Lots of players are on the search for free pokies. Although you can’t win real money playing free games for fun, they’re still a fantastic way to get to know a game and can be quite entertaining. There are plenty of options when it comes to free pokies online – from classic fruit machines to video slots with staggering themes and bonus games, and sometimes even to progressive jackpots – most pokies are available for free as demo games, no download required. It’s easy to jump straight into some fun pokie play for free. Here are some of the most popular pokies online, and they’re a great place to begin.
It’s a common thing. Of course, we always appreciate gifts and presents, because after all, we’re just human. And there’s always entertainment value, especially with video pokies that come in a myriad of themes. But people also want to try before they buy. That’s what playing for free is all about.
Different Kinds of Free Online Slots
Before we go further, it’s worth mentioning there are two different kinds of free-play when it comes to online pokies – demo mode, and real money free play.
- There is playing for free in demo mode, where you can experience the game in a virtually unlimited way, with the only restriction being that you can’t win real money.
- Then there is a free play on real money games. What happens here is you get free casino credit, either as free spins or as bonus money, which you can use on a pokie. Because it’s a real money game, you can actually win real cash when you play pokies for free like this. The downside is that the free play on offer is limited.
Why Play Pokies in Demo
Other than getting a feel for a casino before committing, there’s a definite benefit to playing free pokies. With online casinos’ free games, you will experience the same level of graphics, interactivity and pay lines – the only difference is that you can’t win real money. However, even though you won’t be winning real cash, there is still something there beyond entertainment value. When it’s not coming out from your wallet, you don’t have to worry about how much you spend per spin, so you can play with maximum coin size and bet size, and experience all those special features and bonus rounds that often are more easily unlocked with higher bets. You’ll also get a feel of what the payout of the pokie is like, in terms of frequency and size, so that you know what to expect when you decide to commit with your own money.
Real Money Free Pokies
And now let’s get to playing real money slots for free. There are a couple of different options, and we’ll explain their pros and cons:
- Free Spins - You get a certain number of spins on a slot game for free, and if you win, you win casino credit that can be withdrawn as cash. Normally it’s hard to get a lot of free spins; most of the time it might be 10 or 20 spins for a specific game, like Starburst, or it might be several hundred spins split out over time. Free spins also have specific values per spin – often it’s based on the minimum coin size, which can dampen the size of your win. Note that you may need to meet the casino’s playthrough requirement, which is the amount of real money you need to bet before you can withdraw winnings from a free spin. Once in a blue moon, you might find a casino that doesn’t have requirements on free spin winnings, but that’s the exception and not the norm.
- Deposit Bonus - New players almost always get a Welcome Bonus when they make their first deposit – the going rate is 100% of your deposit, which means if you deposit $50, you’ll get another $50 of free casino credit, totalling $100 worth of play. After the welcome bonus, many casinos offer a reload bonus for returning players that work in the same way. The beauty of these bonuses is that you can get a lot of it at once, and with bonus money, you can play any game you want, with complete control over coin size and your overall bet size per spin, so that when you win a jackpot, it doesn’t get undermined by a small coin size that was enforced by free spins.
- No-deposit bonus - Sign up for a casino account and find free casino credit in your account. You can use this credit to play any real money casino games, whether it’s a pokie or a game of blackjack with a live dealer. However no-deposit bonuses tend to be small, around $10, so it won’t get you very far (although 888 casino does have an extra big one at $888). As with all bonuses, anything you win on bonus cash will be subject to a playthrough requirement, and no-deposit bonuses often have a higher requirement than regular bonuses that come with deposits.
Where to Play Free Pokies
The quickest and easiest way is to choose an instant play casino. From your desktop computer, phone or tablet, go to a casino’s website, sign up for an account. The details will vary from site to site, but once you’re logged in, go to the casino’s menu, look for ‘Games’, and you’ll find plenty of free pokies under ‘Slots’. Choose a game, and select “Demo” mode. The game will then load, with a number of demo credits. From there, you can set your coin size and so on. And when you win, the number of demo credits you have will go up, and if you lose, the number will go down. It works exactly like a regular real money pokie, except that you can’t withdraw your wins. We suggest playing at a real casino, even if you’re only playing in demo mode, because you will also get to see what the casino layout is like, and when you’re happy with the game, you can easily transition into real money pokies.
Bottom Line
Start off with demos if it’s a pokie you don’t know, so you can get a feel for its pay-lines potential payouts. There are also free spins and no deposit bonuses to capitalise on, but the best kind of free play will be from a deposit bonus – you’ll get to choose which pokie you want to play, and how you want to play and win it.