What is a bonus hunt?
A bonus hunt is a slots session run in two halves. First you collect: spin the base game across a line-up of slots and park every feature round that triggers, without playing any of them. Then you open: play the whole collection back to back and record what each one returned.
Why split a session in two
Played normally, a slots session is a long string of small events with no natural endpoint. Splitting it turns it into something with a beginning, a middle and a score: the collect phase has a fixed budget, the opening phase has a fixed number of rounds, and there is a single number — break-even — that says where the session stands before the first round is opened.
That structure is why the format took over slots streaming, and it is also why it is worth being careful with. A hunt asks you to spend a whole budget before anything comes back at all, and the conventions of the format push you to keep collecting until the balance is gone.
The four numbers
Almost everything said about a hunt reduces to four figures. Each has its own guide below, but in short:
- Hunt cost
- What collecting consumed: the start balance minus whatever was left when you stopped collecting. Not always the same as what you deposited.
- Break-even X
- The average multiplier the collected rounds must return for the session to finish level — hunt cost divided by the total stake across all rounds. Fixed the moment collecting stops.
- Average X
- The mean multiplier across the rounds opened so far. The running score of the second half.
- Result
- Total returned minus hunt cost. The only figure that settles the session; every other number is description.
How a hunt runs, start to finish
- Decide the budget — the amount you are prepared to lose — before anything else.
- Pick one bet size and keep it for the whole hunt.
- Build a line-up of games that accept that stake and whose provider allows a triggered round to be parked.
- Collect, recording each round as it lands, until the target count or the budget is reached.
- Open in the order collected, recording every payout.
- Write down the result, good or bad.
The step-by-step guide covers each of these in detail, including how to choose a stake that fits a budget.
Tools
Both work signed out, in the browser, with nothing to install.
Guides and references
- Break-evenThe formula, a worked example, and the two ways people get it wrong.
- Average XTwo different averages, and why only one of them settles a hunt.
- Provider rulesWhich studios let you park a bonus round — generated from our data.
- How to startBudget, bet size, collecting, opening, recording — in order.
- GlossaryEvery term used on a hunt stream or a tracker, defined.
- Bonus buy vs huntTwo formats, two cost profiles, two very different sessions.
- Rules and conventionsThe conventions communities settle on, and why each one exists.
- Slot selectionWhat players observably include in a line-up, and the reasons they give.
Data
Common questions
- What is a bonus hunt?
- A session split in two: you spin the base game across a line-up of slots and park every feature round that triggers without playing it, then open the whole collection in one sitting. It turns a long session into a single measurable result.
- Why do players do bonus hunts instead of just playing?
- Mostly because it gives a session a shape and a score. Collecting concentrates all the waiting into one phase and all the outcomes into another, and break-even gives the second phase a target to measure against.
- Do you need special software for a bonus hunt?
- No, a sheet of paper works. A tracker saves the arithmetic and keeps a record you can compare against later sessions — ours runs in the browser with no account.
- Can bonuses always be saved for later?
- No. Whether a triggered feature round can be parked is decided by the game provider, and some start the round immediately. Our provider reference lists what we hold for each studio.