Penny Slot Machines: Best Slots and How to Play Them
Summary: Penny Slot Machines is a common name for slots with low minimum bet. Some of the most popular penny slot machines are Book of Dead , Vikings Go To Hell and Agent Jane Blonde Returns.
Table of Content:
- Mechanics of Penny Slots
- Advantages of Playing Penny Slots
- Playing Penny Slots Strategically
- How to Play Online Penny Slots
- Penny Slot Machines Vs. Other Slots
- Categories of Penny Slots
- Popular Online Penny Slots
- Tips for Winning at Penny Slots
- Frequently Asked Questions about Penny Slots
Online slots are among the most popular forms of online entertainment, and in a fast-moving, quickly developing industry, there are some exciting technology breakthroughs that are bringing about real innovation in the types of games being released.
What are the best online penny slot machines? How can you generate the best experience out of them? And how did penny slots come to be? We uncover all that and more in our full breakdown below!
Find out who online penny slots suit best, their game mechanics, how to play them strategically and five of the best penny slots available to try at LeoVegas.
Mechanics of Penny Slots
What makes penny slots such an affordable proposition for slot players online? Below, we’ll explore four of the main components that make a penny slot such an enjoyable experience for low-rollers and seasoned slot players alike.
How Penny Slots Work
One of the main reasons why online penny slots appeal to all slot fans is their playability. They function just like any other online slot game. You can set your penny stake size per payline and hit the spin button to start playing.
Understanding Paylines
In some ways, there are two types of online penny slots. There’s traditional penny slots, which only have one or three paylines, and there’s contemporary penny slots, which have many more paylines available which you can bet on from just $0.01 per line. If you want a genuine old-school penny slot experience, try out the games with one or three paylines, which are made to look like vintage fruit machines.
The old-school style penny slots have conventional, horizontal paylines. Meanwhile the newer games have paylines of all shapes and sizes, like triangles and zigzags.
Betting Options
You can toggle your bet size with most online penny slots. Use the plus and minus buttons to set your preferred bet size per spin. Alternatively, you can set your coin value per payline. For a genuine penny slot experience, set your coin value to $0.01 per line.
Jackpots and Payouts
Although some online penny slots will offer jackpots and payouts much lower than standard slot games, it’s not uncommon to find some linked to progressive jackpot networks. This gives you the chance to land life-changing progressive jackpots from ultra-low penny slot spins, triggered entirely at random.
Advantages of Playing Penny Slots
Why are casual slot players drawn to penny slots, both on and offline? We’ve got three benefits of penny slots that you might not have even considered:
Low Betting Amounts
The affordability of online penny slots is the number-one benefit. You don’t need to risk big bucks to have heaps of fun. If you pay less per payline you can activate more paylines per spin, increasing your chances of making symbol combinations with even the most modest of bankrolls.
Extended Gameplay
With online penny slots it’s also possible to play as cheaply as $0.01 per spin if you only want to play with one payline. This means you’ll get 100 spins of a penny slot from just $1, prolonging your slot entertainment.
Variety of Games
At LeoVegas, we work with multiple suppliers of online penny slots. You can log in and browse our huge library of penny slots, available to play on any desktop, laptop or mobile device.
Playing Penny Slots Strategically
If you want to maximise your online slot bankroll, there’s things you can do to play clever and avoid having to visit the online cashier too often. Here’s a few pointers to help you think differently about picking and playing the right penny slots online.
Bankroll Management
To maximise your penny slot bankroll, split your bank into 100 units. If you have $100 to deposit, split your bank into 100 units of $1. Only risk a set number of units in a single penny slot session. Let’s say you want to lose no more than 10 units in a session. The moment you hit a $10 loss, you’ll stop and play another day rather than chase your losses.
Choosing the Right Machine
The first thing you should look for in a good online penny slot is its return to player (RTP) percentage. The higher the better. Some penny slots will have lower-than-average RTPs as a trade-off for being cheap to play. The industry average of most online slots is 96%, so that’s a decent benchmark.
Try to avoid penny slots with high volatility too. Any game described as highly volatile means you’ll wait longer than usual for wins – even if the eventual wins are likely to be bigger.
Maximizing Odds and Wins
It’s important to choose penny slots which pay out handsomely when you do land those lucky symbol combinations. Pick the games with the biggest multipliers and the lowest volatility available. Low volatility means there’s likely to be fewer gaps between winning spins.
How to Play Online Penny Slots
- First, create an account at LeoVegas and make a deposit.
- Second, select the penny slot game you want to play and choose your bet size.
- Finally, spin the reels and hope for a winning combination.It's important to note that most penny slots cost more than one penny per spin, usually offering 1 cent per payline as multiple paylines are in use.
Penny Slot Machines Vs. Other Slots
The primary difference between best penny slot games and machines and other slots lies in the minimum bet required to play.
