Most slot machines at land-based casinos across the US are readily available in digital format in online casinos.
However, some software providers, like the popular Aristocrat, never fully expanded from “gaming” to “iGaming” for some reason, and their slots are primarily available at brick-and-mortar casinos.
This isn’t necessarily bad – for some, it’s an extra reason to visit Las Vegas casinos and have a blast. For others, though, it’s a hassle.
So, if you love slot machines like Huff ‘N Puff, Dragon’s Riches, or Dracula but don’t want to travel to land-based casinos every time you want to play them, I’ll review their top alternatives that you can play from your home as I did.
Each title I mention is available at reputable US sweepstakes casinos. Let’s start from the top.
1. Huff ‘N Puff Slot Machine vs Greedy Wolf
This is one of the slot machines developed by SG Gaming in 2022. It rose in popularity with an innovative bonus game feature and four progressive jackpots.
The game evolved into a trilogy with Huff ‘N More Puff and Huff ‘N Even More Puff coming to big casinos like Grand Casino Hinckley, Hard Rock hotels, and Harrah’s venues nationwide.
Then, Huff ‘N More Puff inspired Pragmatic Play to create a game called Greedy Wolf. Most of the core mechanics of Greedy Wolf use the same concepts, including upgradable “homes,” stacked scatters, and money prizes.
The max win in Greedy Wolf is 2,400x, which can mean $300,000 at the max bet setting of $125. That’s impressive compared to the industry’s standards, but players have won millions at Huff ‘N Puff.
On the upside, Greedy Wolf has an optional bonus buy feature that reduces the number of scatters required to enter the bonus game by one while multiplying the cost of your wagers by 1.25x.
The main difference is that you can play Greedy Wolf for free in sweepstakes casinos such as Stake.us and McLuck.
Winner: Tie
Pragmatic’s Greedy Wolf vividly emulates the main features of SG’s Huff ‘N Puff, but the game is more than a replica. There are selectable wager sizes (as opposed to choosing from the offered bet denominations), bonus buy, the quirky graphics – it all adds a nice touch without departing from the original intent.
I wouldn’t necessarily pick one over the land-based option if both were in front of me, but Greedy Wolf is a bit more accessible since you can play for free online.
2. Dragon’s Riches: Lightning Link vs Dragon Hot: Hold & Spin
Dragon’s Riches is a progressive jackpot slot machine by Aristocrat. It’s one of the staple slots from the provider’s famous Lightning Link collection.
We’re looking at a bonus minigame here, where you can win one of the four pots, including a mega jackpot reaching up to $1 million at the highest bets.
The slot is available in many physical casinos like Firekeepers Casino Hotel at Battle Creek. Still, you’ll find plenty of alternative games with similar mechanisms at various online and sweepstakes casinos.
My favorite is Dragon Hot: Hold and Spin, a Pragmatic Play slot that you can play for free at McLuck, WOW Vegas, and Jackpota.
Like Dragon’s Riches, Dragon Hot: Hold & Spin is a 5-reel slot with money symbols that trigger the bonus game.
Both slots have an Oriental theme but with plenty of visual differences. Dragon Hot looks a bit more polished to me, and I love that line indicators are always there (you can easily check line connections in Dragon’s Riches from the paytable).
Unfortunately, Dragon Hot: Hold & Spin doesn’t have jackpots. Theoretically, you can win up to $1.25 million if you happen to draw the top 5,000x multiplier on all 15 positions while wagering $250 per spin. While improbable, this is comparable to Dragon’s Riches slot’s mega jackpot.
Winner: Dragon Hot: Hold & Spin
Both Dragon’s Riches and Dragon Hot are simple, beginner-friendly games with very high potential payouts. The UI and smooth performance of Dragon Hot are my reasons for declaring it a winner in this round.
They’re both suitable for high-rollers – you’ll need plenty of resources (cash for Dragon’s Riches and coins for Dragon Hot) or a boatload of luck to hit the highest multipliers or score a big jackpot.
