Bonus wheel slots are another way for players to experience suspense and excitement when spinning the reels of online slots. Learn more about the bonus wheel feature in slot games and how they work below.
What Is a Bonus Wheel?
A bonus wheel is one of the many different types of bonus game features in slots. How this feature begins changes, depending on the rules of the online slot. A wheel then appears that’s divided into segments, with each segment linked to a specific reward. Players will immediately recognize this type of bonus, as it borrows from prize wheels popularized in televised game shows such as Wheel of Fortune.
Compared with other features like pick’em bonus games, bonus wheel features in slots require no extra decision-making. Just like with slot reels, all the player has to do is spin the bonus wheel and wait.
How Bonus Wheels Are Triggered
Knowing how this feature could appear on the reels is important for players who want to understand how bonus rounds work. Just like hold and spin features, the online casino wheel feature is typically activated by special symbols, such as scatter symbols or specific bonus wheel symbols. In many games, landing a particular combination of scatter or bonus symbols anywhere on the reels usually launches the feature. Some modern slots add surprise wheel rounds that activate at random, independent of symbols, to keep sessions unpredictable. Developers also sometimes place activating symbols only on specific reels to balance hit rate and excitement.
Anatomy of the Bonus Wheel
A bonus wheel typically consists of multiple differently colored segments. Each segment offers the player different rewards.
However, some bonus wheels may expand to feature multiple stacked wheels, with more rewarding bonus wheels obscured from view. Players must land on a specific segment on the visible bonus wheel to unlock the lower-level bonus wheels with larger rewards.
Types of Bonus Wheel Rewards
There are different types of rewards that players can win from bonus wheels, including:
- Cash multipliers
- Extra bundles
- Fixed or progressive jackpots
- Entry to another bonus
- Bonus wheel respins
A Few Examples of Bonus Wheel Online Slots
There are many different types of online slots. Here are three examples of online slots with bonus wheels:
The Price is Right Big Wheel Bonus
| Software Provider | GameCode |
| RTP | 94.58%* |
| Volatility | N/A |
| Jackpot Type | Fixed |
| Paylines | 9 |
| Reels | 3×3 |
| Max Wager | $30 |
| Max Win | 533.33x |
* Please note that the Return to Player (RTP) rate for this slot game may differ from one jurisdiction to another.
The Price Is Right Big Wheel Bonus is an online slot inspired by the TV game show experience. The game is designed to look like the set of a game show featuring bright studio lights and colourful sets, with the action taking place on a 3×3 slot reel.
The game is easy to pick up with only two game features. The first feature is multiplier wilds that can land in stacks and combine on a payline. The second feature is the Big Wheel Bonus feature. This feature is activated by scatters that launch the Big Wheel Bonus, a bonus wheel that delivers instant prizes from 3x to 533.33x the player’s wager.
Rakin’ Bacon Jackpots Bonus Wheel
| Software Provider | GAMEIOM |
| RTP | 92%* |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Jackpot Type | Fixed |
| Paylines | 9 |
| Reels | 3×3 |
| Max Wager | 5,000 credits |
| Max Win | 1,984x |
* Please note that the Return to Player (RTP) rate for this slot game may differ from one jurisdiction to another.
Rakin’ Bacon Jackpots Bonus Wheel is a classic bright neon and gold 3×3 slot reel, and its golden piggy bank mascot. The game has a 5,000-credit top wheel prize, as well as four fixed jackpots worth up to 1,984x the player’s wager.
This game has two features. Standard, Double, and Triple Wilds with multipliers that can combine to boost a player’s payout, while also unlocking one of the Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand jackpots, depending on which combination of wild symbols players land. The second feature, the Game Wheel feature, can randomly activate on any spin that drops a Gold Coin scatter. This will reward players with instant credit prizes.
Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme Spin
| Software Provider | IGT |
| RTP | 96.08%* |
| Volatility | Low |
| Jackpot Type | N/A |
| Paylines | 720 |
| Reels | 5 (3x4x5x4x3) |
| Max Wager | $1,000 |
| Max Win | $145,950x |
* Please note that the Return to Player (RTP) rate for this slot game may differ from one jurisdiction to another.
Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme Spin brings the show to a five-reel layout that uses the MultiWay Xtra engine, offering 720 ways to win on every spin. Exclusive to BetMGM Casino, the game has a colossal 145,950x maximum payout.
Two wheel-driven bonuses can be activated in this game of chance. Firstly, landing three scatters transforms them into separate Mini Wheels whose multipliers combine and are multiplied by your wager. Secondly, three Triple Extreme Spin symbols trigger a secondary screen with 12 envelopes and three different coloured bonus wheels. The envelopes reveal coloured gems that unlock pointers on the blue, red, and yellow wheels.
