Bonus buys are one of the most direct ways to play slots. Instead of grinding through base game spins waiting for a feature to trigger naturally, you pay a fixed multiple of your stake — usually 50x to 200x — to jump straight into the bonus round.
The appeal is obvious. No waiting. No dry spells. Just straight into the part of the game that actually matters.
But not all slots are worth buying the bonus on. Some games have features that look exciting but consistently underdeliver. Others have a wide range of possible outcomes that make the buy feel like a lottery. A few are genuinely exceptional — the kind of slots where the bonus buy is the most efficient way to play.
This guide covers the best slots for bonus buys right now: what makes them worth buying, what to expect when you do, and how to track your results so you know which games are actually performing for you.
Before the list, it's worth understanding what separates a great bonus buy slot from a mediocre one. There are a few things to look for.
The whole point of a bonus buy is to get into the feature. If the feature itself is weak — short, low potential, no meaningful multipliers or mechanics — the buy isn't worth making. The best bonus buy slots have features that are genuinely exciting and capable of delivering significant returns.
A bonus buy costs a fixed multiple of your stake, so the relationship between what you pay and what the feature can return matters enormously. A feature with a max win of 5,000x that costs 100x to buy has a very different risk/reward profile than one with a max win of 50,000x at the same cost. Higher potential relative to buy cost is generally better.
Some slots have a different RTP for the bonus buy feature compared to the base game. Always check this. A slot with a base game RTP of 96% might have a bonus buy RTP of 94% — meaning you're paying a premium for less favourable odds. The best bonus buy slots have high, consistent RTP across both modes.
High variance slots have wider swings — bigger potential wins, but also longer cold stretches before you hit. Medium-high variance tends to be the sweet spot for bonus buys: enough upside to justify the cost, but not so volatile that you can run through a large number of buys without a meaningful return.
The best bonus buy features have mechanics that build — multipliers that increase, extra rows that expand, additional free spins that retrigger. Features with compounding mechanics have a higher ceiling and more excitement during the bonus than flat free spin rounds.
RTP: 96.5% | Max win: 5,000x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: High
Gates of Olympus is the most popular bonus buy slot in the world for good reason. The tumble mechanic, multiplier system, and clean free spins structure combine into a feature that can go from nothing to extraordinary very quickly.
The Zeus multipliers drop on every tumble during the bonus, and they're additive — meaning a series of decent tumbles in a row can stack the multiplier well into double figures. When a high-paying symbol hits during a boosted multiplier phase, the results can be exceptional.
The buy at 100x is accessible at most stake levels, and the 5,000x max win is achievable with moderate multiplier accumulation. This isn't a slot where you need a perfect storm to get a meaningful return — good sessions happen with regularity.
Best for: Players who want a reliable, high-quality bonus buy experience with a strong track record of solid sessions.
RTP: 96.49% | Max win: 21,100x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: Very high
Sweet Bonanza has one of the highest max wins available on a standard bonus buy at this price point. The scatter pays mechanic means any symbol that appears anywhere on the reels contributes to wins, and the multiplier bombs that drop during the free spins can push individual spins into extraordinary territory.
The variance is higher than Gates of Olympus — you'll have more sessions where the bonus delivers a minimal return, but the upside when things connect is genuinely enormous. The 21,100x max win has been hit, and multiplier bombs combining with a full board of high-value candy symbols is one of the most spectacular things a slot can do.
Best for: Players chasing big multiplier moments who are comfortable with the higher variance swings.
RTP: 96.55% | Max win: 12,305x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: Very high
The Dog House Megaways takes the sticky wilds mechanic from the original and adds the Megaways engine, creating a bonus round that can cascade into something enormous when the wilds lock in the right positions.
The key mechanic is the sticky wild multiplier — wilds that land during the free spins lock in place and carry a multiplier that increases on subsequent spins. A reel covered in multiplier wilds during the final spins of the bonus is the target, and when it happens, it's spectacular.
Buy cost at 100x is standard, and the max win of 12,305x sits at a reasonable level for the buy price. Not the most forgiving slot on a cold session, but when it hits properly, it really hits.
Best for: Streamers and players who want high-energy bonus moments and don't mind variance.
RTP: 96.47% | Max win: 5,000x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: High
Fruit Party is simpler than most of the other slots on this list, but that simplicity is part of its appeal. The cluster pays mechanic is easy to follow, the multipliers build naturally during the bonus, and the feature has a satisfying rhythm.
The bonus buy delivers free spins with a tumble mechanic — winning clusters disappear and new symbols fall in, creating chain reactions. Multipliers apply to all wins and can accumulate significantly over a long free spin sequence.
It's not the highest potential game on this list, but it's consistently entertaining and the 5,000x max win at 100x buy cost is achievable without needing an exceptional session.
Best for: Players who prefer a cleaner, more straightforward bonus experience without complex mechanics.
RTP: 96.38% | Max win: 12,500x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: Very high
Hacksaw Gaming's most popular slot, Wanted Dead or a Wild brings a Western theme and a genuinely innovative mechanic: full reel wilds that expand to cover entire reels, combined with a walking wild system that moves across the board during the bonus.
The feature can be activated in three modes — standard free spins, a upgraded version, or the maximum. The bonus buy takes you straight into a chosen mode, making it one of the more transparent buys on the market: you know exactly what level of feature you're getting.
The max win of 12,500x is accessible with a full board of expanded wilds during a re-spin, and the mechanic makes it visually clear when things are building toward something big.
