The online casino industry is huge and part of the same experience that everyone has of being on these sites is promotional offers. This is something interwoven into these platforms, from sign-up bonuses to rewards on an account for regular play, they all typically offer something back to their customers, like bonus cash or spins.
But there is another angle of online casino play and that is demo mode, which is a free way to test out games at established gambling platforms, without having to put forward any real-cash stake. These, too, however, have a way of exposing players to bonus rounds, which are a much-coveted feature of regular casino play.
What Is Demo Play
Demo play provides limited access to games, normally only the standard base level of them. Demo games are played with virtual currency that can’t be converted to real money, so there are considerable limitations to them.
The leading online casino sites, like those found at https://legalcasino.uk/payments/, offer plenty of accessibility for funded account holders through different payment options, such as debit cards and e-wallets.
But these same sites also host demo games and they are a great way for players to test out the mechanics of a particular online slot, and to get a feel for things like its paylines and symbols. However, in demo-play, the bigger bonus rounds are typically off-limits.
The Much-Sought-After Bonus Rounds
Bonus rounds on slots are what everyone craves, but why? It’s because they are the mini-games which lead to the big payouts. While on a famous game like Big Bass Splash from Pragmatic Play, the base level game pays out for matching symbols, the big target in the game is always the free spins. Those come from landing at least three scatter symbols, and when playing those free spin rounds, special symbols can appear to greatly boost the chances of winning.
Some bonus rounds are actual mini-games, like a pick-and-win option, which potentially reveals a prize. The Rainbow Riches slot from Barcrest, for example, has a Road To Riches bonus feature, which is in the form of a prize wheel with a maximum payout of 500x the stake.
Base games are essentially used as a building block to get the bigger features and significantly higher payouts, which is why everyone wants to activate one. The structure of bonus rounds, whether that’s multipliers, free spins or mini-games, will vary greatly between different slots.
There is also the element of extra levels of entertainment because a modern video slot with a base game and no extra bells and whistles of bonus features would probably get boring fairly quickly. Bonus games have heightened graphics and tend to be faster-paced with quicker music, all designed to drive up the excitement levels.
The Jackpot Hunt
People are lured to slots because of the potential of hitting a jackpot, which can be a substantial, life-changing amount of money. It’s through the bonus features that these jackpots come and a good example of this is the progressive jackpot slot Mega Fortune from NetEnt.
The jackpots in the game can only be won through a Bonus Wheel game, and not the base game. This is why bonus rounds are so important to players, because it’s simply where the big multipliers and wins are.
Buying Bonus Rounds
Some demo games let players access bonus rounds by using virtual currency. Any winnings that have been earned in demo play can be converted to unlock a particular bonus round, so the player can see exactly what those bonus elements are about.
In the hypothetical situation where a demo play bonus round wins a small jackpot, it’s still all virtual and can’t be converted to real cash. Once you exit the demo, whatever value you’ve built up in there will simply go away because it retains zero value.
This is an echo of what happens in real-money games that have a Bonus Buy feature. By using real funds from their balance, the specific base game requirements to trigger a bonus can simply be skipped over.
Free to Test
Demo versions of games exist for a reason, and that’s because the casino hosting them will hope that it’s enough to encourage a player to sign up for an account and make a deposit. It’s essentially a customer acquisition tool.
But they are free to use, and great for getting a taste of what playing online slots is all about. It is something that provides a little burst of engaging entertainment, without having to dip into your pockets.
