Super bonus in slots
A super bonus is an enhanced version of a slot’s standard bonus round, with stronger features such as higher minimum multipliers or upgraded symbols, triggered by a rarer event or bought at a higher price. The term belongs to the game, not to the casino’s promotions page. Each studio defines its own super bonus in the game rules, so the label tells a player that the round is upgraded without saying how, or by how much.
How a super bonus is triggered
There are two routes in, and most games that carry the feature offer both. The natural route needs a rarer trigger than the standard round, such as one extra scatter or a special symbol landing alongside the usual ones.
In BGaming’s Gates of Power, four scatters start the standard bonus and five start the super bonus.
The paid route is a bonus buy at a higher multiple of the stake. Some players assume an expensive round must pay better, yet the game’s published RTP figures for each buy option tell a different story, and a single round proves nothing in either direction.
What the higher price actually buys
The price is quoted as a multiple of the total bet. At a €1 stake, a 500x super bonus buy costs €500 before a single spin is played, while the standard buy in the same game costs €100.
That higher cost buys a better starting position, not a better return. Slotsmate lists one game with a bonus buy RTP of 96.34% and a super bonus buy RTP of 96.27%, so the dearer option returned slightly less on average over the long run. The round is also more volatile: fewer, larger outcomes, with a wider spread between a poor result and a strong one.
Whether a bonus buy is offered at all depends on the operator and the market.
Super bonus against the standard bonus
The rows below use the published rules of Gates of Power by BGaming, because its two rounds differ in only a few clear ways. Other games set their own figures.
Standard bonus | Super bonus |
|---|---|
| Triggered by 4 scatters | Triggered by 5 scatters |
| Bought for 100x the bet | Bought for 500x the bet |
| 15 free spins | 15 free spins |
| Multipliers from 2x to 1,000x | Multipliers from 10x to 1,000x |
Terms often confused with super bonus
The most common confusion is with a casino welcome offer. A deposit match or free spins package is a promotion with wagering attached, whereas a super bonus is a game mechanic with no wagering of its own.
It is also separate from the super bonus buy, which is only the purchase route into the round.
The name is not standardised between studios either. Playson’s Sugar Piggy uses it for a round with wildcard-style Super Coins, so what I check first is the paytable of the specific game, since that is the only place the upgrade is defined.
