When you play slots, some have an important consideration known as Cost to Cover – it’s what you have to bet to be eligible for all of the payouts and bonuses. Today’s question is a great reminder of why it’s so important:
I recently played Top Dollar, the $10 bet. I got the Top Dollar on the third reel, but it only resulted in a line hit. Why didn’t I get the bonus round?
Jason
The most likely culprit is that you didn’t play enough credits to qualify for the bonus.
The Top Dollar series has a lot of permutations at this point, including the most recent 9-line version released, both of the original and the Double Top Dollar variation.
For the single line version of the game, it can come in both two credit and three credit varieties. The first credit covers the base line hits. The second credit activates the bonus on a two credit version, or doubles the line hits on the three credit version. On the three credit version, the third credit activates the bonus.
This is one of those approaches that requires covering all lines and the bonus cost, which can be (but isn’t always) a max bet, to ensure you qualify for the bonus. If you’re playing a $10 denomination machine and betting one credit, you’re only betting enough to be eligible for the line hits.
The pay table of the machine will tell you on the glass how many credits you need to be wagering to qualify for the Top Dollar bonus, and since there are subtle variations between the versions out there, we recommend checking to see what’s possible.
Some allow you to pick how many lines you wish to play, and that can reduce the number of credits required to activate the bonus, which can help for those with budgets that don’t allow 10 credit $10 denomination bets.
Many are also multi-denomination machines, which might let you lower how much a credit is worth so you can cover the cost of the bonus.
So ultimately, as with any popular slot series which has a lot of variations out there, we encourage players to check the rules to make sure they’re betting the right amount, to avoid missing out on those valuable bonuses.
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