5 Lesser Known Online Roulette Variants
When you have been playing online Roulette for some time now, you are likely to reach a stage when you feel that not much can surprise you. After all, even with the most suspenseful games, one is bound to feel at least slightly jaded after a while and in need of a break. But before you give up Roulette, or, at least, before you convince yourself that you know everything there is to know about the game, take a look at the less common Roulette variants listed below – you may just find one or two Roulette versions that you have not played before.
Alphabetic Roulette Variant
Introduced in 2007, Alphabetic Roulette is an interesting hybrid of a traditional Roulette layout and a slot machine, employing a standard wheel and table layout, but eliminating numbers as betting options. Instead, the players will get to place their bets on the letters of Alphabet, distributed across a wide colour palette.
Almost every letter has its own space on the Alphabetic Roulette Wheel, except for Y and Z, which are placed on the same pocket. Traditional red and black options gave way to yellow, red, blue, green, orange and pink, with each of the colours linked to its own letter sequence.
The wagers and payout odds are similar to the ones in the conventional Roulette game and the player can bet on the following options:
Bet Name | Description | Payout ratio |
Straight Up | A specific letter or YZ | 23:1 |
Split | 2 neighboring letters | 11:1 |
Top Line | A-B-YZ | 7:1 |
4 Way | 4 neighboring letters | 5:1 |
Color | Any colour | 5:1 |
6 Way | One of the 4 letter groups containing a 6-letter sequence | 3:1 |
Party Pit | One of the letters spelling P A R T Y + I | 3:1 |
Roulette | One of the letters spelling R O U L E T T E | 3:1 |
Dozen | One of the two 12-letter groups | 1:1 |
Column | One of the two alternating groups of letter inside a column | 1:1 |
The rest of the game follows the same betting system as the standard Roulette game, with the addition of the Repeat side bet, allowing the player to wager that the ball will land on the same letter in the next spin.
Diamond Roulette
There is nothing wrong with adding some extra colours to your life – or to the game of Roulette, for that matter. So, similarly to the Alphabetic Roulette, this variant adds blue, yellow and purple to the traditional green, red and black fields. Every color has an assigned set of numbers and gives a payout rate of 5 to 1 if the player manages to accurately predict what colour will be the landing spot of the ball.
Diamond Roulette can come in both double and single zero variations, enabling the players to wager on a specific color/zero combination with 3 to 1 payout rate in a double zero version and 4 to 1 payout in a single zero version. It should also be mentioned that the house edge is not as appealing as the payout rate in the double zero Diamond Roulette game – the casino takes more than 15%.
A version that you are more likely to find online is a Diamond Bet Roulette, with pretty much the same layout as any other Roulette table but with an extra bet called “the Diamond”. This option replaces the double zero field and can multiple one’s wager up to x100.
Double Ball Roulette
If you thought that the multi wheel Roulette is exciting, wait till you tried Double Ball. We have all experienced the anticipation and thrill of waiting for the Roulette ball to land, stopping our breath every time when the ball would start to bounce and scatter – now imagine the same feeling only twice as intense.
Apart from adding an extra ball to the game, Double Ball follows the same rules and betting patterns of the original game. An interesting twist is that the Outside bet will be considered as the winning bet only if both of the balls land on the relevant fields, while for the Inside bet to be validated, either ball is enough. Since there is a hypothetical chance that both of the balls will land in the same pocket, Double Ball Roulette also features the Double Ball Jackpot.
Mike Tyson Roulette
When Mike tells you to do something, you will listen, so as soon as you hear his voice telling you to place your bets, you better believe that he means business. What makes this Roulette version stand out is the amazing winning potential unlocked by the Knockout Bonus. The feature becomes active when the ball lands on the Mike Tyson himself – with that, the player will have to hit the punching bags, eliminating smaller amounts and taking care not to hit the power prizes. The final prize is awarded according to the remaining multipliers.
Pinball Roulette
This version of Roulette is really more about fun than anything else. You may miss the Wheel at first, since the ball is not really spinning but is actually being catapulted onto the game screen, flying around and hitting the “walls”, while the numbers are moving along the bottom of the screen. You will however soon adjust to the dynamics as well as to that retro feel that this version of Roulette offers – in fact, the best way to describe this variant is “arcade meets traditional table games”.
Some of the online variants often include the Gamble feature, performed in a different pinball machine entirely. This is where you can either multiply your winnings or lose everything that you managed to collect so far, depending on where the ball will land.
