Whereas low variance slots are defined by frequent smaller rewards over time, high variance slots will test your patience between bigger wins. There are specific circumstances in which low variance slots are the better option. If you are clearing a bonus or are working with a limited bankroll, low variance is better. Low variance slots Lower variance means a lower risk level. Many slot players prefer less risk when they play. Here are some of the advantages.

Looking for high variance slots? You’re in the right place! For the thrill seekers and slot game players chasing down those massive wins and ready to take a gamble with some big money, on this page you will find our top 10 high variance games of all time, including some stone-cold classics. And further down the page, our list of the best high variance slot machines this year!

Want to know more about how variance affects gameplay? Check our guide to slot variance at the end of the list.

Best High Variance Slots of All Time

So here it is – The Slot Buzz list of the best high variance slots online ever created! This is all subjective of course, and everyone’s experience will be different. It’s a bit like choosing your top 10 albums of all time – everyone has their favourites!! But for now, here are ours.

1. Bonanza by Big Time Gaming

• 6 Reels
• Up to 7 Rows
• 117,649 Ways to Win
• Includes Free Spin, Multipliers and Re-Spins

Big Time Gaming have established themselves as the kings of the high variance slot in recent years. They are not as prolific as Netent, Microgaming or many other suppliers, but boy do they deliver! Their best games are driven by their Megaways™ game engine in which reels change in size with each spin, up to a maximum of 7 rows high to create 117,649 Ways To Win.

Bonanza is one of BTGs stand-out games. It has a notorious bonus round that requires four scatters spelling out G O L D to trigger it. Many frustrated slot fans has hit the forums asking where that missing ‘D’ has got to as they get so close, and yet so far to getting those free spins on so many occasions!

The bonus round comes with a basic 12 free spins for four scatters, and a further five for every extra scatter. There are also opportunities to get further spins when carts of gold bars stop above the reels on each spin in the bonus round.

And then there is the Rolling Reels affect! After each winning spin the winning symbols explode and are replaced by new ones until no winning combinations appear. And during free spins you get a multiplier value that increases by 1 for each consecutive win in the sequence. There is no upper limit to the multipliers – as long as winlines keep appearing, your multiplier keeps increasing. This is where the massive payouts stack up!

2. Immortal Romance by Microgaming

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 243 Paylines
• Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers, Wild Reels

This is a stone-cold classic from 2011 and still popular with slots players to this day. Immortal Romance is a vampire-themed slot with 243 paylines and a really slick look and feel to it. The big wins can be found by unlocking the four free spins bonus rounds, one of which (Wild Desire) has particularly big potential. In this feature, at least one of the five reels will turn totally wild. In fact, it is possible to land five wild reels at this point. Elsewhere you will find wild symbols that come with a 2x multiplier and a free spins round with a 5x multiplier.

Fancy a spin on Immortal Romance? We recommend playing at another of our favourite Microgaming casinos, Voodoo Dreams.

3. Book of Dead by Play n Go

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 20 Paylines
• Free Spin, Wilds and Sticky Wilds

With a top win potential of £500,000 it’s no wonder that Book of Dead ranks as one of the best high variance Play n Go Slots. This little beauty has been on the lists of many UK slot sites since it’s release in 2016.

The gameplay is simple – it’s a 5 reel and 20 fixed payline game with a bonus round consisting of 10 free spins with re-triggers. And of course, there is the random expanding symbol, chosen at the start of the round. It can play a bit part in creating massive wins. Worth bearing in mind as well that Book of Dead delivers some serious wins in its top-paying symbols. The start of the show, Rich Wilde, himself gets you a whopping 5,000x for five in a payline.

If you want to take on Book of Dead Slot, try playing at top Play n Go casino, Voodoo Dreams

4. Dead or Alive by NetEnt

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 9 Paylines
• Free Spins, Re-Triggers, Wilds and Sticky Wilds

A real old classic from one of the biggest in the business. NetEnt’s Dead or Alive only really gets interesting when you hit the bonus round where wilds that land on the reels stick for the duration of your free spins … AND you get an additional FIVE free spins to enjoy too! Think about landing five wilds on a payline here and you’re looking at huge potential – well over 1,000x – and it is of course possible to land more than one wild line at a time.

This is typical high variance fare – very little to speak of until you hit one of those incredible lucky streaks where the wilds fall into place and your free spins keep ticking over!

Just approach with caution because these wins are rare.

