Although there are literally hundreds of providers out there, or what it feels like at least, I only alter between a few of them. Some of them are consistently well done and entertaining and others are just consistently appalling. Here's my opinion.
Top 3 best
1. NetEnt: yes there has been some hit and miss releases, but overall they are pretty solid. The classics are obviously still the best but some of the new releases are decent too. These guys feels like the ones I can trust the most. Dont ask me why.
2. Play'n GO: excellent selection and loads to choose from. The potential is usually good. Even if the games are not of the highest potential, it seems realistic. Which is more than what can be said about most providers.
3. Novomatic: it's a love/hate relationship with these guys. Cant stop playing them even though they're butchering me. It's classic land based trickery.
Top 3 worst
1. Pragmatic Play: impossible to land bonuses (for me at least). There's just something completely off with the maths. I dont like the look of the games either although there are some exceptions.
2. Red Tiger Gaming: pretty much the same as above. It's almost like these two companies are being run by the same guy.
3. Big Time Gaming: over hyped crap. Should be called Big Promises Gaming. They have done a great job at building their reputation as this crazy volatile, super potential studio but you just never win big on their slots do you. Megaways is a clever invention and Bonanza is fun to play now and then, but what's the point of chasing 20,000x wins. It's never going to happen.
Best for me:
1. Big Time Gaming - great potential but also offers a lot of play time. Bonanza is my all time favorite slot.
2. Microgaming - yes I know they are producing a lot of crap these days but the oldies are still as fantastic as ever.
3. Yggdrasil - love the look and feel of their slots. Been pretty lucky playing them as well. My biggest win ever came from Dark Vortex.
Worst for me:
1. Elk - boring, boring, boring. Just cant stand playing them 🙁
2. Push Gaming - might surprise some to hear this but I think they are overrated. Too volatile and not so fun features imo.
3. Pragmatic - good luck getting a bonus and if you do good luck winning anything.
My top 3 favorites
1. Blueprint
2. NetEnt
3. Push Gaming
I tend to avoid...
1. Red Tiger
2. Pragmatic
3. Elk
As a reviewer I like to keep an open mind but there are, of course, some providers I prefer to play more than others. When I started playing slots, NetEnt and Microgaming were the giants and probably 90% of my sessions were spent playing their titles. In recent days, the majority of my gameplay goes to Novomatic - in particular Book of Ra Deluxe, Lucky Lady's Charm Deluxe, and Dolphins Pearl. It's hard to put the finger on exactly what's so intriguing about them, but they really get my adrenaline going like few other games. Aside from those, I play Dead or Alive 2 a lot, some Push Gaming and a whole lot of Play'n GO as well. One or two Blueprint and Merkur slots might also get some play time from me.
There are definitely a handful of providers that I tend to avoid but I'm not going to mention them here. Maybe one day I'll publish my "providers to avoid" list, but not today. When I review slots, I try to be as unbiased as I possibly can. I'll even ask people I know to try a few spins to hear their thoughts before I come up with a final verdict. What I have learned throughout the years is that people have very different preferences when it comes to online slots.
As a reviewer I like to keep an open mind but there are, of course, some providers I prefer to play more than others. When I started playing slots, NetEnt and Microgaming were the giants and probably 90% of my sessions were spent playing their titles. In recent days, the majority of my gameplay goes to Novomatic - in particular Book of Ra Deluxe, Lucky Lady's Charm Deluxe, and Dolphins Pearl. It's hard to put the finger on exactly what's so intriguing about them, but they really get my adrenaline going like few other games. Aside from those, I play Dead or Alive 2 a lot, some Push Gaming and a whole lot of Play'n GO as well. One or two Blueprint and Merkur slots might also get some play time from me.
There are definitely a handful of providers that I tend to avoid but I'm not going to mention them here. Maybe one day I'll publish my "providers to avoid" list, but not today. When I review slots, I try to be as unbiased as I possibly can. I'll even ask people I know to try a few spins to hear their thoughts before I come up with a final verdict. What I have learned throughout the years is that people have very different preferences when it comes to online slots
Ahh, yes... I still remember those times when Microgaming and Playtech were the dominant ones, with NetEnt adding new slots every now and then while still being rather "fresh" in the whole industry. Do you remember Pirates Gold? One of NetEnt super early releases, I believe. I also remember when Casinoeuro, Betsafe and Lucky Nugget (heh) were the no. 1 casino choices for me. Good times. 🙂
A quick note: For those who've played slots since the 2000's, I have listed some slots below that should bring back some memories.
My top 3 providers are easily these, in no particular order, because while I favorize a lot of slots from PnG, they have a gazillion more slots than i.e NLC:
- Nolimit City. Why? I value good slots with solid X win chances in combination with neat features, aesthetics, nice soundtracks and entertainment, and NLC definitely is among the very best at the moment at just that.
- BTG. Why? Those quality slots that they have combined with insane X win chances is great to have in place. They've been spitting out favorites of mine for a long time, ranging from Extra Chilli, Donuts and White Rabbit. EC and WR I still play whenever I stream.