3. Frankenstein vs Dr. Frankenstein
I remember Light & Wonder’s Frankenstein slot as one of the trendiest progressive jackpots released mid-2023. It debuted alongside L&W’s famous Cosmic Cabinet at Pechanga Casino in California. It still rocks today, drawing inspiration from the iconic Mary Shelley novel.
The unique curved cabinet this slot is played on, advanced video animations, and 16 cash prizes make it incomparable to modern games. RubyPlay’s Dr. Frankenstein is the closest slot adaptation that comes close to L&W’s Frankenstein.
Dr. Frankenstein is a 50-reel video slot. Although there are no jackpots around, this game has plenty of bonus features to compensate. For example, the Random Wilds feature has a random number of Wild symbols carted to the reels to help you connect larger wins.
In comparison, L&W’s Frankenstein has the “It’s Alive” feature, where Frankenstein’s Head symbols get jolted by lightning and receive one of the random prizes from the top screen. Mr. Frankenstein’s Random Wilds gives a “chance” for great combos, while L&W’s Frankenstein’s bonus guarantees earnings.
Both games have free spin rounds but with different triggers. In Frankenstein, you’ll have to draw 3 Windmill symbols in the same turn, while Dr. Frankenstein’s bonus game requires at least five adjacent Heads to trigger.
Fortunately, Heads come in four variants, two of which are Wilds, so they’ll rarely block your regular wins.
Winner: Frankenstein
Although I enjoyed playing RubyPlay’s Dr. Frankenstein and love how feature-rich this slot is, Light & Wonder’s Frankenstein slot machine is objectively better on several fronts.
First of all, the progressive jackpot pool. This thing tends to grow fast, thanks to the game’s popularity spike since 2023. Secondly, base game wins in Frankenstein are formidable, which can’t be said about Dr. Frankenstein.
The latter is a medium-volatility slot that heavily relies on random boosts to keep your balance in the black.
Still, both games are fun, and Dr. Frankenstein can be enjoyed without spending real money at sweepstakes casinos like Pulsz or Sportzino.
4. Dracula vs Bloodthirst
Light & Wonder added the Dracula slot machine to its Universal Monsters catalog shortly after launching Frankenstein in 2023.
We are looking at the same release year and manufacturer, so it’s hardly surprising that a lot of the bonus features feel similar, too – Dracula features a Prize Wheel triggered whenever there’s a “Heart” symbol and at least one Dracula on the board, similar to how “It’s Alive” works with Frankenstein Heads. This time around, each Dracula gives you one spin on the wheel.
Apart from instant cash prizes, the Wheel contains jackpots, “Upgrades” that add multipliers to existing prize slots, “More Jackpots” that bring additional prizes, and four jackpots.
One of my top alternatives for Dracula is Hacksaw Gaming’s Bloodthirst slot, which you can play at the Stake.us sweepstakes casino. Although it has no jackpots, this game has several unique bonus buy options and two bonus games called “Bloodthirst” and “Immortals.”
During “Bloodthirst,” whenever any major symbol populates the entire column, they’ll evolve into a stacked reel and give guaranteed prizes (from 5x to 20x of the bet) on all subsequent free spins.
“Immortals” is the evolved version of the “Bloodthirst” round where you can find Potion symbols to upgrade all current Stacked Reels into the next best multiplier (e.g., 5x into 10x).
Winner: Light & Wonder Dracula
Bloodthirst and Dracula are worlds apart in terms of technical similarities. Still, they’re both great for serious players – in Dracula, you’ll be hunting Hearts and Jackpots, whereas in Bloodthirst, you’ll be looking for Ghouls, Vampires, Demons, and Werewolves.
I like Dracula more, mainly because its top exposure is superior to Bloodthirst’s 10,000x top win.
