Littlelioness: Health, Food, Business, Education and its furry

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John
June 14, 2023
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Whenever I come across lists of the most ‘best’ or most popular online slots, the overwhelming majority seem to focus almost exclusively on the games with the biggest jackpots – the high-variance monsters such as Megaways machines with jackpots of perhaps 20,000x the total bet or more. This is perhaps understandable – whenever we play slots, we’re always hoping that it’s going to be our lucky day and we’ll be collecting a huge payout by the end of the session.

Why Play Low Volatility Slots?

That fact makes high variance or high volatility slots the obvious choice for many players, so why might you choose to play low volatility machines instead? First of all, low volatility games are likely to make your bankroll last much longer than their high volatility counterparts. That’s because low volatility games are designed to pay out smaller prizes on a very frequent basis instead of relatively few large prizes as you would typically receivefrom a high volatility machine.

Low volatility slots often have more generous RTP percentages than high volatility slots, making them the ideal choice if you are playing with a bonus and have a large wagering requirement to play through. Also, don’t be mistaken – just because a machine has low volatility does not mean that you can’t win anything impressive! Here’s just a few of our favorite games in this often underappreciated category of online slots:

Bloodsuckers (NetEnt)

Let’s kick things off with one of the more well-known examples of a fantastic low variance slot machine. NetEnt’s Bloodsuckers turns ten years old in 2023 and has been followed up by sequels and even an ultra-high variance Megaways variant, yet the original remains extremely popular with slots fans. I’d take a guess that one of the biggest reasons for this is its huge RTP – at 98%, the game pays out a full two percentage points more than the industry average.

Furthermore, Bloodsuckers offers a great mix of high base game payouts, a fun pick-me bonus game, and a free spins feature that will frequently re-trigger to give players an extended bonus round. The jackpot isn’t terrible either – at 1,000x the total bet, a single spin of this game has orders of magnitude more potential than any table game you might come across.

1429 Uncharted Seas (Thunderkick)

I first came across Thunderkick’s 1429 Uncharted Seas when browsing the titles used in 32Red slots tournaments, and was amazed to see that this game offered an enormous RTP of 98.6%. I immediately guessed that this would be a lower-variance machine, and it is, but it still offers a respectable maximum prize of 1,250x the total bet.

The game has an intriguing visual style as well, with a main reel set that is designed to resemble an ancient map of the high seas. You’ll need to hit three scatters to trigger the main bonus round, a free spin-based feature that boosts your chances of hitting a major payday by adding expanding wilds into the mix.

EsqueletoExplosivo

The ‘Day of the Dead’ festival was initially developed in Mexico, but has since spread to all four corners of the globe. The Mexicans take it seriously though – they even give their citizens a two-day national holiday with which to enjoy the celebrations! Music and dancing are integral to the Day of the Dead experience, and those are the aspects which Thunderkick has largely concentrated their attention on when developing their EsqueletoExplosivo online slot.

Spinning this slot to the beat of a Mariachi band is a great way to get into the Day of the Dead mood, and the exploding skull symbols are drawn and animated in a wonderfully comedic way. There’s no bonus round, unfortunately, but this does mean that all of the available RTP is allocated to the regular base game hits instead. This ensures that any spin could be the one which delivers a big win and the 32x maximum multiplier results in a top jackpot of 700x the total bet.

Dr Jekyll Goes Wild (Scientific Games)

Let’s wrap things up with a lesser-known title – Dr Jekyll Goes Wild from Scientific Games and IGT. This is a horror-influenced machine with a distinctly classic look and feel – unsurprising given that it first appeared in land-based casinos well over a decade ago! Like many other low volatility slots, this one has a fantastically high RTP of 98.2%, putting it well clear of any other game that I can recall from this developer.

The top prize of 500x the total bet isn’t the best, but at least you have a relatively great shot at getting there thanks to the generous allocation of up to 75 free spins every time you trigger a bonus round. If you’re hoping to get an extended session in on a smaller bankroll, this game makes a fantastic choice.