- Play'n Go. Why? PnG got a biiig slot catalogue to browse through, and it contains among my favorite slots. Been favoring slots like Toonz, Wild Falls, BoD / LoD / Merlin since they were released.
I must also add some honorable mentions:
- WMS (or Williams as they were called before). Why? As mentioned, I love slots with fun features in them, and that can definitely be said about many of the WMS games! They also have 3 very fun and ex-all time favorites of mine such as Ruby Slippers, Alice & The Mad Tea Party, Lancelot, Black Knight, Bierhaus and Bruce Lee. Ahh, I miss those games...
- Thunderkick. Why? While this one doesn't have any clear favorites for me, they still have a lot of nice slots to choose from, like Riders, Khans, Explosivo and Flame Busters.
- NetEnt. Why? A true veteran in the industry with a collection of almost 400 slots to choose from. They also have a ton of classic slots and also movie/series/game themed slots that adds a nice feel to the whole play, such as South Park (RIP), Vikings, Street Fighter (lol), Jackpot 6000 (both the classic version and the regular with more coins), Mega Joker and one of my old, old favorites: Pirates Gold (wow, those random €500 hits were always such a joy to get).
Relax Gaming should be there as well, but since they only hold my current favorite slot, Money Train 2, I cannot really put them among my favorite providers.
Nice thread this. Fun seeing what others favorize and seeing that others have similar taste in slots and providers. 🙂
Also, I have attached some old wins, dating back to mid/late 2000s when screen recording options weren't an option for me cuz of my weak PC etc, heh. Note: Those 4 Jackpot 6000 wins were won within a span of 30 minutes. It used to go that frenzy mode, yes... Dunno if it still does that? Also, those wins on Tomb Raider and Thunderstruck were a rare thing. Back then, getting anywhere close to a 1000x+ win was, well, like a jackpot hit for us lowrollers. And yes, I am a lowroller despite those bet sizes I have on some of the wins, but that's because back then, I used to play mostly on low stake and then I increased the bet drastically for 2-3 hits, but yeah, figured out quickly that it wasn't the way to go, heh. Here are the screenshots (apparently, there's a big problem where the entire post gets deleted/erased when attaching multiple photos...):
https://imgur.com/3RMcIs6
https://imgur.com/nMglbwF
https://imgur.com/wC3Sqe7
https://imgur.com/H2dA7U6
https://imgur.com/otv0cWZ
https://imgur.com/XemttGv
https://imgur.com/zHjaYF5
https://imgur.com/2qg0fef
These days I usually find myself playing only games from studios I know dont have varying rtp, so basically btg, push gaming and sg digital slots.
@shookieofficial seeing those screenshots sure brings back some good old memeories. Was so uncomplicated back then and bonuses were plentiful 😢
WORST
Inspired
BTG
Pragmatic
Top:
1. NetEnt - I still like the classics like dead or alive and jack and the beanstalk + many more. Play them all the time.
2. Big Time Gaming - because they dont mess around with the rtp. You know what you get + the games are good.
3. Push Gaming - great potential and slick design.
Worst:
1. Pragmatic - never win, can't even trigger the bonus. Games feel generic. Doesnt do anything for me.
2. Red Tiger - pretty much like Pragmatic for me but slightly better.
3. SG Digital - potential is usually crap and many games feel sluggish.
Best
pragmatic
relax
hacksaw
I used to love push gaming. I started to play fish n nudge slot 6 days ago. I have friends staying over at my house and se have witnessed the worst downfall and the worst typ lie of a slot. It prooves that push gaming is a cheat developer. I am on dat 6 playing only fish n nudge. Lost tons of Money every day on tjos slot and it keeps getting worse and worse. Normally when u play a slot that much, you ser att least a few decent bonuses. The bonuses are even worse on day 6. Most of them are 0x. Push Gaming got a motto that they put ”the player first”. Its a big lie. Their rtp is non-existent and i can honestly say that i wasnt able to prove to my friends that push gaming was legit. Its the worst results and outcome i have seen for a long time. My advice is, stick to big bass and pragmatic slots. Push gaming is the new ”show off provider”. They make streamer friendly slots, but the slots for us regular players are a big fat cheat and a hoax. They are cheating the system. Avoid them
Best:
Pragmatic
Thunderkick
Print Studio
Worst:
Evolution RNG studios: Netent, Red Tiger, Big Time Gaming
Hacksaw
Yggdrasil
My favourites are No Limit, BTG (can't agree with the OP about no big wins, yes there are a lot of poor bonuses but last night I hit a 1495x bonus on 20p spin of Pop) & Hacksaw. Special mention to ELK, while I have had few big wins I love playing the actual games, sometimes just play them on demo mode.
My worst are Red tiger (never had a decent win and takes forever to bonus), and all those Ruby play & Wazdan just find them rinsers.
My top 3 favorites:
1. Blueprint
2. Pragmatic
3. Hacksaw gaming
Less favourable:
1. Elk
2. Net Ent
3. Red Tiger