Tournament Guides: How Tournaments Work: Pros and Cons: Tournament Q & A: Strategies for Winning: Play Online: Online Tournaments: Tournament Types: Free Slots Tournaments: Online Casinos: Play Offline: Casino Tournaments: Las Vegas: World Casino Directory: Slot Machines: How to Play Slots: How Slots Work: Popular Slot Machines. A slot tournament works as a competition between slots players. For a set period, any winnings you amass from playing a certain slot will be tracked. Once the tournament ends, the player with the most coins or points wins the tournament. Slot machines tournament systems adapt to changing times. A news course for casino training. Joan Mantini is a contributing writer for Casino Journal. Related Articles. Free Casino Tournaments – Slot Machines. The free casino slot machine tournaments are by far the most popular of the different free casino tournaments than you can find online. Each casino operates their tournaments a little differently, but this is how a free casino slot tournament usually works. A slot tournament is a gaming competition between you and other players, conditioning everyone in the tournament to collect as many game points as possible in order to win. When the tournament is over, the top-ranking players share the prizepool, with the player scoring the highest going home with the biggest prize.

What are slot tournaments?Slots are among the least competitive games you could think of – just how does a tournament work? Well, there is actually nothing complicated at all. You compete against the other players by simply spinning your slot. At the end of the tournament, the player who has accumulated the most winnings receives the grand prize. That’s the gist of it – the rules rarely get more complex than that, and there is no specific preparation required other than getting familiar with the slot you will be playing in advance. We’ll cover everything that you need to know in the next few paragraphs. We’ll also talk about online slot tournaments which can be a tad more complicated.

Basic Format of a Slot Tournament

When on a night out at your favourite casino, you may have noticed a portion of the venue blocked by ropes, and a number of people spinning the slots at a furious speed. That’s how a slot tournament looks from the side.

In a slot tournament, you usually receive a number of credits from the casino, and have a set amount of time to play through them. Your wins are tracked, and the player who has accumulated the most coins – or points – wins the tournament.

Such tournaments create a great sense of camaraderie as they gather slot fans from all over the region – but there is little time for interaction during the tournament itself, as you have to focus on your own slot. This means that there is no direct conflict, and you shouldn’t expect a battle royale of some sort.Of course, an obnoxious loud-mouth might ruin your fun from time to time. Sadly, you will encounter such individuals in all alleys of life, including casinos where you’re supposed to relax.

Are Slot Tournaments Free?

Wait, if the casino is giving you credits, is the tournament free? Well, you know what they say about free lunch.

In most cases, slot tournaments have a fixed entry fee – a ‘buy-in’. It would be something like £25 – £50. The funds gathered this way usually make up the prize for the tournament winner. Most players grow quite fond of this system, because this actually sets the limit on how much they will spend gambling in advance.

Sometimes, casinos do organize free slot tournaments. Those are great, of course – you get to play without any investment, and might just nab the prize! The casinos usually view such tournaments as a means of attracting more regular customers, and you should expect much lower prizes than in paid competitions.

Additionally, many casinos organise private tournaments for their more loyal customers. You can enter those only upon receiving a special invite. The quality can vary across most venues, but casinos with strong brand usually tend to make those impromptu competitions memorable and fun for their regulars.

Rules, Tips and Strategy

Under this basic format, slot tournaments are determined solely by luck. This is fine – after all, the history of slots shows that they got so popular because they didn’t require too much skill in the first place. That said, experienced players do hold certain advantages which might mitigate their luck to a degree.Playing at a slot tournament differs from regular games because you are not using your own money – this means that you should bet as much as you can! Considering that only your wins are calculated, you would maximize your chances if you play through as much of your budget as possible.

This might seem like a silly suggestion, but keep in mind that you have a set time limit, and there is a certain physical overtime required to insert your coins and pull the lever. A lot of inexperienced players lose speed as they grow tired, or simply stick to their casual tempo – this is a mistake, because any credit you fail to wager contributes nothing to your final result!

