Which Are The Best Roulette Game Variations Online?
Roulette is one of the most popular games at any land based casino, where players can enjoy a large range of betting options and different odds. Aside from some very small variations, these games all play in essentially the same way. However, virtual casinos have opened up a whole new world of roulette opportunities, as the software developers have realized that there is so much more you can do with a game of roulette than play the standard game.
In this article I take a look at all of the different versions of the game you’ll find online. I start by looking at the standard games with different rules variations, before moving onto looking at the particularly attractive features of live dealer roulette. I finish by looking at some of the more fun roulette based games you’ll find online.
Standard Online Roulette
Head to most online casinos and you’ll usually find both European and American roulette offered as virtual games. The only difference between these games is the fact that the European game has a single zero and the American game has two zeros. This might seem relatively insignificant, but it makes a large difference to the house edge, the European game with a 2.7% edge, while the American game has a 5.26% house edge – as such I would always recommend playing the European game. Some sites will also offer a French version, where you can lower the house edge further when betting even money shots due to the 'la partage' rule - which returns 50% of even money (black v red etc) bets when the ball lands in the zero slot.
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You’ll generally find a nice mix of games, some sites offering more than one version of a particular game. Look out for the ‘Premier’ or ’3D’ games as these usually offer a particularly lifelike version of the virtual game with high quality graphics. Some players will enjoy the large number of stats which display exactly which numbers are hot and cold, or if odd/even and red/black are coming up more often at certain games.
You’ll also find multi-wheel variations of these games where you’ll place a single set of bets, but see the action play out on a selected number of wheels. In a similar vein you’ll also find multi-ball roulette, where a number of balls will all appear on the same wheel.
Live Dealer Online Roulette
Live dealer roulette has only appeared on the scene in recent years, as the technology to stream live action to your desktop or device simply wasn’t there before. In these games you’ll bet in exactly the same way as you would at a virtual table, however the game takes place with a real dealer at an actual roulette wheel – the action unfolding in front of your eyes. These games are usually hosted by attractive and friendly dealers which make the games extremely popular and they have an added social aspect, as you can interact with both the dealer and other players through the chat box. These games offer the closest you can have to the real life casino experience.
For non-US readers, I recommend the 'Immersive Roulette' variation offered at the 888 Casino. This combines the live dealer with slow motion replays and effects - which add an impressive twist to the game while using the European (lower edge) wheel. Check out www.unibetcasino.com to see this game for yourself.
More on these games for both US and non-US players can be found in this dedicated Live Dealer Roulette article.
Entertaining / Novelty Roulette Variations
Mini Roulette by PlayTech
You’ll notice immediately that this game is played on a much smaller wheel than usual – featuring just the numbers from 1 to 12 alongside the single zero. All of the standard roulette bet types are available, including odd or even and red or black, alongside the standard single numbers. This is a quick playing, fun version of the game which probably won’t appeal to the purists, but for a quick ten minutes, this might be ideal. Mini-Roulette also works great on smaller screened devices. You'll find this game at the action-packed Ladbrokes casino - www.ladbrokes.com
Spingo by MicroGaming
This game is something of a hybrid between roulette and bingo. There is a wheel, but this features yellow, blue and red segments instead of numbers alongside a single green segment. A small ball will appear bingo style from the center of the wheel and this will be numbered between 0 and 10, this ball now moving around the wheel and settling into one of the segments. Betting options include predicting what color segment the ball will stop in, the actual number of the ball and a combination of the two. This is a good, original roulette based game.
Marvel Roulette by PlayTech
This game offers you the chance of a Jackpot win. The slot is based around featured Marvel characters and is part of a pooled Jackpot alongside the Marvel slots. In this game you’ll find an additional bonus slot alongside the usual numbers and should you bet on it and hit it, you’ll enter a bonus ‘slot style’ round. However, after any spin of the wheel, you might randomly enter the Marvel bonus round where you can win one of four progressive Jackpots, the largest of which regularly eclipses £500,000.
Pinball Roulette by PlayTech
For the serious roulette enthusiast, the name of this game might sound like something out of a horror movie, however this version of the game is actually a lot of fun. You’ll bet in exactly the same way as you would at a standard roulette game, but instead of a wheel you have a pinball table complete with bumpers and pins. Scrolling along the bottom of this table you’ll find the numbered slots and eventually the ball will land in one of these slots and you’ll know if you won or not. This game is completed with a gamble feature where you can increase your win amount on a purely pinball style game.
More Table Games Themed Articles
- Live Dealer Games for Real Money (covers the setup, games and options for different geos in the live dealer casino space)