Slot Tournaments

To play slot machines at either a real-world or online casino is undoubtedly fun, but can be a somewhat solitary experience. It’s just you against the machines, albeit a far more benign opponent compared to a ‘Terminator’ cybernetic killing robot from the future – your chosen slot machine won’t menacingly intone ‘I’ll be back’ and hunt you down like a dog if you beat it. For many casino fans the social element of gambling is an important part of the experience, and getting to compete against other players, and not just the house, adds an extra dimension to their entertainment. This is where slots tournaments (or ‘slots tourneys’ as you’ll sometimes find them referred to) come into play.

The essence of casino slots tournaments is a competition to see which of a field of keen slot jockeys can rack up the biggest accumulated payout on a specified slot machine in a fixed time and with a fixed amount of credits to play with. For instance the rules might be that a player has 1,000 credits to play through within a twenty-minute period. Winnings are accumulated separately so once the credits fixed for a particular slot tournament are exhausted players cannot then use winnings to continue on until the time period expires.

Because slot machines by their very nature are purely games of luck, casino slot tournaments are often popular with players because they inject a little skill into proceedings. Speed is of the essence here. The number of credits set for each player in a slot tournament is usually such that to play them all within the time limit requires some snappy spinning. Spend too much time dithering, taking wee breaks and /or theatrically celebrating a good win in front of your fellow competitors and you might find your timed out before you’ve had a chance to play all your bankroll through your allocated slot machine. Only accumulated winnings count towards your final ‘score’ in slots tournaments so any surplus credits you hold when the time period ends are simply written off – the simple strategy is make sure you spend all your bankroll before your time’s up!

Slots tournaments are mostly to be found at real-world casinos, although increasingly online casinos are catching on to these events as great incentives to attract players. There are two types of casino slots tournament to be aware of, free and fixed entry free. Free slots tournaments are often by the casino’s invitation and are usually extended towards their VIP players as a comp for their loyalty and generous high-rolling. That said, increasingly both real-world and online casinos can be found offering free slot tournaments open to all players as promotions. Why? Well, the casino’s hope is that while competitors are waiting their turn in a slot tournament they’ll splash a little cash on other games – maybe loosen up their wrists spinning some slots on their own account as ‘practice’ for the main event.

Although not as immediately attractive as free slots tournaments, events that have a fixed entry fee are very popular with many slots players as they represent a good way to fix their potential losses playing slots. The entrance fee is all you stand to lose. The very best fixed-fee casino slots tournaments plough all the entrance fees into the prizes to be won by the top ranking players so represent good value-for-money. Every penny spent by the competitors on entering the tournament is returned as prizes to the lucky few. Some casinos do run slots tournaments to profit from the entry fees, so it is worth evaluating how much a casino is making from fees compared to the prize fund up for grabs to determine if it’s worth going in for it yourself.

Slot tournaments are a fun way to extend your enjoyment of the basic thrill of playing slots games, so if you’ve already forged a deep and meaningful relationship with these casino machines, why not spice up your reel life with a little tourney journey? You’ve got to spin it to win it.