High and Low Volatility Pokies Explained Online
You may read a lot about the volatility of pokies when reading reviews or game rules.
Volatility refers to the risk and reward ratio for pokies and what type of bettor you are will at the end of the day determine which type of volatility you would prefer.
High Volatility Gaming
High volatility games mean that the player will need to make regular wagers in order to receive a low odds but high pay off win.
For example if you buy a lottery ticket, you face some high odds against actually winning the lotto jackpot, but once you do it more than makes up for the money you spent purchasing lottery tickets.
In this way high volatility pokies are like a long term investment. You may not win regularly but it’s the eventual high payout wins that make up for the lulls in your winnings.
High Volatility Features
High volatility pokies can be 5 reel slots, classic three reel slots or progressive slots. They do not really conform to one singular style of slot.
What makes a game a high volatility pokie is the symbol combinations which are harder to hit than other slots.
This means that the icons will take longer to line up and form winning combinations, but they have massive payouts when they do hit.
They can also feature bonus rounds that are hard to trigger but reward you with many free spins and cash prizes.
Low Volatility Gaming
Low volatility pokies are the other side of this spectrum. They are for players who enjoy making regular wins, even though the high odds make the eventual payouts quite low.
The regularity of the payouts eventually adds up. Low volatility slots are for players focused on long term rewards.
They usually require a lot more focus and strategy as you need to make every win count. You also need to know when raising your wagers could be beneficial and when to ease back on your active paylines.
Low Volatility Features
Low volatility pokies will have symbols that regularly line up to reward you with small wins. This generally causes players to enjoy themselves more, even with the lower payouts because you still feel rewarded.
Just like with high volatility slots, there will usually be a bonus game that is easy to activate and most often awards free spins rather than big cash prizes. Low volatility slots usually features lower wager limits as the focus isn’t on huge payouts as much as it is on regular small wins.
Combination Pokies
Many modern pokies try and combine high and low volatility aspects into a single game. For instance a low volatility game may have the regular landing of the low payout symbols as the standard game feature, but the developers may also include a progressive jackpot that will hit once in a blue moon but it will pay out a massive jackpot.
What determines at the end of the day, which pokie is best comes down to your preference as a player. Try out games for free first and get a feel for the games volatility, then decide if you want to invest real money into the game or not.