A bonus hunt is a way of playing slots on stream in two halves. First the streamer spins a series of slots until each one triggers its bonus round, and leaves every bonus unopened. Then, once the list is long enough or the start balance has run out, they open the bonuses one after another. The appeal is the opening: a whole session of results arrives in one go, with a running total to follow.
How a hunt is run
- Set a start balance, for example $2,000. This is the budget for the whole hunt.
- Collect bonuses. Most online slots save a triggered bonus if you leave the game and resume it when you come back. The streamer spins one slot until a bonus lands, notes the slot and the bet size, and moves on to the next.
- Stop collecting when the balance runs out or a target number of bonuses is reached. Any balance left over is kept to one side.
- Open them. Every bonus is played in turn, and its win goes on the list with its multiplier: the win divided by the bet.
- Compare the finish with the start. The finish is the total the bonuses paid, plus anything left over from collecting.
The break-even multiplier
Divide the money spent collecting by the total of the bet sizes. The answer is the average multiplier the bonuses need to pay to get the start back.
Say a hunt's whole $2,000 start goes on collecting 18 bonuses whose bet sizes add up to $40.00. The break-even is $2,000 ÷ $40.00 = 50x. If the bonuses pay $1,736.10, an average of 43.4x, the hunt finishes $263.90 down.
Had $300 been left over when collecting stopped, only $1,700 would have been spent, and the break-even would have been $1,700 ÷ $40.00 = 42.5x.
Why the average is weighted by bet size
A 100x result on a $4 bet adds $400; the same 100x on a $1 bet adds $100. So the average to compare with the break-even is total wins ÷ total bets, not the simple average of the multipliers. Hunt trackers also show a required average that updates as bonuses open: the money still needed, divided by the bets still to open.
Why a hunt never changes the house edge
A slot's RTP applies to every spin and every bonus, whenever you play it. A bonus triggered at a $2 bet has the same expected value whether it is opened straight away or two hours later, and the spins that found it paid back the same share on average as any other spins. Put the two halves together and a hunt costs what the same spins would have cost played one at a time.
Suppose collecting 18 bonuses takes $10,000 of spins on slots with a 96% RTP. On average 4% of everything staked is lost, $400, so the average finish is about $1,600: below the 50x break-even. The break-even is the result where nothing is lost at all, so the average hunt finishes under it.
What a hunt changes is how the results feel. The losses are spread across the collecting half and barely noticed, and the wins arrive together at the end. A big finish on stream is one outcome of a random process, not a sign that hunting works.
Bonus buys and natural bonuses
A natural bonus is one the slot triggers during normal spins. A bonus buy skips the spins: you pay a fixed price, often 100 times the bet, and the bonus starts straight away. Some hunts are bought from start to finish, which makes the maths simple: at 100x a bonus, the break-even is exactly 100x.
Buying changes the pace, not the edge. The buy feature has its own RTP, stated in the game rules and usually close to the base game's, so a $100 buy on a slot whose buy RTP is 96% returns $96 on average. Bonus buys aren't offered at casinos licensed in Great Britain. Our guide to RTP, volatility and max win covers the numbers behind this.
Watching hunts safely
- A streamer's hunt is no guide to yours. Big finishes get clipped and shared; the hunts that finish down usually don't.
- Know whose money it is. If a casino sponsors one of our streams or supplies the balance, we say so on stream. You would be playing with your own money.
- Set a budget before you play, never top up a hunt that is going badly, and never try to win back a loss.
Free, confidential support is available from Gambling Therapy, worldwide. In Great Britain, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or block gambling sites with GAMSTOP. 18+ only.
FAQs
How do you work out the break-even on a bonus hunt?
Divide the money spent collecting the bonuses by the total of their bet sizes. A $2,000 start spent on bonuses whose bets add up to $40 has a break-even of 50x: the bonuses need to average 50 times their bets to get the $2,000 back.
What is a good bonus hunt average?
Any average above the break-even means the hunt made a profit. Because the break-even is the result where nothing is lost and slots pay back less than 100% on average, the average hunt finishes below it. There is no average you can plan for.
Do bonus hunts improve your chances of winning?
No. Every spin and every bonus has the same expected return whether you open it straight away or at the end of a hunt. A hunt changes when you see your results, not how much you lose on average.