Another mistake players do is to lose time celebrating their wins. Of course, joy sometimes overwhelms you, and it isn’t bad to voice it, but the clock does not stop ticking only because you scored a good win, and the other players are also racking up their results.

The same basic principle applies to online tournaments, of course – things might be a little more innovative there, but you should maintain a constant speed and use up as much of your allotted budget as possible within the timeframe. This means that spending a little time before the tournament to get familiar with the slot you will be playing on and trying out the controls for yourself will prove invaluable in the long run.

Online Slot Tournaments

Online operators have also been playing attention to the success of the slot tournaments and trying to adapt them to the pc platform. Some casinos like 32Red hold regular tournaments on specific online slot games, while others like Royal Panda organise thematic promotional campaigns at different times of the year.

Online slot tournaments can break from the basic mould described in the above paragraphs. Sometimes they don’t even have a set time limit – after all, this can be a hassle for many of the participants. Once more, there might be an admission fee required, but there are also alternative variants.

Certain tournaments take place over longer periods of time, and don’t award you with free credits in advance. Instead, you accumulate score with your normal playthroughs. At the end of the tournament – which can be a 20-minute session or a 1-month slog – the best player is awarded with a cash prize.

Notice the use of the word ‘best’. If an online tournament breaks from the set mould of playing through a number of credits, the win conditions might change too. Sometimes the players accumulate points by scoring a streak of wins – this is a good format, because it means that it doesn’t matter how large your bet is!

Avalon, Tomb Raider and Starburst are among the more common titles you can expect to find listed for tournaments.

Other Types of Online Slot Tournaments – the Terminology Explained

If you like to change your online gambling venues, you might encounter more innovative tournament variants. Here are some of the main types:

• Signup Freeroll: this light competition is a good way to get to know your way around your new online casino. Some operators organise such events as a little extra to the welcome bonus that you receive. However, you shouldn’t expect a large prize pool. Usually it is only the new players that get to take part for a £50-£100 first place reward. More importantly, such events might secure you a free invite to other tournaments with more lucrative prizes. Take advantage of such events and use them to see what a tournament feels like and whether you enjoy the casino’s format.
• Scheduled Tournaments: your basic slot tournament. It is advertised in advance, and you need to register before the beginning and play a buy-in fee.
• Sit and Go Tournament: Those are open-seat tournaments. There is a limited number of places, and you need to sign in to take one. As soon as all the seats are taken, the tournament kicks off – but keep in mind that sometimes there can be a significant wait before enough players are gathered.
• Sit and Go Tournament: Those are open-seat tournaments. There is a limited number of places, and you need to sign in to take one. As soon as all the seats are taken, the tournament kicks off – but keep in mind that sometimes there can be a significant wait before enough players are gathered.
• Comped Tournaments: The term might be familiar to some of you. Comp points are loyalty rewards that some online casinos give you for playing on their games with real money. As you can imagine, these slot tournaments are the equivalent to the VIP events we mentioned above, where only loyal customers are invited.
• Reloader Tournaments: Those are the equivalent of ‘re-buys’ in poker tourneys. In such tournaments, the buy-in allots you specific time for play, but you can Rebuy for an additional fee and start over if you bust out. Such tournaments are usually featured with Microgaming slots.
• Extender Tournaments: similar to the above, but you get the chance to buy Add-Ons here. The Add-Ons boost your final score. Most players choose to take up this option if they want to maximise their odds of winning, but it is perfectly fine to ignore it if you trust in your luck.
• Survivor Slots Tournaments: This tournament uses one of the most competitive formats and introduces an elimination phase. There are different rounds, and only the winner from each stage can move on the face the rest of the winners. Rebuying or adding on is not allowed.
• One-shot Tournaments: These are single-elimination tournaments. You get a single shot at qualifying for the next stage – there are no rebuys, no add-ons, and no mercy. The battle here is fiercer than the competition for jobs in the UK!

