How we rate and review online slots

Here at Slot Gods, our team is made up of die-hard slot fans and experienced iGaming professionals, making us an authority on all things slot-related. 

But don't just take our word for it. We're going to outline exactly how we rate and review the slots we recommend, so you can see for yourself why you can trust our honest and unbiased reviews. 

Each slot game we review is put through its paces, and we ensure each of our evaluations follows the same criteria to guarantee a fair, balanced outcome. We will only point you in the direction of a slot that we would play ourselves. When reviewing a slot we look at 4 main categories.

We score each category out of 10 and then collate those scores to get an overall rating. Additionally we’ll provide an overall verdict/summary.

Let’s take a look at each category in more detail so that you understand our review process from start to finish.

Gameplay

Let's face it, a slot needs to be fun to keep you entertained. That's why gameplay is the very first thing we look at when a new slot game lands on our desks. 

We'll get settled into a great gaming session so we can see how the slot progresses from the base game into any special bonus rounds. We also take into consideration if it’s part of a series and, in the event that it's a sequel to another popular title, if the game stands up on its own merits. We also consider other factors such as bonus rounds, free spins and jackpots.

We then record this information in our review, so you get an idea of the kind of experience you're in for.

Mechanics & features

The next thing we do is take a deeper dive into the mechanics of the game. In recent years, we've seen a lot of innovation in the world of iGaming, with the introduction of Megaways, cascading reels and grid slots. 

All of these various features can add a fantastic layer of excitement to a slot, and can also improve your chances of creating winning paylines. Therefore, while we play each game we make note of any and all mechanics and how much value we believe they add to a particular game.

Win potential

Slot games are designed to be fun, but of course, we all want to win some of those attractive prizes on offer. When considering a game’s win potential, we look at the following: 

Volatility 

In slots gaming, volatility refers to the patterns and tendencies for a game to pay out. For example: 

• Low volatility slots refer to games that pay out frequently but in smaller amounts
• High volatility games will pay out rarely but in larger amounts 
• And as you can imagine, a medium volatility slot lands somewhere in the middle.

Many players think that high-volatility slots are the most profitable, but this isn't necessarily true. Also, volatility has a bearing on the overall experience of the game. Many people like the added fun of the frequent wins that come with a low-volatility game. Depending on how you use your bankroll, you will probably play a low-volatility slot for longer.

RTP 

‘Return to Player’ (RTP) refers to the percentage of overall stakes that the casino or game provider will pay out over an extended period of time. 

If a slot has an RTP of 96% it means that over time that slot will pay out €/$96 for every €/$100 staked. It’s a theoretical average determined by the mathematical model of the game, and might only be realised over 100,000s of spins. 

A slot with an RTP of around 96.5% is considered average. An RTP of 97% or above will attract a higher score in our review, while 96% and lower will attract a lower win potential score. 

Hit rate 

Also known as hit frequency, hit rate is another essential parameter that we use to look at the win potential of a game. 

Hit frequency refers to how often you can land a winning payline. Not to be mistaken with RTP, it gives the probability in a percentage; the average range is from 20% to 40%. To give you an example, a slot with a hit rate of 40% means that, in theory, you should land 40 winning combinations for every 100 spins. 

Hit rate, RTP and volatility are all important factors when it comes to looking at how likely a game is to pay out, which is why our team takes all these aspects into consideration.

Max payout

Our reviews also detail a slot’s maximum pay-out figure. The max win of a slot varies massively with the most common figure ranging between 5,000x and 10,000x. Some games keep things more low-key with max payouts worth just 500x, while others blow these numbers out of the water with 200,000x and more on offer.

While we do take the max win into consideration, it isn’t always the best indicator of win potential and needs to be looked at alongside other factors mentioned above and others. 

Playing the slots for an extended period of time allows our reviewers the opportunity to see how the maths model works, the size of regular symbol wins and how modifiers and bonuses work together to enhance the win potential. It is a subjective score but we reach our conclusion by comparing potential fairly across all of our reviews.

Design

Of course, a slot needs to look the part – after all, no one wants to play something that looks like it came out of 2003! Imagery and visuals, overall look and feel, plot and sound all impact on your experience playing a slot – quite simply, it must be engaging. So we consider the various components that make up design and score accordingly.

And overall…

Rating

You’ll find our overall rating at the top of the review. We’ll factor in the scores for each area reviewed, scoring each out of 10. This will then be converted to an ‘out of 5 stars’ score. The most highly recommended slots will score 4.3 stars and upwards, good slots between about 3.8 and 4.2. Slots scoring below this may have had their average affected by a particularly weak area but are still worth a look. You won’t find us recommending any poor slots.

Verdict

You know the score/rating by now. Our verdict is a quick summary of a few lines about the slot – what has really grabbed our expert’s attention and what makes this slot stand out. 

Where to play

Our reviews will also detail where you can play the slot that has been reviewed. Rest assured we will only recommend reliable and trustworthy slot sites that have also undergone a rigorous review process.    

Slot Gods – the only site you need to find the best slots and slot sites

We hope this has gone some way in letting you into our detailed and exhaustive slot review process. 

There are thousands of online slots out there, and each one offers something different and it can be overwhelming. Navigating the ever-growing world of iGaming can be difficult, and inexperienced players can get caught up in a world of low-quality games from sup-par providers. 

That's why we cut through the crap and bring you the very best that the online slot gaming community has to offer with our thorough, honest and unbiased reviews.