and generous multipliers. 

Collapsible Reels

Collapsible Reels can be described as a kind of free spins variant. While both populate the reels with new symbols for free, collapsible reels are active throughout the game and will normally deliver every time you form a winning combo. Participating symbols will then be removed to free up space for new ones and potentially result in a second win on a single bet. The same action will continue for as long as reels keep delivering matching symbols on a payline - your chances to spin and win real money just keep coming at you.

Bonus Rounds Paying Instant Cash Prizes

Some special features will pay instant cash rewards rather than offer free spins. They are normally interactive and frequently played in a new window. You'll get to pick among multiple options to reveal a random prize, play a game within a game, or engage in another kind of fun activity to claim your cash prize.

Double Ya Luck, for example, comes with Boardgame feature triggered by one or more Scattered Dice. It will place a token on the Start position of the board, and roll the dice which have activated the bonus round to determine how many places your token will move. Depending on where it lands, you'll be awarded instant cash prizes, free games, 3-of-a-kind on line 1, or the progressive jackpot.

Food Fight will have you construct dishes by simultaneously landing 3 parts of an ice-cream cone Sunday (cone, ice cream, topping), or 3 parts of a cherry pie (pie shell, filling, cherry). Completing the first will award a Scatter bonus, and doing it with the second will start a food fight. You'll be throwing pies at unsuspecting victims, and each one you hit will multiply the original bet. 

Win-win Feature

Some slots include the aforementioned win-win feature which makes sure your free games round doesn't end in disappointment. It pays different amounts depending on the ratio of free game win to the amount staked, normally the highest prize awarded if you've won nothing at all. In some cases this will result in your balance boosted by as much as 1,000x your bet! 

Feature Guaranteed

How many times have you played hundreds of rounds without being able to trigger what looked to be a lucrative special feature? Disappointing, right? A relatively new invention called Feature Guaranteed does away with that. It does exactly what it says, making sure that the respective feature gets activated one way or another. In Megasaur slot, for example, it will trigger within 26 to 250 spins in case it was not already launched randomly.

With such an abundance of bonus features, it's hard to imagine not winning. As an RNG influences game results, nothing is 100% sure, of course; but one thing bonus-rich slots can guarantee is prolonged play time on a limited budget. Feel free to visit Springbok and test this claim by playing one of the generous RTG games.