Penny slot games allow players to wager as little as one cent per line, making them an affordable option for those with smaller budgets or those who simply prefer lower-stake games.
Other slots may require a higher minimum bet, such as nickel, quarter, or dollar denominations, which can result in more significant financial risk per spin.
The Actual Cost of Playing Penny Slots
Usually, the cost of playing a penny slot lies around the 0.20 mark, but it depends on the game and how many paylines there are.
Categories of Penny Slots
Penny slots come in various categories, each offering unique themes and features to cater to different player preferences.
Some of the popular categories include:
Classic Penny Slots
These are reminiscent of traditional fruit machines, featuring simple gameplay with 3-reels and a limited number of paylines. They often use classic symbols like fruits, bars, and sevens.
Video Penny Slots
These slots feature advanced graphics, animations, and sound effects, creating a more immersive gaming experience. They usually have 5-reels or more and offer multiple paylines, bonus rounds, and special features like wilds and scatters.
Progressive Penny Slots
These slots give players the chance to win massive progressive jackpots by contributing a small portion of each bet to a shared prize pool. The jackpot amount increases as more players place bets, and it can be won randomly or by landing specific combinations.
Popular Online Penny Slots
We would earmark a genuinely great penny slot machine as one that can generate large wins from small stakes. Just because a player can’t depart with high-roller levels of money doesn’t mean they should be without the excitement and drama of a massive win.
Take a look at some of our popular penny slots below and decipher which one works best for you!
Book of Dead
Join Rich Wilde on an epic adventure and hunt for treasure - pay special attention to the books, which can trigger unbelievable bonuses that feature expanding reels on a specific symbol. A full screen of expanding Rich Wilde can return up to 5,000x the stake.
The minimum stake on Play’n Go’s Book of Dead slot is 0.20, meaning it fits in nicely to our breakdown of the best Penny Slots.
Vikings Go to Hell
March into the abyss with Nordic warriors and land sticky wilds during volatile bonus rounds to win huge amounts! Keep your eye out for treasure on the fifth wheel – a chest can appear at any time to award you plunder!
Players can bet a minimum of 0.10 per spin and win up to 5,500 times their stake.
Gold King
Play with the man that has everything on Play’n Go’s intriguing Gold King slot for a shot at regal wins! Look out for the Super Stack bonus feature, which can trigger on any spin and match-up across all five reels, while the Super Spins bonus round will have you with gold bars in your pupils.
Players can bet a minimum of 0.20 per spin and win up to 5,000 times their stake.
Temple of TUT
Temple of Tut , a classic of the genre which resembles the Book of Dead slot from Play’n Go, the goal is to land three book symbols to trigger and expanding symbol bonus round.
Players can bet a minimum of 0.20 per spin and win up to 250 times their stake in any one spin.
Agent Jane Blonde Returns
Agent Jane Blonde Returns is another popular penny slot game that allows one to play with a minimum bet of 0.05. While at it, you have a chance to win up to 1,500x your bet on this 5x3 slot. It also comes with 15 fixed paylines.
Big Bad Wolf
This online casino slot game can be played with a minimum bet of 0.25 per spin. Bringing you wins of up to 1,225x your bet, this Quickspin slot comes with plenty of mind-blowing features such as the Free Spins feature and the 'Blowing Down the House' feature.
Big Bad Wolf is an action-packed slot with avalanche symbols, where symbols that land on a payline are removed to make space for new symbols to boost your win potential. You can watch the story unfold over 5 reels, 3 rows and 25 paylines.
Great Blue Jackpot
This online slot might not be a new one, however, with a minimum bet of 0.25 and four levels of jackpots, it is a perfect penny slot to play. Try out Great Blue Jackpot slot right now!
Golden Colts
Travel with the Golden Colts through the night in search of bounty across the 5 reels and 40 paylines of this western style slot. Play'n GO are ready to roll again! Land 3 scatters on the reels for the Golden Colts bonus where one of seven different bonus games with varying amounts of free spins will be chosen at random. The minimum bet is 0.20.
Blaze of Ra
5 reels and 40 paylines pave the path to wins in this Blaze of Ra slot by Push Gaming.Ra symbols that start the nudging wilds feature, and landing 3 or more scatters will trigger the free spin mode where odd reels have stacked sticky wilds. Start playing with a minimum bet of 0.20!
Pirates Charm
Pirates Charm slot features 5 reels and 243 ways-to-win make for fantastic pirate gameplay.
Mystery Charm symbols transforming into random symbols, land them on reels 1,2&3 for the Respin feature, and 3 bonus symbols for 10 free spins with sticky mystery symbols.
Start playing with a minimum bet of 0.20.
Now that you’re familiar with penny slots and how they work, are you ready to hit the reels? At LeoVegas, we’ve got heaps of fun penny slots to explore, with exciting themes and features to keep you entertained.
