Retriggering free spins: how many spins are added, and what carries over

Free spins are the part of a slot most players wait for, and a retrigger is the part they hope for inside it. The idea is simple, but the rules differ from game to game: how many spins are added, which symbols are needed, whether a multiplier survives and whether anything stops it from happening again and again. This article sets four well-known games side by side, using the figures printed by the review pages cited, and then shows how to work out what a retrigger is really worth.

What a retrigger is, and what it is not

A retrigger happens inside a free-spins round. When the trigger symbols appear again, the round gets extra spins on top of those still to play. It is separate from a casino's promotional free spins, which are a bonus offer with their own terms (see our page on free spins offers). Everything below concerns the in-game feature that a slot's rules describe.

Three questions decide how a retrigger behaves. How many spins does it add? What multiplier or special feature applies to them? Is there any limit on the number of retriggers? The answers come from each game's rules screen, and review pages do not always agree with each other, which is a reason to treat every figure here as a pointer to the in-game rules rather than a substitute for them.

Four games compared

Reading each rule

Gonzo's Quest. AskGamblers says three scatters on reels 1, 2 and 3 start the Free Falls feature with 10 free falls, and that if you land 3 scatters on the same free spin, another round of 10 free spins is added to your total. The multiplier works per avalanche: 3x on the first, 6x on the second, 9x on the third and 15x from the fourth. The page does not say how the multiplier carries between spins in the bonus. Our Gonzo's Quest page covers the avalanche mechanic.

Great Blue. Racing Post reports that three or more pearl scatters start 8 free spins at 2x, that the player then picks two oysters to reveal extra spins (up to 33) or a higher multiplier (up to 15x), and that the bonus can be retriggered for 15 more free spins with the same multiplier. AskGamblers' editor adds that there is no limit to how many times you can win additional free spins; Racing Post says nothing about a cap. AskGamblers' own user comments give other numbers, such as 10 extra spins, so the in-game rules decide. See the Great Blue page for the base game.

Immortal Romance. The AskGamblers review describes the Chamber of Spins: three, four or five Lion Door Knocker scatters pay 2, 20 or 200 times the total bet and open a choice of free-spins features. Amber, the one always available, gives 10 spins at a 5x multiplier and can be retriggered "for 20 free spins in total", which reads as 10 + 10. A separate mechanic unlocks the other features: Troy after 5 extra triggers of the Chamber, Michael after 10 and Sarah after 15, with the count remembered between sessions. That is progress toward a feature, not a retrigger of spins. See the Immortal Romance page.

Thunderstruck II. AskGamblers lists four rounds in the Great Hall of Spins. Valkyrie gives 10 spins with a fixed 5x multiplier and the page marks retriggers as available. Loki gives 15 spins and adds 1 to 4 spins when 2 to 5 scatters land. For Odin and Thor the page does not state a retrigger rule. The same page gives the game's maximum win as 8,000 x the bet. Details are on our Thunderstruck II page.

What a retrigger is worth: the arithmetic

Count the spins first. Starting spins plus added spins per retrigger gives the total, so Gonzo's Quest runs 10 + 10 = 20 after one retrigger and 10 + 10 + 10 = 30 after two. Great Blue starts at 8, then 8 + 15 = 23 after one retrigger and 8 + 15 + 15 = 38 after two. If the shell picks give the maximum of 33 spins, one retrigger makes 33 + 15 = 48 (this assumes the quoted 33 is the opening award, which the page does not make explicit).

Then put rand on it. Spins in a free round are normally played at the stake of the spin that triggered them (Hotline's page, for example, says its re-spins use the same bet level, coin value and lines; for other games confirm in the rules). Suppose a total bet of R12.50 on Great Blue (R0.50 on 25 lines). Fifteen added spins cover 15 x R12.50 = R187.50 of stakes at no extra cost to you. That is the value of the opportunity, not a payout: what those spins return depends on the game's maths. At a R5.00 total bet in Gonzo's Quest, ten added free falls cover 10 x R5.00 = R50.00 of stakes.

Limits to look for

The pages above rarely print a ceiling on retriggers, so the practical limit is the game's maximum win, such as Thunderstruck II's 8,000 x the bet. Look in the help screen for words like "cannot be retriggered", "maximum of" or "free spins end when". If you cannot find a statement, do not assume there is no cap: a silent page proves nothing either way. Also confirm whether a multiplier resets between spins, since that changes what a retrigger adds more than the spin count does.

Remember that RTP and rules can differ between casinos, as we explain in our article on RTP versions. In South Africa, interactive casino games are not licensed under the National Gambling Act 7 of 2004, and gambling is for adults 18 and over. If chasing a bonus round stops being fun, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation helps free on 0800 006 008, and you can SMS "HELP" to 076 675 0710.