Frequently Asked Questions About Slot Tournaments

We hope you found this review of slot tournaments useful. To ensure that we covered everything that you need to know, we researched what questions players ask about the topic. To end this blog post, we have compiled the most frequently asked questions and provided the answers for you.

🤷‍♂️ What is a slot tournament?

A slot tournament is a competition against other players. You play a specified slot game within a certain timeframe and with a certain number of casino credits. At the end of the tournament, the player with the most accumulated winnings gets a prize.

🤔 How does a slot tournament work?

A slot tournament works as a competition between slots players. For a set period, any winnings you amass from playing a certain slot will be tracked. Once the tournament ends, the player with the most coins or points wins the tournament. You can find more details about the basic rules of slot tournaments in our dedicated section.

🤼‍♂️ How to play in a slot tournament?

You play in a slot machine tournament in a land-based casino, you should spin as many times as possible within the set time limit and credits. To play in an online slot tournament, the basic rules are the same. You should check the operator's promotions regularly to find out when slot tournaments will take place and opt in to play.

🙌 How to win a slot tournament?

Slot tournaments rely on luck. Yet there are some winning tips that can help you improve your chances. These include betting as much of the allotted budget as possible. Another tip is to maintain a constant speed, so you do not waste any opportunities to accumulate winnings.

🎰 What is a free slot tournament?

A free slot tournament can be entered without spending any of your own cash. Free tournaments can be included as part of a casino's promotional offers. Some operators also provide free slot machine tournaments as a loyalty reward for existing players.

Latest posts

A slot machine is generally seen as a solo affair where you compete against the house. But many people also enjoy playing slot machine tournaments, which see you challenge fellow players for prize money.

Slots tourneys offer a nice break from the typical drill of playing against casinos. And what’s fun is that you can win big prizes in these events.

If you’re looking to learn more about slot machine tournaments, keep reading as I discuss how they work, the different types of slots tournaments, where you can find these events and some strategy tips.

Slot Machine Tournament Basics: Buy-ins & Prize Pools

Slot Machine Tournament Buy-ins

Many slot machine tournaments require a buy-in.

Most of the buy-in goes towards funding the prize pool. The remaining amount is a fee that goes to the house for running the tourney.

Here’s an example of a slot machine tournament buy-in:

• The entry fee is $10 + $1.
• The $10 portion goes into the prize pool.
• The casino keeps the remaining $1 as a fee.

You get a set number of credits for your buy-in. The credits are a score used to determine paying positions and don’t represent how much money you’ve won in the tournament.

Prize Pool

A prize pool is the amount of money that players are competing for. The prizes are usually weighted towards the top, with the highest finishers taking the largest portion of the prize pool.

Let’s look at a sample prize pool involving a $5,000 tournament:

• 1st –$2,000
• 2nd –$1,000
• 3rd – $750
• 4th – $250
• 5th 14th – $100

Prize pools can either be guaranteed or variable.

A guaranteed prize pool means that the casino must make sure the tournament meets the stated amount, no matter how many players enter. For example, if they guarantee $1,000 and there’s only $800 in prize money, then the casino must cover the remaining $200.

A variable prize pool doesn’t guarantee how much money players can expect to win. Instead, this is entirely up to how many people enter the event.

If 90 people to pay a $10 + $1 buy in, then the tournament prize pool will be worth $900.

What Prizes are Available?

The most common prize in slot machine tournaments is cash. This is especially the case in any tourney where you need to pay a buy in before entering.

Land based casinos can also give out alternative prizes, including free hotel stays, free meals or slots vouchers.

How Do Slot Machine Tournaments Work?

Formats

The rules of a slot machine tournament differ based on the format. One standard format is a timed tournament, where players spin the reels until they reach the time limit.

