How Do You Play Slots?

If you've never played a slot, don't worry: there's very little to learn.

Most casino offers ask you to wager £10 on a slot, then give you free spins on one.

Once you know the basics below, you're ready for your first offer. Let's go!

Here's Starburst, the slot in our example.

Every slot has the three controls you need:

Every spin is random, so there's no skill, strategy or pattern to spot. All you choose is the slot and the size of each spin.

Set your stake to 20p a spin. Your £10 wager on Starburst is then 50 spins:

Your average cost is the same whatever spin size you pick. Prefer smaller swings? 10p a spin works too, but it takes twice as long.

Each spin takes at least 2.5 seconds, so the shortest time your £10 wager can take is:

So 20p spins halve the time, but your result swings more.

Yes, every slot automatically tracks your wagering, so it's easy to see once you've hit £10. Every offer guide shows you where to find it.

On Starburst, about 23 in every 100 spins land a win, according to NetEnt, which makes it. Some of those wins pay back less than the spin cost.

The most you could lose is £10 if you lost all 50 x 20p spins, but this is incredibly unlikely. On average, you'll lose about 39p, because Starburst pays back 96.09% at Coral:

Your result from 50 spins could be anything from -£10 to a profit. On average, though, it's -39p.

Slots can look alike, but three things decide what one costs you and how bumpy the ride is.

RTP is the percentage of every £1 you wager that a slot pays back over the long run. A 96% RTP pays back 96p of every £1, on average.

The same game can have a different RTP at each casino, so check it under More info. Here's the same £10 on Starburst at three casinos:

Volatility is how bumpy the ride is. A low volatility slot pays small wins often. A high volatility slot pays big wins rarely, with long runs of nothing in between.

Starburst is at the steady end: NetEnt scores it 3.1 for volatility, and its bumpiest slot 9.9. Eye of Horus The Golden Tablet gets Blueprint's top rating, 5 out of 5.

Some slots save part of their payouts for a bonus round, which makes results lumpier. Eye of Horus The Golden Tablet has a Free Games round that starts when three or more bonus symbols land.

Starburst keeps it simple: its star is a wild that fills the whole reel and gives you a free re-spin.

A slot's own free games round isn't the same as the free spins a casino gives you for an offer.

You don't need to weigh any of this up yourself. For every offer, we pick:

We'd take a steady slot at 95% over a bumpy one at 97%. On a £10 wager that gap is only about 20p, while the swings on a bumpy slot are much bigger.

Slots are designed to be addictive, so it's important to take the right precautions. I recommend:

On an iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Colour Filters. On Android, look for Colour correction in your Accessibility settings.

You can also add a shortcut to turn greyscale on and off, which is handy.

You're all set to play the slot in any casino offer, nice!

Your next step is your first casino offer:

Nearly there!