5. Coin Trio: Fortune Trails vs Tiger’s Gold
Coin Trio: Fortune Trails is one of the famous five-reel jackpot slots from Aristocrat’s Coin Trio dilogy. It replaces the standard coin collection bonus round trigger with a chance-based mechanic followed by random multipliers.
This game quickly became popular in many casinos, including Wildfire Casino, Arizona Charlies Decatur, Golden Nugget LA, Golden Gate Casino, Circa Resort, and California Hotel Casino.
This slot was named after the three large Coins sitting on top of the playing board. Drawing any of the coins in-game can trigger a Hold & Win-like minigame.
The Coin that triggered the mechanic will remain in place, and subsequent spins may give it multipliers that apply to all future coin rewards.
One of the best alternatives to Coin Trio is Tiger’s Gold: Hold & Win by 3 Oaks. It’s a classic H&W slot where 3 Scatter Pots give you eight free spins, and landing at least six coins (even during the bonus game) takes you to a Hold & Win minigame with money symbols.
I chose Tiger’s Gold because it gave me more consistent returns than other Hold & Win games – only major and bonus symbols appear during the free spins round, so getting coins becomes easy.
On top of that, this slot features four jackpots, although the Grand Jackpot (2,000x of the current bet) can only be won through the Hold & Win game. You can play Tiger’s Gold in many trustworthy US sweepstakes casinos, including PlayFame, Hello Millions, and many others.
Winner: Coin Trio: Fortune Trails
Both games from the Coin Trio series have unique bonus features that modern slots never tried to emulate. Tiger’s Gold almost scratches the same itch with its fixed jackpots and Hold and Win round, but it won’t give you coin multipliers.
Land Based Versus Online Slots
You can say that more money and effort are invested into building land-based slots. These games have their slot cabinets (often with special effects and visuals), not to mention that regulators personally visit the venue to test the validity of advertised RTP scores.
Also, the bonus mechanics in land-based slots, especially progressive jackpots, are more complex and often intertwined with other features (e.g., the Bonus Wheel in Dracula).
Online slots are far more accessible, though. You can demo most of them at online casino sites supporting demo play or sweepstakes casinos with Gold Coins (free-play currency). In terms of fairness and RNG transparency, online slots at legitimate online casinos and sweepstakes casinos are audited by third-party agencies like eCOGRA or Gaming Labs International.
Many renowned iGaming software suppliers offer slots comparable to the games you’d play at land-based casinos – Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw, 3 Oaks, RubyPlay, and Habanero.
On the other hand, several studios specialize in crafting slots for brick-and-mortar casinos but sometimes work with online and sweepstakes casinos – Play’n GO, Novomatic, and Big Time Gaming, for example.
Another key difference is how these games work in slot tournaments. Online and sweepstakes casinos typically host simplistic contests like Slot Battles and Drops & Wins, where anyone can climb the leaderboard by wagering as many credits/coins as they like.
Land-based casino tournaments, on the other hand, have stricter rules and offer a broader variety of types:
- All participants start with the same tournament credit balance.
- Participation fees frequently apply, especially in events where re-entry is allowed.
- Unique types of tournaments, such as feeder slot tourneys and elimination tournaments.
Conclusion
If you love the thrill of Vegas lights, jackpot buzzers, and big machines that almost look back at you, slots in land-based casinos are the way to go.
Exclusive games not available online or at sweepstakes casinos are in the minority, so you won’t be missing a lot unless you’re hunting for specific games like Huff ‘N Puff or Dracula.
Online slots at sweepstakes casino sites offer several key advantages. Anyone who meets the player eligibility criteria (age & state) can play for free, claim no deposit bonuses, and bag cash prizes after fulfilling the wagering requirements without spending a dime.
Use our guides and reviews to pinpoint the best sweepstakes casinos in the US, and enjoy playing hundreds of high-quality slots from reputable iGaming studios.
Author: Mike F.
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