The winners are determined by who has the most chips when the time is up. Here’s an example of a timed slots tournament:

• Each player receives 1,000 credits to start.
• The tournament lasts for 20 minutes.
• Credits are deducted from your bankroll whenever you spin the reels.
• Credits you win are shown in a separate display.
• Credits aren’t replenished.
• Any credits that you don’t spend are nullified.

Another tournament format is one where you play until your credits run out. The number of credits you have when your chip stack runs out determines your score.

Let’s look at an example of this:

• Each player receives 500 credits to start.
• You spin until your 500 credits are exhausted.
• Credits are deducted every time you spin the reels.
• Credits you win are shown in a separate meter
• You play until all credits are gone.

One more tournament style is a multi-day event that lasts until a predetermined date. An example would be a slots tournament that begins on the first of the month and ends on the last of the month.

These tournaments can be based on either of the two examples above, where you either spin for a certain time limit or until your credits run out.

Multi day slot machine tournaments let you enter multiple times (a.k.a. rebuys) over the course of the event so that you can improve your score. This brings another element of strategy into play, where you have to decide how many rebuys it’s worth spending based on the prize pool.

Start & End Times

The starting time for a slots tourney can vary based on the format. Single day events begin as soon as there are enough people who’ve bought in.

Other tournaments begin regardless of how many entries there are. This is especially the case with multi day tournaments, where people can buy in at any time to try and get the highest score.

The end time also varies based on the format.

A timed tournament begins as soon as the time limit is reached. Tournament officials will then determine the results and who wins prizes.

Credit based tourneys start and end at specific times of the day. Players can enter these events at any time of the day to play for the highest score.

Multi day slot tournaments end at a certain time and date. For example, a tourney could end when the clock strikes midnight at the end of the week or month.

How to Find Rules for Slot Machine Tournaments

Knowing different tournament formats is a good way to start with slots tourneys. I urge you to check out the rules for the specific event that you’re playing.

A land based casino may post the rules and prize pool structure in their establishment and/or on their website. Online casinos post the rules in the section where you sign up for the event.

Again, look up rules before entering and playing in any slot machine tournament. This helps you figure out exactly how you can win a share of the prize money.

Types of Slot Machine Tournaments

Buy-in

We discussed buy-in slot machine tournaments earlier. These events require you to pay a buy-in, with portions of the entry fee going to both the prize pool and casino.

What’s fun about buy-in slots tourneys is that the prize pools are usually larger than other types of events. I’ve seen some online slots tournaments with prize pools worth six figures.

Freerolls

A slot machine freeroll is a tournament that doesn’t require a cash entry fee. Freerolls break down into one of two types:

1. No entry fee at all.
2. Buy in with loyalty points.

The good thing about the first style is that anybody can play without any type of entry. This is great for players who are trying to build a bankroll, yet don’t have cash or points.

One catch, though, is that you normally have to register at the casino before playing.

Online casinos require you to create an account before you’re eligible for these types of freerolls. Land based casinos may ask you to sign up for their mailing list before you’re entered into a free tournament.

This means that you’ll see hundreds or even thousands of players competing for a prize pool worth a couple hundred dollars or less.

The second type of slot machine freeroll requires you to earn loyalty points and spend them on the buy-in. The good thing about these tourneys is that they’re more exclusive and the prize pools are usually larger.

The catch is that you need to play real money slots and earn loyalty points first before you’re eligible to enter these freerolls.

VIP Tournaments

Players must be invited into a VIP slot machine tournament. This means achieving a certain status in the casino’s loyalty program so that you’re eligible to play.

The good thing about VIP slots tournaments is that the prize pools are usually large compared to the number of entrants. The drawback is that you’ll need to play a lot of real money slots to achieve specific VIP status is for these tournaments.

Where Can You Find Slot Machine Tournaments?

Online Casino Slot Tournaments

Internet casinos offer a good mixture of buy-in, freeroll and VIP slot machine tournaments. Note that you must make a real money deposit before you’re eligible to play in the buy in events.