5. Jurassic Park by Microgaming

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 243 Paylines
• Free Spins, Multipliers, Split Wilds, Wild Multipliers, Winning Wilds, Running Wilds

This game is based on the blockbuster Hollywood movie and comes with 243 ways to win across 5 reels. The game can be played from 30p up to £15 per spin, but the real fun comes in the T-Rex Alert mode feature. It comes with six spins during which 35 wild symbols are added to the reels – possible wins of 6000x here!!

In total Jurassic Park Slot comes with five free spins features, and each one is packed with mini-features of its own, including extra wilds, re-spins and multipliers. There is a Brachiosaurus free spins feature with four spins and up to 6x multipliers, and a Triceratops free spins feature which starts with stacked wilds three high with more wilds added to the stack with each spin, and stampedes of dinosaurs marauding across the screen turning entire reels wild and sticky!

This is a real beast of a game with lots of big win potential when you land the any of the free spins features. If you’d like to try it today, you can try at one of the best Microgaming slot sites, Voodoo Dreams.

6. 300 Shields by NextGen

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 25 Paylines
• Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers

This is another classic high variance slot game that will be familiar to many players. It’s one of the most notorious games on the market and comes with a possible 300x multiplier in the free spins bonus round that can produce wins way above the 1,000x marker.

The objective of the game is pretty simple – it’s not packed with features like Jurassic Park by Microgaming or Pink Elephants by Thunderkick. No, this one if all about the Free Spins round and once you’re there, how many more spins and multipliers you can unlock.

Initially the game comes with 5 free spins which are given to you when you land three shield scatters on the reels with one spin. During your free spins you must land more shields, each time adding five more free spins to your cache, along with an increasing multiplier from 2x up to 300x.

For the Multipliers in the free spins round to be active, you must have a wild as part of your payline. Once you get into the higher multipliers, pretty much any 5 symbol winning line with a wild in it will be a killer win! Best case though would surely be a 5 wild line at 300x – that’s 12,000x! 1

300 Shields from NextGen is available to play at top NextGen Casino, Voodoo Dreams.

7. Pink Elephants by Thunderkick

• 6 Reels
• 4 Rows
• 4,096 Paylines
• Wilds, Free Spins, Re-Triggers

And now for something totally different! Pink Elephants by Thunderkick is a psychedelic take on WMS’ infamous Raging Rhino slot, and it’s one of our favourite high variance slot games of all time. Thunderkick slots are renowned for their kooky and off-the-wall graphic and animations. With Pink Elephants they’ve taken things even further. This game comes with 6 reels, 4 rows and 4,096 ways to win and is available from 10p up to £100 per spin.

The key to unlocking the secrets of this great game is the green peanut symbol – this is the scatter and three of them unlock 7 free spins. More scatters give you more spins, up to 19 spins from 6 scatters. And you can trigger further free spins in the bonus round with more scatters (6 scatters = 11 spins).

But what you’re really looking to do here is fill the meerkat meters (told you it was bonkers!) to the left of the screen. Every time a pink elephant with a glowing orb lands on the reels during free spins this create this adds another point on the next meter. When one is full then one of the lower value meerkat symbols on the reels transforms to a higher value elephant symbol, increasing your chances of bigger wins.

Its crazy and it’s also responsible for some of the best big win videos online.

8. Montezuma by WMS

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• 30 Paylines
• Free Spins, Multipliers, Guaranteed Min. 10x Win in Bonus Round

Montezuma is a land-based casino slot from WMS that has been migrated into the online environment. It’s riches are locked into the bonus round which comes with free spins with unlimited re-triggers and multipliers of up to 10x.

The free spins round is initiated by three scatters, and a wheel spin is used to find out how many free spins you get – anything up to 25. There is also a wheel above the reels that comes into play during each Free Spins. It lands on a number that becomes the mutlipliers for any wins on that spin.

If you land 2 scatters during the free spins round then your multiplier gets fixed and you get an additional spin. The multipliers applies to any wins from any additional free spins from there on.

To get the biggest wins a player needs to land the 10x multiplier and keep getting re-triggers of the free spins all with the 10x. Then if a decent 5 symbols win line comes in, the payout can be massive and well in excess of 1,000x.

9. Casino Zeppelin by Yggdrasil

• 5 Reels
• 3 Rows
• Paylines
• Wilds, Wild Transfers, Free Spins

This game from another top-class provider that is less well known than NetEnt and Microgaming is capable of producing really big wins in excess of 1,000x through a combination of sticky wilds and free spins.

