Gold Bonanza Question for Ben

[Joel FriedmanParticipant]

I’ve been looking through your material on games with which I’m unfamiliar.  In your Gold Bonanza video, you make the point that one should always read the description of the game, noting that it says, “Grand, Major, Minor, and Mini jackpots can be won randomly on any bought game.”  You interpret that to mean that one has the same chance of hitting the jackpot on a single spin regardless of the amount bet.  What strikes me as an alternative interpretation (more likely I think) is that this works like a mystery jackpot where the jackpot is triggered when the level crosses a randomly generated level.  Under this interpretation, your chance of hitting the jackpot pretty much scales with your bet size.  So, which interpretation is correct?

I bring this up for another reason as well.  I am curious about games like Frankenstein, where one needs to play at least $3/spin to be eligible for the top jackpot (obviously that’s a moonshot that doesn’t factor into playing decisions).  Does one have the same chance at hitting the jackpot on a single spin at the $3 level as one does at the $50 level?

In my opinion at least, one problem with the “Ben interpretation” is that it would seem to suggest that the RTP for a min bet player would actually be higher than the RTP for a max coin bettor.  If I were designing slot machines, I cannot imagine why I would design them that way.

[Ben RosenthalKeymaster]

I’m not fully sold on including Gold Bonanza to be honest. Heck, I’ve pulled games before (the original Three Kings comes to mind). Gold Bonanza must become +EV at a certain point, but that point might be higher than I’m recommending.

As far as interpretation of the game, I’m under the impression that you can trigger that Bonanza feature on min bet as often as you could on any bet size. Now, you’d get bigger values on bigger bets to be sure, and you’d almost never hit the major or grand on any bet size (and even less likely on min bet).

I’ll check out some videos online when I get back home. Maybe you do trigger that feature much more often on bigger bets. In that case, for the rare times the mini and minor are well above reset, it might still not be worth playing.

I do appreciate the note. I adjust entries all the time, and getting feedback helps me do that.

[Ben RosenthalKeymaster]

I went ahead and deleted this one. The footage online wasn’t all that useful, and though I still think Gold Bonanza is playable at a certain point, I knew the edge was minuscule even on inflated minis and minors. It’s possible that betting higher triggers the Bonanza feature at a higher rate, in which case you don’t save yourself by betting small if it scales up with the bet. And in that case, we’d be talking about an even smaller edge (or maybe no edge at all).

Anyway, since there are some things I’m not sure about and the game is volatile and nothing special as a best-case scenario, it made sense to play it safe and remove it.

Thanks again, and if you see anything else that looks debatable, let us know.

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