888 Dragons
This penny slot brings the Asian flavors. With rich animations, inspired by the dragons which are characterised within Chinese culture, this is about an immersive as a penny slot gets. As you’d hope from a penny slot, 888 Dragons offers low volatility and a chance to land maximum wins worth 100x your initial stake.
Developed by iGaming software studio, Pragmatic Play, 888 Dragons allows you to set your coin value at anything from 0.01 coins to a maximum of 0.50 coins, with the option of betting up to ten coins on the payline. The red dragon is your friend here – land three of these on the payline to win the 100x multiplier. Three green or blue dragons on the payline are worth 50x and 25x multipliers too.
Cops ‘n’ Robbers
You’ll need to stay on the right side of the law to win in Play’n GO’s Cops ‘n’ Robbers slot. This is a nine-payline slot, but you can choose to play one payline per spin if you prefer. You can wager a penny per payline too.
It’s all about the Car Chase Bonus game in Cops ‘n’ Robbers. Whenever two or more police car scatter symbols appear on the same spin, you’ll get at least ten free spins. Find five scatters to win the maximum number of 25 free spins, along with a healthy 250x multiplier.
Break Da Bank Again
Slot software pioneers Microgaming released a follow-up to its original Break Da Bank slot. As with the original, Break Da Bank Again favors tradition over contemporary slot features. You can play from as little as a cent per payline which ticks all the right boxes.
Although much of the game’s dynamic is based on landing three matching symbols on a payline, there is the small matter of a free spins feature. Find three, four or five scatters on the same spin to win between 15 and 25 free games. Any win landed during a free spin sees its payout multiplied by 5x.
Golden Legend
The Golden Legend slot is inspired by the Chinese architectural ornaments, the Chinese guardian lions, which date back as far as Indian Buddhist times. These foo dogs, as they’re known here, are symbols of protection. Cross your fingers and hope they can guard you from defeat and steer you towards the 2,000x maximum win in Golden Legend.
Play’n GO’s classic Chinese slot contains a free spins feature which dishes out up to 20 free games at a time. Those lucky enough to trigger the feature will receive two wild symbols during every free spin to try and improve potential symbol combos.
Book of Atem WowPot
This is a very popular penny slot, not just because of the immersive ancient Egyptian vibes but the potential to land one of four progressive jackpots. Microgaming’s Book of Atem WowPot is part of the WowPot progressive jackpot network, which starts with a minimum payout worth $2 million. This five-reel slot has a free spins bonus as well as the alluring prospect of the four WowPots.
You need to land as many book symbols as possible. Each one that lands is added to the WowPot counter. The more you collect, the more likely you are to activate the Jackpot Wheel bonus and a chance to spin for one of the Mini, Minor, Major or WOWPOT! Prizes.
Tips for Winning at Penny Slots
There’s no way of guaranteeing wins on any slot game, let alone penny slot games. However, our tips can put you in a great position to eke out every last drop of value from your winning spins.
Playing Maximum Bet
Deciding whether to bet the maximum per spin is one of the most common queries from newbie penny slot players online.
In some cases, it doesn’t pay to bet the maximum. The payout multipliers are identical on some penny slots whether you bet big or small. However, there are some multiplier penny slots which do alter their payout sizes based on how much you stake per spin.
For example, a slot may pay out 100x when you land three 7s on a payline with a single coin bet. However, if you play the maximum number of coins per spin, it may pay out five times that amount (500x).
Utilizing Free Spins and Bonuses
If you are new to our online casino, it’s possible you’re eligible for a welcome bonus. Our sign-up promotions are designed to give you more bang for your buck, whether it’s free spins on selected penny slots or bonus funds to play however you see fit.
Maximising your bonus options is key as a penny slot player. It gives you risk-free shots at landing those bankroll-boosting jackpots.
Frequently Asked Questions about Penny Slots:
Do penny slots really cost one penny?
It depends on the game, most slots cost a minimum of 0.10, but some games, such as Book of Dead, are available at 0.01 per spin.
Are there 1 cent slot machines?
Yes, but they are quite rare - in fact most of slot games have minimum bet of 0.10 per spin.
Can you win big on penny slots?
Yes - some games can offer incredible volatility worth up to 10,000x the stake.
Are penny slots worth it?
If you are a fairweather gambler, penny slots can be a great form of light entertainment.
Does Vegas have penny slots?
Yes - there are plenty of penny slots available in Las Vegas.
Can you play free penny slots?
Yes, all penny slots have demo mode which allows you to play for free before playing real money slots.
Can you play penny slots on mobile devices?
Sure, most of the slot games available at LeoVegas are playable on mobile devices.
Do penny slots have bonus features?
Yes, penny slots are no different from other slots online and are full of various bonus games, such as free spins, respins, gamble feature, wheel of fortune feature etc.
What is the win rate for penny slots?
On average, penny slots have around the same RTP as usual casino games - meaning that you can win as much and as often as on other slot games.
Read more about slot mechanics in our guides: