Advantage Slots

I wouldn’t call the advantage in this game massive, but there’s money to be won when you find a rare setup. I call it “rare,” because you usually need the yellow blocks to be on the left side of the screen rather than the usual far right. This example below isn’t a play, but it shows how you normally find it:

For this game, you have to put your voucher in to check each bet and once you do, you notice the yellow blocks (i.e., the ones you want to hit) are usually in the fourth and fifth reels. Most of the money is in the yellow blocks.

For the min bet of $0.60 above, we have $4.50 total in reel one (150+150+150), $3.75 in reel two, $3.75 in reel three, $11.50 in reel four and, wouldn’t you know it, $52.50 in reel five.

But it’s actually not always as simple as just “any yellow block in the first three reels” is a play. Because there are multiple values of yellow blocks on each bet, we need to make sure the total value in the first three reels equals right around 40x our bet.

In our current example, the total in the first three reels is $4.50+$3.75+$3.75, which equals $12. Now divide that by our bet ($0.60), and you get 20x. So that’s not a play; we need at least 40x our bet in the first three columns.

Suppose you take just one of those yellow blocks in column five and switch it with a 150 block. You then have $35.50 in the first three columns and when you divide that by $0.60, you get 59x the bet, well worth playing.

Trust me, I’m not a math guy. So if I can figure this out, just about anyone can. If you see a yellow in the first three columns, try to do some quick math. The calculator on your phone will help!

Once you find that, it should make some sense why you want yellows in the first three reels, as that’s following a basic rule of slots: Line pays — accomplished here by lining up gold dollar signs from left to right in three or more columns — don’t often reach the fourth and fifth reels. So having a bunch of yellow blocks in reel five isn’t useful.

As you spin, blocks are added and removed from the board. Often enough, the block you’re chasing disappears from the board. When that happens or the combined total in the first three reels falls below 40x your bet, the play is over.

Not all grinders know what to look for with this game, so you’ll find some plays from time to time, even though it can be a pain to put your voucher in and then bust out the abacus for close situations.

Here’s my video for Block Bonanza Hawaii and Block Bonanza Rio, and a quick note before checking it out: Let’s do some quick adding of the play I took. 2.00+20.00+2.50+2.00+3.00+3.00+3.00+2.50+2.50 = 40.50. It was a $1.20 bet. So it’s 33.75x our bet. And you’ll notice I was supposed to play 40x or higher in the first three columns. Oh boy, shouldn’t have played this one! But as far as bad plays go, it wasn’t miles away.

Anyway, onto the video!