Feature Buys (or “Bonus Buys”) have changed the way we play slots. Instead of waiting 300 spins for a bonus round, you can pay 100x your stake to jump straight into the action.
However, this convenience comes at a cost: Extreme Volatility. Standard bankroll management rules do not apply here. A bad run of bonus buys can wipe out a balance in minutes.
Our Bonus Buy Bankroll Calculator uses a Monte Carlo Simulator (running 5,000 virtual sessions) to determine your Risk of Ruin (RoR). It answers the critical question: “Do I have enough money to survive the variance until I hit a big win?”
Bonus Buy Bankroll
RoR SimulatorHow to Use the Bonus Buy Calculator
This tool simulates the math behind high-variance slots to predict your survival rate. Here is how to configure your simulation:
- Enter Bankroll: Input your total current balance (e.g., $1,000).
- Enter Cost per Buy: Input the price of one feature buy (e.g., $100). Do not enter your base bet; enter the final cost.
- Select Volatility Model:
- Low/Medium: Choose this for games like Big Bass Bonanza where 0x returns are rare.
- High Variance: The standard setting for most Pragmatic Play or Hacksaw games (e.g., Sweet Bonanza, Wanted Dead or a Wild).
- Extreme: Choose this for NoLimit City games (e.g., San Quentin, Mental) where many bonuses pay almost nothing, but the potential upside is massive.
- Simulate: Click the button. The tool will run 5,000 virtual sessions instantly and calculate how often you went “Bust” (reached $0).
Understanding Risk of Ruin: Examples
Why do you need a slot risk of ruin calculator? Because intuition is often wrong. Here are three scenarios demonstrating how bankroll requirements change based on volatility.
Scenario 1: The “Pragmatic” Standard
You have $1,000 and you want to buy $100 bonuses on a standard High Variance slot (e.g., Gates of Olympus).
- Bankroll Depth: 10 Buys.
- Simulation Result: You likely have a 40-50% Risk of Ruin.
- Verdict: Risky. Losing 10 coin flips in a row is rare, but getting 10 bad bonuses in a row is statistically common.
Scenario 2: The “San Quentin” Suicide Mission
You take the same $1,000 (10 Buys) to an “Extreme” volatility slot by NoLimit City.
- Volatility: Extreme slots often return <10x your bet on 70% of bonuses.
- Simulation Result: Your Risk of Ruin is likely over 80%.
- Verdict: Mathematical Suicide. To survive Extreme volatility, you typically need a buffer of 50-100 buys, not 10.
Scenario 3: Safe Bankroll Management
You lower your buy size to $20 while keeping a $1,000 bankroll.
- Bankroll Depth: 50 Buys.
- Simulation Result: Risk of Ruin drops to under 5%.
- Verdict: Safe. You have enough “ammo” to weather the dead spins and catch the multiplier that pays for the session.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is “Risk of Ruin” (RoR)?
Risk of Ruin is the mathematical probability that you will lose your entire bankroll before you reach a specific profit goal (usually doubling your money). If your RoR is 20%, it means that in 1 out of 5 sessions, you will go broke.
How many buys do I need for a safe bankroll?
For standard high-volatility slots, a safe rule of thumb is 40 to 50 buys. For “Extreme” volatility slots, professional players recommend a bankroll of 100 buys or more to absorb the massive variance.
Why is “Extreme” volatility different?
Extreme volatility games have a “top-heavy” payout structure. They might pay 50,000x your bet, but to compensate for that, they must pay 0x-5x on the vast majority of features. This feature buy variance requires a much deeper bankroll to survive the “dead” streaks.
Is buying bonuses better than spinning manually?
Not necessarily. While the RTP (Return to Player) is often slightly higher when buying the bonus (e.g., 96.5% vs 96.0%), the variance increases drastically. Buying bonuses is faster, but it significantly increases your speed of loss if luck isn’t on your side.