Best for: Players who want innovative mechanics and clear visual feedback during the bonus.
RTP: 96.71% | Max win: 2,100x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: High
Big Bass Bonanza has one of the highest base RTPs on this list at 96.71%, which makes the bonus buy particularly good value. The feature is built around collecting fisherman symbols, each of which multiplies the value of fish symbols on the board — a simple but effective mechanic that scales well.
The max win of 2,100x is lower than most of the other slots here, but the higher RTP means your average return over a large number of buys is better than most alternatives. For players who prioritise sustainability over chasing maximum potential, Big Bass Bonanza is one of the most efficient bonus buy options available.
Best for: Players who value RTP efficiency and a more consistent return distribution over chasing huge max wins.
RTP: 96.69% | Max win: 50,000x | Buy cost: 100x stake | Variance: Very high
Razor Shark is an outlier on this list because of one number: 50,000x max win. That's among the highest potential of any slot with a standard bonus buy, and it's achieved through the shark snap mechanic — mystery symbols that can reveal high multiplier wilds during the free spins.
The variance is extreme. Most Razor Shark bonus buy sessions will return less than the buy cost. But when the mechanics align — multiple mystery symbols revealing high multiplier wilds on the same spin — the results can be truly exceptional.
Best for: Players specifically chasing life-changing hit potential who understand and accept the high variance.
RTP: 96.51% | Max win: 4,570x | Buy cost: Varies | Variance: High
Reactoonz works differently to most bonus buy slots. Rather than buying into a free spins feature, you're buying into the Quantum Leap feature — a special state where the alien characters become energised and the cluster pays mechanic delivers more frequent and higher wins.
The mechanic is unique, the artwork is distinctive, and the feature delivers a different kind of bonus experience to most of the Pragmatic Play slots that dominate this category. If you're looking for something that plays differently and still delivers genuine potential, Reactoonz is worth adding to your rotation.
Best for: Players who want variety and a different mechanic from the standard free spins format.
Here's the thing about bonus buys: they're expensive enough per round that tracking your results isn't optional — it's essential.
If you're buying a bonus at 100x your stake and you can't recall how your last 20 buys on a particular game have gone, you're making future decisions on incomplete information. Maybe Gates of Olympus has been delivering above-average returns for you. Maybe Sweet Bonanza has been consistently cold. Without tracking, you don't know.
SlotEssentials has a built-in bonus hunt tracker that logs every bonus you buy or collect, calculates your profit/loss and multiplier automatically, and builds a historical record of your performance by game and provider.
After 30–50 buys on any given slot, your data starts to tell you something meaningful about how that game is performing for you. That's information no strategy guide can give you — it's specific to your sessions and your stakes.
Decide how many bonus buys your session budget allows before you start. If you're playing at £1 stake and each buy costs £100, and your session budget is £500, you have five buys. Commit to that number before you start, not mid-session.
If a game has been cold across multiple bonus buys, the temptation is to keep going because "it's due." It isn't. Slots don't have memory. A game that has returned poorly across ten buys has exactly the same probability on buy eleven as it did on buy one. Cut your session, review your data, and move on.
Rather than picking slots randomly, use your tracking data to build a rotation of games that are performing well for you at your stakes. This isn't about finding games that are "hot" — variance means no individual session is meaningful — but over 30+ buys per game, patterns emerge that are worth acting on.
A 5,000x win from a £0.20 stake (£1,000) and a 5,000x win from a £2 stake (£10,000) are the same multiplier but very different outcomes in cash terms. When you're reviewing your results across games, look at both multiplier and cash return in context of your actual stakes.
Check the RTP specifically for the bonus buy feature — not just the base game. Some developers publish this, some don't. Where it's available, it's one of the most useful numbers you can know before committing to a buy.
It depends on your goals. Bonus buys eliminate base game variance and take you straight to the feature, which is more efficient for testing a slot or for streaming. The cost per feature is higher than naturally triggering it, and some slots have a lower RTP on the buy feature. For players who value time efficiency and immediate action, they're worth it. For players optimising purely for RTP, natural triggers may be marginally better on some titles.
RTP varies by slot and the information isn't always publicly available. Among the slots on this list, Big Bass Bonanza (96.71%) and Razor Shark (96.69%) have among the highest base RTPs and competitive bonus buy RTPs. Always check the game's help section or the developer's website for the most current figures.
Your stake determines your buy cost (usually 100x) and your maximum possible win (max win multiplier × stake). Play at a stake where the buy cost is a comfortable fraction of your session budget — not one that puts your entire session on a single bonus. Most experienced players keep individual bonus buys to no more than 5–10% of their session bankroll.
Yes. Many players run hybrid sessions — naturally spinning in between buys to build balance, then buying bonuses on specific slots they want to feature. Slotessentials lets you log both natural triggers and bought bonuses in the same session tracker.
Yes — the SlotEssentials tools and slot database include community performance data that can give you a real-world view of how games are performing across the platform, not just in your own sessions.
The slots on this list are among the best available for bonus buys right now — consistently entertaining features, genuine upside, and strong enough track records to make them worthy of your session rotation.
But the most important thing you can do isn't find the right slot. It's track every buy you make, review your data honestly, and let your own results guide your decisions over time. The SlotEssentials bonus tracker is free and takes minutes to set up. Once you're tracking, you're playing with information. Without it, you're guessing.
Free sign-up. Bonus hunt tracker, session stats, slot database, leaderboards, and live stream widgets — everything in one place.