You also get a boost from the Wild Transfer feature in which any wilds that landed on the reels on the spin in which the bonus round was triggered are added to the reels for the whole free spins duration. These are also sticky.

Further, if you get five wilds landing on the reels during the bonus round then you get an extra five free spins. And what you’re really looking for is to land paylines with wilds in them.

This is a great looking slot game from Yggdrasil and highly recommended. You can play it today at Dunder Casino.

10. Pyramid Quest for Immortality Slot by NetEnt

• 5 Reels
• 5 Rows
• 720 Paylines
• Avalanche Reels, Multipliers, Wilds

Finally, let’s take a look at another NetEnt title, Pyramid Quest for Immortality. This game is built on an unusual reel set up, with 5 rows, narrowing to just one symbol width at the top.

Pyramid also uses the Gonzo’s Quest Avalanche feature to create an increasing multiplier value when you get successive wins. Meanwhile ‘Wild Generations’ is a feature where wilds are added to the reels if a win includes any of the symobols in the top rows of the reels.

The trick is to get lots of wilds generated whilst on a successive run of wins that pushes the multiplier up to 10x. A full screen of the highest paying symbol at a 10x could land a whopping 3,600,000 coin win! A decent win would be something like 2,000x on this game – but rememeber, with this high volatility they are rare and hard to come by!

To play Pyramid Quest for immortality, visit a NetEnt casino like Voodoo Dreams.

What Is Slot Variance?

In maths variance is a term that refers to how far from the mean or expected result something will deviate.

In gambling, variance or volatility is an indicator of the frequency and volume in which a slot game is likely to pay out. Low variance games typically generate small, regular payouts, whereas high variance games produce irregular but bigger payouts, with long lean spells of dry spins punctuated by big, blockbuster wins.

When choosing a game to play variance can help a player by showing the likely risk level. High variance games carry more risk because the payouts are less frequent and it is possible to burn through a bankroll before seeing any return.

When deciding on your next slot bear in mind then that the kind of games you want may therefore depend upon your preferred risk level – if you are prepared to spend money chasing down a massive win then high variance games are for you. If, however, you want to enjoy some less stressful gameplay, with smaller, more frequent wins, then low variance games should appeal to you.

In almost all cases, high variance slot machines are built with bonus rounds in which a combination of features like free spins, re-spins and re-triggers, multipliers, sticky and stacked wilds contrive to create moments of sheer adrenaline-pumping excitement as the win balance shoots through the roof. The payoff, of course, is that these moments are rare and generally follow a period where much money is wagered with little in the way of wins.

For this reason, high variance games are preferred by big gamblers and the slot streaming community where players are looking for the high levels of excitement that are produced when a lucrative bonus round is in play.

These games are not for the feint-hearted! But if you’re up for the challenge, they offer some of the most exciting online gambling anywhere!

How To Find High Variance Slot Machines At A Casino

Now you know what high variance means, how do you find these games at an online casino? Well, you already have our list of the latest titles this year, and in our opinion, the best games of all time, on this page. But did you know that you can also easily track down high variance games by using the menu filters at your favourite slot sites. Most casinos have now developed handy menu systems to help you search though their vast catalogues. Just choose ‘high variance’ from the option list in the drop down, then hit SEARCH to bring up a list of every high variance slot available.

High Variance Slots – The Final Word

This selection of high variance slot machine games is only a drop in the ocean of what is available for casino players right now. There are lots of slots to choose from, and more new slot games on release every month that have high volatility – check out our new slot games page for regular updates.

The important thing to remember when playing these games is to adjust your mentality and stake to suit them. You will most likely need to play with smaller stakes than you normally would if you want to make your bankroll last. Games like Dead or Alive and 300 Shields can eat through a £50 budget at 50p a spin in no time, so choose to play at the lower end of the scale if that’s what you’re playing with.

But above all, game responsibly, and have fun! Good luck!

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Like playing Slots but don’t want the risk of losing too much? Can you settle with smaller but more frequent wins? If yes then Low Variance Slots is the right choice!

Best Paying Low Variance Slots

Maximize your wins by playing these Slots with High RTP (Return To Player).

• 1429 Uncharted Seas: 98.50% RTP

  Very standard slot from Thunderkick with expanding wilds and a freespin round that comes often….very often! No wonder it’s almost never allowed in casino bonuses.
  Max Win: 670x Paylines: 25 Freespin: Yes Provider: Thunderkick Year: 2015

• Blood Suckers: 97.99% RTP

  Classic slot from NetEnt with one of the highest RTP of all slots. It has such an even pay out structure that this also is always restricted from playing with bonuses.
  Max Win: 1 014x Paylines: 25 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2013

• Gold Train: 97.16% RTP

  An old school 3-liner with great RTP. If you like retro one armed bandit style slots with little risk this one is for you. The game itself is a bit different though (based on collecting).
  Max Win: 513x Paylines: 3 Freespin: No Provider: Pragmatic Play Year: 2017

• Jack Hammer 2: 97.07% RTP

  Used to be riskier but nowadays it seems like NEtEnt have adjusted down the variance. You get a lot of Stick Wins and Freespin comes relatively often. Nice change!
  Max Win: 1 980x Paylines: 99 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2013

• Classic 243: 97.00% RTP

  I remember playing a bonus and winning up to a decent sum. Halfways in to the bonus I started playing this slot and that gave me a nice cash out! VERY stable slot machine.
  Max Win: 888x Paylines: 243 Freespin: Yes Provider: Microgaming Year: 2017

• Motörhead: 96.98% RTP

  For all you rock lovers who miss Lemmy (we miss him too). Expect no riches but a pretty neat feature and of course great music. Free spins round could be better though.
  Max Win: 570x Paylines: 76 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2016

• Coins of Egypt: 96.97% RTP

  Not the funniest slot but the free spins round is OK. It’s not as easy to unlock as you might expect with low variance but in compensation it has a great max win.
  Max Win: 3 000x Paylines: 20 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2017

• Jack Hammer: 96.96% RTP

  There is an old saying. “If you haven’t played Jack Hammer you haven’t played slots”. No that’s a joke but we want to emphasize that Jack Hammer and it’s sticky wins is slot history.
  Max Win: 3 000x Paylines: 25 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2011

• Blood Suckers 2: 96.94% RTP

  One of the most anticipated follow ups for low variance lovers. It won’t disappoint and even though the bonus game is harder to unlock it’s fun and can give decent wins.
  Max Win: 1 298x Paylines: 25 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2017

• Carnaval: 96.94% RTP

  This slot is something so unusual as a 9-lines low risk slot (with good max win). So if you like playing less pay lines but don’t wanna lose all your money in a few spins this one is for you.
  Max Win: 1 800x Paylines: 9 Freespin: No Provider: Microgaming Year: 2013

• Jimi Hendrix: 96.90% RTP

  Actually a really fun slot with many nice features. The freespin round is also very well crafted and even though wins can’t get really high it’s still a nice ride.
  Max Win: 400x Paylines: 20 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2016

• Dazzle Me: 96.90% RTP

  A simple slot that don’t offer anything really special except perhaps the freespin where the wheels have decent opportunities of syncing and give good wins.
  Max Win: 760x Paylines: 76 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2015

• Butterfly Staxx: 96.80% RTP

  Harmonic slot that gives you the butterflies (note the word joke). The feature is fun and the freespin round is actually something extra. Only a low max win drags this one down.
  Max Win: 400x Paylines: 40 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2017

• Aladdin’s Treasure: 96.58% RTP

  Nothing extremely special about this one but it has a clean cut design. Genie is wild, X2 multiplier in freespin and a bonus game. That’s pretty much it!
  Max Win: 745x Paylines: 50 Free spins: Yes Provider: Pragmatic Play Year: 2015

• Mythic Maiden: 96.58% RTP

  One of the nice older slots from NetEnt. It has that pure slot feeling and lots of smaller big wins. A big plus is the high max win that can be achieved with 10x multiplier.
  Max Win: 2 000x Paylines: 30 Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2011

• Aloha! Cluster Pays: 96.42% RTP

  A slot you can spend hours with. It feels like it doesn’t eat the money so fast but can still bring massive wins. A perfect lower risk slot for those who still want potential BIG wins!
  Max Win: 2 000x Paylines: Cluster Pays Freespin: Yes Provider: NetEnt Year: 2016

• Sunset Delight: 96.30%

  This delicious ice cream machine has a neat set up and a free spin where the goal is to build an ice cream high as the clouds. Decent max win!
  Max Win: 1 750x Paylines: 5 Freespin: Yes Thunderkick Year: 2016

• There are slots missing! Why??

There might be slots with higher RTP not included in this list but we only enlist slots with the highest quality when it comes to entertainment value, graphics, sounds and of course security. We have also not included slots that have been removed by the slot provider or is not working anymore (other sites unfortunately still promote none active slots)

Also we only enlist the RTP in the base game of the slot. This means that we exclude all RTP values that is only achieved by playing in a certain game mode or setting (example Big Bet in Barcrest slots). We can however write in the slot description if a higher RTP is possible.

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What is 'Variance' in a Slot?

The variance of a slot game is simply the size and regularity of the pay-outs of a slot game. In some texts, it is referred to as the volatility of the slot game. Highly volatile slots are the same as high variance slots but we’ll only call them high variance slots.

Low, Medium or High Variance?

Understanding the variance of slot games will help you choose games that suit both your wanted risk and your bankroll management.

Roughly said there are three different types of slot variance: Low Variance Slots that you find on this page, Medium Variance Slots and High Variance Slots. Some slots are in between these level though and in our RTP Top Lists we call these “low – med” or “med – high” variance.

Medium and high variance slots are suitable if your looking for thrills, uncertainty and bigger wins while low variance slots fits better if you want more control over wins and losses. You’ll have to accept that the wins will be more limited in low variance slots though.

How do you know if a Slot is Low Variance?

Well…of course the no. 1 answer to that question has to be that you stay on this site since we tell you what variance slots have.

However, you can also measure the slot variance by looking at the game’s pay-table. If you notice that a winning combination where the difference between the amounts won for three the same symbols, and the amounts won for six the same symbols is small, then you’ve got a low variance slot game.

Slot Variance

Play Low Variance Slots if you like winning

A low variance slot refers to a slot game that pays more often. However, the payouts from this kind of slot are often small or at best medium and wins are usually limited to around 1 000x your stake.

In a low variance slot game, it’s common that every three to four spins comes with a small amount of profit. This takes away the risk that comes with multiple spins without any wins at that often come in of a high variance slot game.

However, a low variance slot game is a low profit, slow profit slot game. Low variance slot games require you to play for a very long time to win a larger amount of money.

Slot Variance

Casino Bonuses and Low Variance Slots

If you play a Casino Bonus you need to wager a certain amount before you can cash out potential winnings. Something that can be deeply disturbing is when you have wagered let’s say half of the bonus and have won a substantial amount. You then end up losing everything in the end of the wagering of the bonus.

Most of the time the reason to why people lose their winnings in the end of a bonus is that they keep playing medium and high variance slots.

If you hit a bad losing streak in a slot with high variance it’s easy to get stuck chasing down that free spins round. This can bring heavy losses and it’s common all the winnings end up being lost.

How do you stop that from happening?

Well our general recommendation is to play high variance slots more in the beginning of a bonus and more low variance slots towards the end.

Of course this also depends on if you have won up and want to lose as little as possible of those winnings. If you have little money in the end it can be the right choice to go for higher variance.

It must of course also be said that it can be very beneficial to keep playing high variance slots in the end of bonuses. Sometimes luck strikes over and over again…

Differences between High and Low Variance Slots

A High Variance Slot is different from a Low Variance Slot. High variance slot is like long term investment. They are high-risk slot games that give huge returns on success.

However, playing a high variance slot game could empty your bankroll in minutes, just like winning a high variance slot game will make you a casino jackpot champion.

Pros in Slots with Low Variance

• Lower risks
• Profits can still be decent if you play high RTP slots
• Good to play when you're in a bonus and don't want to risk your winnings
• Good if you want to play mostly for fun

Cons in Slots With Low Variance

• Less thrill and excitement
• Smaller 'big wins'

Medium Variance Slots

Conclusion

The Return To Player (RTP) rate of a slot game shows the expected profit of a slot game after several spins. In contrast, the variance of that slot game will show the player how this profit will come around—either large and irregularly (high variance), or small, and regularly (low variance).

High Variance Slots 2019

Since level of variance in the slot predicts how you will be winning you can also calculate what risk you’ll be taking.

In as much as the variance of a slot game will help you take that a calculated risk, and gain more if you have a small bankroll, it isn’t a superior yardstick for choosing which game you should play.

High Variance Slots

The RTP rate of the game slot can make a low variance game a good game—allowing you to take low risk, and yet win a considerable sum.