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Slingo Deal or No Deal
Introduction
What do you get when you cross Deal or No Deal with Bingo? You get Slingo Deal or No Deal. This is an exciting game, that is mostly luck, where a bet lasts a long time (about 1.75 minutes to get to the first opportunity to exit). Be warned the game will tempt you to keep going, which can get expensive paying for extra spins.
Rules
The rules are rather difficult to explain, but the game is quite easy to learn and play. You might wish to watch my video (see below) to learn the ropes.
- First, the player makes a bet. At DraftKings, the player may bet various amounts from $1 to $100.
- Next, the game will prompt the player to pick one of 26 cases.
- Next, a board will appear with 25 cases, in a 5 by 5 matrix. As in American bingo, each column will consist of five numbers chosen randomly, without replacement, from a range of 15. The range of the first column will be 1 to 15, the second 16 to 30, the third, 31 to 45, the fourth, 46 to 60, and the fifth 61 to 75. There is no free square.
- Next, 26 possible prizes will be randomly placed in 26 cases, 25 on the game board and one in the player's case.
- Throughout the game, in each turn a number or special symbol will be drawn for each of the five columns.
- If a number is drawn that matches a number of a suitcase on the board, that suitcase shall be opened, revealing the prize inside it. The prizes still in play are shown on the sides of the array of suitcases.
- Following are the special symbols that be appear:
- Joker (with red hat) — If this symbol appears, the player may open any case he wishes in the column the joker appears, unless every case in that column is already open.
- Super Joker (with green hat) — If this symbol appears, the player may open any case on the board.
- Free Spin — The player gets a free spin.
- Devil — This symbol is a blocker, as if nothing were drawn for that column.
- The game begins with ten free spins.
- Once the player has exhausted his ten free spins and any additional free spins earned along the way, the game enters a new phase. In this second phase, the player must pay for each additional spin (unless the player got a free spin the previous turn) or exit the game.
- After each turn in the second phase, if the player has covered at least four lines, then the alternatives to paying for an extra spin are accepting a Banker offer to sell his case and quit or open his case and keep the amount inside.
- Once at least four lines have been covered, the Banker offer will be recalculated after each turn where at least one case was opened.
- The banker offers are calculated as 95% of the average prize amount left in the cases.
- I wish to emphasize that the player must cover at least four lines to exit the game with any money. Usually the player will exhaust his free games before covering four lines, at which point the player must pay more to keep playing or exit and lose.
- When the player covers at least five lines, the prize amounts will be multiplied. The following list shows the multiplier according to the number of lines covered.
- 0 to 4 lines — 1x
- 5 lines — 2x
- 6 lines — 3x
- 7 lines — 4x
- 8 lines — 5x
- 9 lines — 6x
- 10 lines — 7x
- 12 lines — 20x
If these rules were unclear, here are images of the rule screens. Click on any of them for a larger version.
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Analysis
The help screens say the RTP (Return to Player) is 95% on all wagers made. This includes the initial wager, accepting banker offers, and the fee for extra spins. I believe this to be true. Without knowing the probability of the jokers, devil's and free spins, I would have little way to analyzing the game myself.
Strategy
In terms of maximizing the expected return, which is the ratio of money won to money bet, the only strategy in the game is where to open suitcases with jokers. I recommend this general strategy:
- The best suitcase to open is the center one, as it goes through four lines.
- The second best suitcases to open are those on the diagonals, other than the center, as they go through three lines.
- Finally, if no suitcases on the diagonals are available to open, then open any other case.
Still, you will often have multiple choices of suitcases that fit the same category above. In that case, I would try to balance the number of cases opened per column as much as you can. This is because an ordinary joker (with a red hat) doesn't help you if every case in the column the joker appears is already opened.
I would also be mindful about minimizing money lost over time. The player gets about 1.5 to 2 minutes of playing time on his initial bet, before he has a chance to exit the game, depending on how fast he plays. After that first stage, the game gets expensive, especially if big wins are still in play. In the first game in my video below, I started with a $1 bet and ended up betting $214.89 by the end of the game. Remember, every additional bet carries a 5% house edge. In other words, the cost of extra spins are overpriced by 4.76%.
In conclusion, as soon as you cover four lines, resulting in a banker offer, I would reject the offer and open whatever is in your case. You probably will have to buy some free spins before that happens. That is where good suitcase opening strategy helps. The quicker you cover four lines, the less free spins you'll have to buy before covering four lines.
Video
I think it is easier to explain this game by example, as opposed to in words. That is why I made this video for you.
Other Versions
Slingo Fortunes seems to be exactly the same game, but with an Asian theme.
Slingo Reveal is similar to Slingo Deal or No Deal and Slingo Fortunes. Here are the main differences:
- There are no prizes associates with the numbers/suitcases on the playing field.
- When the player covers a line, one of the following symbols will be revealed: Cherry, orange, watermelon, plum, seven, diamond.
- When the player accumulates three of the same symbol he will win the following multipliers of the amount bet:
- Three bars — 100x
- Three sevens — 20x
- Three plums — 5x
- Three watermelons — 2x
- Three oranges — 1x
- Three cherries — 0.5x
- The player does not need to make a choice when he gets a joker. The game selects a number automatically. How this is determined, I don't know.
External Links
- DraftKings, where you may play Slingo Deal or no Deal for free in demo mode.
- Wizard of Vegas — Discussion about Slingo Deal or No Deal.