Smokos Casino Pokies

The Smokos Casino Pokies lobby

Pokies are the heart of Smokos Casino. Most of our players come for them, most of our promotions are built around them, and the 400 free spins in our welcome package are played on them. So we put real effort into making the lobby easy to browse, with categories, search and our own Exclusive Picks to help you find something new without scrolling for ten minutes.

The lobby is supplied by a range of game studios, shown in the Game Providers strip on the site. We do not print a game count or a full studio list on this page, because both change as new titles arrive and older ones are retired. The live lobby is always the accurate version. What we can do here is explain how the different kinds of pokies work, what the numbers on a game info screen mean and how to pick a game that fits your budget.

Two features on the site are worth knowing about before you start. The Live Wins feed shows recent wins from other players as they happen, and the Hall of Fame shows some of the bigger results. They are a fun way to spot which games are popular at the moment. Keep in mind that a recent big win on a game does not make the next one more or less likely. Each spin is independent.

How to get around

Use the search bar if you already know the name of a game. Use the categories if you want to browse by type. You can open any game’s info panel before playing to check its paytable, features and, where the studio publishes it, the RTP. If you are new to Smokos Casino, the home page explains registration and your first deposit, which you need before you can play for real money.

Exclusive Picks and new games

Exclusive Picks is our own shortlist. The team puts games there that we think deserve a look, which might be a fresh release, a title that has been popular with Aussie players lately or an older game that people tend to overlook. It is a handy starting point if the full lobby feels like too much.

New pokies arrive regularly. Studios usually release games on a set schedule, and a new title often shows up in the lobby on its launch day. If you like trying new mechanics, check the new games area every week or so. New releases sometimes come with their own promotions, such as free spins for the first few days, and those promos are listed on the promotions page with their own terms.

Favourites save time. When you find a game you like, mark it as a favourite if the option is shown on the tile, and it will be waiting for you next time on any device. Your recently played list does a similar job and is handy if you forget a name. Both lists are tied to your account, so they follow you from phone to laptop.

A quick word on game names. Some pokies have several versions with similar titles, such as a sequel, a Megaways edition or a holiday reskin. They can play very differently from the original, with a different RTP and volatility. Open the info panel of the exact version you are about to play rather than assuming it matches the one you know.

Types of pokies you will find

Pokies come in a lot of shapes, and the type of game changes how a session feels. Here are the main kinds you will see in the Smokos Casino lobby.

Classic pokies

Classic games look like the old pub machines: three reels, a handful of paylines and symbols like fruit, bars, bells and sevens. They are simple to follow and tend to have few or no bonus features. Some players love them for exactly that reason. You spin, you see the result, and you know straight away how the game works.

Video pokies

Video pokies are the bulk of any modern lobby. They usually have five reels, sometimes more, with anywhere from ten paylines to thousands of ways to win. They come with themes of every kind, from outback adventures and Egyptian tombs to fishing trips and cartoon animals. Their bonus rounds are where most of the action is: free spins, multipliers, expanding wilds, sticky wilds, pick and click games and respins.

Cluster pays and cascading reels

Some games drop the idea of paylines entirely. In cluster pays games, you win when enough matching symbols touch each other on a grid. Many of these games also use cascading or tumbling reels, where winning symbols disappear and new ones fall into their place, giving you another chance to win on the same spin. A single bet can produce a chain of wins this way.

Megaways style games

Games with a changing number of symbols on each reel can offer tens of thousands of ways to win on a single spin. The reel heights change every round, so no two spins look the same. These games usually sit at the higher end of volatility, which we explain further down.

Hold and win games

Hold and win, also called hold and spin or link games, are popular in Australia because they feel a lot like land based machines. You land a set number of special symbols to trigger a respin feature. Those symbols lock in place, and each new one that lands resets the respin counter. Filling the screen or landing certain symbols can award fixed jackpots.

Jackpot pokies

Jackpot games add a prize on top of the normal paytable. There are two main kinds, and knowing the difference helps you set the right expectations.

Fixed jackpots are set amounts, often labelled Mini, Minor, Major and Grand. The prize is usually a multiple of your bet, so a bigger bet means a bigger jackpot. Hold and win games often work like this. Progressive jackpots grow over time, because a small slice of each bet goes into the pot until someone wins it. Some progressives are local to a single game, while others link many casinos together, which is how the pot can grow very large.

A few things are worth checking before you chase a jackpot. Look at the game rules to see whether you need a minimum bet to qualify for the top prize. Check whether the jackpot is fixed or progressive. And remember that the chance of hitting the top prize on any given spin is very small. Treat the jackpot as a bonus on top of a game you already enjoy.