An online casino lobby will feature all of their different slots tourneys. You then scan through the list and find the tournament you wish to play.

Choosing any tourney will bring up various details such as the buy in amount, prize pool, start time, number of registered participants, leaderboard and where you can sign up.

How to Enter Online Slot Machine Tournaments

You need to create an account before you’re eligible to play in either real money tournaments or freerolls. This involves entering details like your name, home address, email, and mobile phone number.

Many freerolls allow you to play for free as long as you’re a registered member. Others require that you have loyalty points or a specific VIP status.

Again, you must make a deposit before playing in the buy-in tournaments. This entails visiting the casino banking section, choosing an available banking option and then funding your account.

Land Based Casino Slot Tournaments

Brick and mortar casinos hold slot tourneys as ways to draw players back into their venues. This means that you’ll find a lot of casino slot machine tournaments where only frequent players are invited.

Land based casinos don’t hold as many buy-in slot tournaments, but you will find these events available on occasion, too.

How to Enter Slot Machine Tournaments

You can sign up for brick and mortar slot machine tournaments at the venue itself. Some casinos might also let you sign up online, too.

Casino slots tourneys feature a limited number of machines. This means that you’ll receive a machine number and play time in order to stagger the entrants.

You need to show up to your assigned machine on time in order to participate. An official may confirm your score when your tournament session is finished.

Slot Machine Tournament Strategy

Slot machine tournaments are much like regular play where there’s not much strategy involved. Nevertheless, there are a few things you can do to influence the results.

Here are a few basic tips that’ll help you succeed:

Tip #1: Hit the Spin Button as Fast as Possible

Given that many slot machine tournaments are timed, the best thing you can do is use all of your credits within the allotted time frame.

This entails pushing spin as quickly as possible. The goal is to exhaust all of your credits before the buzzer so that you don’t leave anything on the table.

Tip #2: Get Your Rest & Take Care of Everything Beforehand

Pushing spin over and over may sound simple, but this can actually be taxing over the course of 20 minutes.

You should get your sleep and make sure to take care of everything before a tournament like eating and staying hydrated.

Tip #3: Ignore the Scoreboard

It’s tempting to check the scoreboard during a tournament to see where you stand, but this is also a waste of precious time that can cost you.

Don’t even worry about the scoreboard while you’re playing. Checking it won’t improve your chances of winning, and it’ll only slow you down.

Tip #4: Practice Bankroll Management

Bankroll management (BRM) is especially crucial in tourneys that let you rebuy, such as the multi-day events. After all, you need to consider how many buy-in’s it’s worth spending to try and move up the leaderboard.

Here’s an example:

• Your bankroll is $200.
• You’re playing in a $5 buy-in tourney with unlimited rebuys.
• This means you have 40 units (200 / 5).
• The top payout is $1,000.
• You decide to cap your number of entries at 5 units.

The amount of units you spend is entirely up to you.

But capping your entries at 5 units ($25) ensures that you don’t blow your entire bankroll on a single event. Meanwhile, it also gives you multiple chances to move up the leaderboard and win money.

Tip #5: Take Advantage of Freerolls

Freerolls are a good way to build your bankroll, especially the ones that you can enter with points or VIP status. You should take advantage of any freeroll with a reasonable ratio of players to prize pool.

Check casino social media pages and watch your mail/email to find freeroll offers. The more you take advantage of, the better chance you have to build your bankroll for cheap.

Conclusion

Slot machines tournaments offer a nice mix of strategy and luck, which is perfect for casual gamblers.

The strategy comes in when considering bankroll management, tournament selection and spinning the reels quick enough. As for luck, slots are better known for this more than any other casino game.

Tournament Slot Machines For Sale

Another good thing about slot machine tournaments is that you can enjoy different formats and styles. Formats include timed and credit based tourneys, while the styles include buy-in, freeroll and invitation events.

Igt Tournament Slot Machines