What is a bonus hunt?
A bonus hunt means saving up bonus rounds on several slots without playing them, then opening the whole lot at the end, usually live on stream. Once the opening starts, chat mostly watches the running average and whether it can still reach the break-even, the multiplier the bonuses need to win back what they cost. With a bonus mode at 96% RTP, the expected loss is 4% of that cost.
- Start
- Total paid to collect the bonuses, by buying them or by spinning until they land
- Bonus
- One saved feature, usually free spins, noted with its bet size
- BE (break-even)
- Start ÷ sum of the bet sizes, as a multiplier per bonus
- Required average
- The BE worked out again after each opened bonus
- Opening
- Playing the saved bonuses one after another
- Result
- Total won compared with the start
How a hunt runs
You set the start first, something like $1,000, and pick a bet size. Some bonuses you buy outright, others you spin into, and you don't play any of them yet. They sit on a list with the bet size noted next to each one. Once the money's spent, or the list just feels long enough, the opening begins and you go through them in a row with chat watching the average.
A browser crash halfway through a bonus looks bad on stream, but on a Stake Engine slot it doesn't change the result. That was drawn when you paid. Open the game again and the unfinished round is still there, waiting to be played out. The exception is a round that paid nothing, which the platform settles for you.
A worked example
Ten buys at 100x on a $1 bet keep the numbers easy to follow, with a $1,000 start and a break-even of exactly 100x. Real hunts are messier because the bet size changes from bonus to bonus, and a $2 bonus then weighs twice as much as a $1 one. Over the long run a 96% bonus mode would hand back $960 here.
| Average per bonus | Returned | Result | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30x | $300 | −$700 | A cold hunt |
| 60x | $600 | −$400 | |
| 96x | $960 | −$40 | Expected value at 96% RTP |
| 100x | $1,000 | $0 | Break-even |
| 145x | $1,450 | +$450 | Nine bonuses at 50x plus one at 1,000x |
| 200x | $2,000 | +$1,000 |
Invented averages to show the spread, not drawn from any game. Returned = average × bet × number of bonuses. Expected value = start × RTP. Real hunts mix bet sizes, so the BE uses the sum of bet sizes.
The 145x row is nine dull bonuses and one big one. Rounds like that 1,000x are rare, and most bonuses land under the break-even, so the average gets dragged up by whatever single hit shows up. Take it out of this hunt and the other nine bring back $450, less than half the start.
The required average during the opening
| Bonus | Pays | Won so far | Left to open | Required average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20x | $20 | 9 | 108.9x |
| 2 | 85x | $105 | 8 | 111.9x |
| 3 | 40x | $145 | 7 | 122.1x |
| 4 | 310x | $455 | 6 | 90.8x |
| 5 | 12x | $467 | 5 | 106.6x |
Required average = (start − won so far) ÷ sum of the bet sizes still to open. Invented payouts.
That last column is what keeps chat around. The start, the BE and the waiting bonuses usually stay on screen the whole time, and people throw guesses into chat about where it'll finish. Trackers such as bonushunt.gg run the overlay and answer chat commands for the current average and the BE.
Slots on Stake Engine with high RTP and many players
Data: Engine Insights, 30 days, 13 Oct to 11 Nov 2026 (UTC). Fetched 12 Nov 2026. Download CSV
| 1 | Ganja Snail | Donut Gaming | 194,703 | 96.70% | 50,000× | 27.4 |
| 2 | Lazy Vampire | Paperclip Gaming | 118,167 | 96.70% | 50,000× | 36.5 |
| 3 | Waylanders Forge | Valkyrie | 92,079 | 98.00% | 80,085× | 91.8 |
| 4 | Private Jet | Paperclip Gaming | 84,693 | 96.70% | 77,777× | 38.9 |
| 5 | Deal with the Devil | Paperclip Gaming | 81,390 | 96.70% | 66,666× | 45.4 |
| 6 | Tongue Game | Twist Gaming | 76,847 | 96.70% | 20,000× | 12.4 |
| 7 | Immortal | Terminal Games | 76,078 | 96.70% | 500,000× | 141.7 |
| 8 | Odins Vault | Valkyrie | 70,558 | 96.70% | 500,000× | 169.4 |
| 9 | Pumpkin Panic | Pocket Play | 57,950 | 96.70% | 25,000× | 30.1 |
| 10 | Rack City Baddies | Donut Gaming | 55,530 | 96.70% | 25,000× | 16.8 |
Same pool as our best lists. Highest RTP in the pool: 98.00%. Engine Insights has no field for bonus buys, so check in the game whether a mode can be bought and at what price. RTP, max win and std dev as each game reports them. A bonus mode can have its own RTP and max win, and Engine games list them per mode in their rules (Engine review checklist). Not a recommendation to buy anything. For ratings per mode, bonushunt.gg keeps tier lists split by play style.
Beltastic is an Engine studio too. Our own game, Pop Parade, is not out yet. It is never ranked in these tables; once it has data, it gets its own line below them, marked as ours.
Before you try one
Treat the start as money you'd be fine losing in full, and set a deposit limit at the casino before the first buy, not halfway through the opening when the average looks like it might turn. A 100x buy is a hundred base spins' worth of stake in one click, with no point in between to stop. Ten of those averaging 30x hand back $300 of the $1,000.
Bonus buys are not offered everywhere, and online gambling is 18+ and not legal in every country. Not affiliated with bonushunt.gg, Stake or the studios in the table. Game names belong to their owners.
Our game
Pop Parade
A match-3 slot where you swap the stones yourself. Balloons stuck in the stones add to the multiplier, and a full chest starts the bonus round, the March Past. It comes out on 24 November 2026.
Questions
How does a bonus hunt work on Stake?
The same idea on Stake slots: collect bonuses across several games, often bought, then open them in one go. With Engine games the bonus result is drawn when you pay, so the opening shows a result that is already fixed.
What does BE mean in a bonus hunt?
Break-even: the average multiplier the bonuses need for the hunt to return its start. A $1,000 start with ten $1 bonuses has a BE of 100x.
Is a bonus hunt profitable?
Not as a rule. A bonus mode at 96% RTP returns $960 per $1,000 of buys on average. One hunt on its own can finish well over or well under that.
Which slots are good for a bonus hunt?
There is no slot that wins a hunt. Compare the bonus mode's RTP, its price and its max win in the game rules. The table on this page lists popular Engine slots at 96.7% RTP or more.
Sources
- bonushunt.gg FAQ. bonus hunt and opening session described; chat commands for average and BE Checked 12 November 2026
- bonushunt.gg hunt tracker. start cost, required average, overlay Checked 12 November 2026
- bonushunt.gg: how Engine ratings work. tier lists split by bonus hunts, base spins and buys Checked 12 November 2026
- Engine docs: when to call end-round. unfinished rounds are returned on the next authenticate and resumed Checked 12 November 2026
- Engine game review checklist. rules state RTP and max win per mode Checked 12 November 2026
- Engine Insights (public API, snapshot). 30 days, 13 Oct to 11 Nov 2026 Checked 12 November 2026
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