Jackpots and bonus money

If you are playing with an active bonus, read the bonus terms on the site. Our welcome bonus has a $25 maximum bet per round and a $10,000 cap on winnings from the welcome bonus and spins, so a very large win while the bonus is active may be limited by those rules. If chasing a big progressive is your plan, think about whether to play it with your cash balance instead. The Smokos Casino bonus page explains the full welcome offer and its rules.

Bonus buy pokies

Many newer pokies have a bonus buy option. Instead of waiting for scatters to land, you pay a set price, usually a multiple of your base bet, to go straight into the free spins round or another feature. Some games offer more than one buy option at different prices, for example a standard feature and a boosted version with extra multipliers.

Bonus buys make sessions faster and more intense. You can burn through a budget in a few clicks because each buy might cost 50, 100 or even several hundred times your base stake. The feature can pay well, or it can return a fraction of what you paid for it. That swing is the whole point of the option, and it is why it suits only players who are comfortable with large swings.

Some games offer bonus buys only in certain regions, and bonus terms at many casinos restrict buys while wagering is in progress. Check the game info and the current bonus terms on our site before using one with bonus funds. If in doubt, ask support before you buy.

Table games and live dealer

Pokies are our main focus, but Smokos Casino also has games for players who like cards and wheels. Digital table games run on random number generators, just like pokies. You will usually find versions of blackjack, roulette and baccarat, plus some poker style games. They are quick to play, you control the pace and many allow small stakes.

The live casino streams real dealers from a studio to your screen. You place bets through the interface on your device, and the dealer deals the cards or spins the wheel in real time. Live blackjack, live roulette and live baccarat are the common staples, and many studios also run game shows with big spinning wheels and bonus rounds. Live games need a stable connection, so play them on good Wi-Fi if you can.

One thing to know if you have an active bonus: table and live games usually count for much less towards wagering than pokies. Secondary sources report that pokies count 100% and live casino 10% towards the Smokos welcome bonus. Check the current terms on the site for the exact contribution rates before you play, because it makes a big difference to how quickly you clear the requirement.

RTP and volatility explained

Two numbers tell you more about a pokie than its theme or its graphics: RTP and volatility. Neither one predicts your next spin, but together they describe how a game behaves over time.

What RTP means

RTP stands for return to player. It is the share of all money bet on a game that the maths model pays back over a very large number of spins. A pokie with 96% RTP is designed to return $96 for every $100 wagered, averaged across millions of rounds and many players. The remaining $4 is the house edge.

In a single session, your results can be far above or far below that figure. RTP is a long run average, and short sessions are dominated by luck. Still, given a choice between two similar games, the one with the higher RTP gives you slightly better value over time. Many studios publish RTP in the game’s info or help screen, and some games come in more than one RTP version, so check the figure shown inside the game you are playing.

What volatility means

Volatility, sometimes called variance, describes how wins are spread out. Low volatility games pay small wins often, so your balance moves gently up and down. High volatility games pay less often, with long dry spells, but the wins that do come can be much bigger. Medium volatility sits in between.

Many games show volatility as a scale of lightning bolts or a rating in the info screen. If a game does not state it, the paytable gives clues: a huge maximum win and a feature that is hard to trigger usually means high volatility.

A quick example

Say you have $100 and bet $1 per spin. On a low volatility game, you might get a hundred spins or more with lots of small returns and finish fairly close to where you started. On a high volatility game, the same $100 could be gone in sixty spins with nothing much to show, or one feature might pay 300 times your bet. Both games could have the same RTP. The difference is the ride.

Demo play and picking a game

Demo mode lets you spin a pokie with play money before risking your own. It is the best way to learn a game’s features, see how often bonus rounds turn up and decide whether you like its rhythm. Demo play appears to be available on Smokos Casino for many titles. Where a game offers it, you will see a demo or play for fun option in the lobby or on the game tile. Some studios do not allow demos in certain regions, and live dealer games have no demo at all because they use real tables.

When you move to real money, a simple routine helps. First set a budget for the session and stick to it. Then pick the game type that suits that budget: lower volatility for longer sessions, higher volatility only if you accept a quick loss. Check the RTP and paytable inside the game. Choose a bet size that gives you at least a hundred or so spins from your budget. And decide in advance when you will stop, whether you are ahead or behind.

Playing within your limits

Pokies are built to be entertaining, and the fast pace can make time slip away. Smokos Casino offers deposit, loss and wager limits, time outs and self exclusion in your account settings. Use them before you need them. You must be 18 or older to play. If gambling is causing problems for you or someone close to you, call Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858 for free, confidential support at any hour.

Ready to play? Sign in through the Smokos Casino login page, open the lobby and start with a game you have tried in demo mode first.