Instant Games Explained: Mines, Plinko, Dice and Hi-Lo
Instant games are short games of chance such as mines, plinko, dice and hi-lo, where each round resolves in seconds. The maths behind them is more transparent than a pokie's, which makes them a handy way to see how payouts and probability fit together. The settings you pick change how bumpy the results are. On a game with a fixed RTP, they don't remove the house edge.
What are instant games?
Instant games are simple digital games with a single quick decision or a short run of decisions per round, in place of reels and paylines. Payouts are usually shown as a multiplier of your stake. Every example below is illustrative, and rules differ between providers, so check the info screen of the game you are looking at. The demos on our instant games page use virtual credits only.
How do mines games work?
A mines game hides safe tiles and mines on a grid, and each safe tile you reveal raises the multiplier until you cash out or hit a mine. On a 5×5 grid of 25 tiles with 3 mines, the first pick is safe with a probability of 22 ÷ 25, or 88%. Each later pick is slightly riskier, because safe tiles are being used up.
| Safe picks made (3 mines, 25 tiles) | Chance of surviving (%) | Fair multiplier at 100% RTP (x) | Multiplier at 97% RTP (x) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88.0% | 1.14x | 1.10x |
| 2 | 77.0% | 1.30x | 1.26x |
| 3 | 67.0% | 1.49x | 1.45x |
| 5 | 49.6% | 2.02x | 1.96x |
Choosing which tile to open makes no difference, because the mines are placed at random. More mines mean fewer safe picks and bigger multipliers. Cashing out sooner means smaller wins more often. Neither choice beats the edge.
How does plinko work?
In plinko, a ball drops through rows of pegs and lands in a slot at the bottom with a set multiplier. At each peg, the ball goes left or right with equal chance in the standard model, so most balls finish near the centre and few reach the edges. With 8 rows, the probabilities follow a binomial distribution.
| Landing slot (8 rows) | Paths to slot (of 256) | Chance (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Centre | 70 | 27.3% |
| One from centre (each side) | 56 | 21.9% |
| Two from centre (each side) | 28 | 10.9% |
| Three from centre (each side) | 8 | 3.1% |
| Outer edge (each side) | 1 | 0.39% |
This is why the large multipliers on the outer slots are less generous than they look: a ball lands on a particular outer slot only about once in 256 drops. Risk settings alter the multiplier table, placing more value at the edges and less in the middle.
How do dice games work?
A dice game has you choose a target and bet on whether a random number lands above or below it. The chance of winning and the payout move in opposite directions, and the payout is the RTP divided by the chance. At 97% RTP, a bet with a 50% chance of winning would pay 1.94x, and one with a 10% chance would pay 9.70x. Expected return is 97 cents per dollar staked in both cases.
How does hi-lo work?
Hi-lo has you predict whether the next card will be higher or lower than the one showing, with payouts set by how likely your choice is. With 13 equally likely ranks, a 7 has 6 higher ranks and 6 lower ranks, so a higher or lower call has a 46.2% chance and the same rank has 7.7%. Near the top or bottom of the rank order, one side becomes almost certain, and pays very little. Rules for ties and for how cards are drawn vary, and they affect the maths, so read them before relying on these numbers.
Are instant games luck or skill?
Instant games are games of chance, and any choices available to you alter risk and payout size without changing the fact that the game holds an edge. Picking tiles in a mines game feels like a decision that matters, and so does timing a cash-out. Each outcome is still set by a random process. There is no method that wins over time, and no earlier result influences the next.
| Game | Your main choice | What it changes | What it doesn't change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mines | Number of mines, when to cash out | Chance and size of win | House edge on a fixed-RTP game |
| Plinko | Rows and risk level | Spread of multipliers | House edge on a fixed-RTP game |
| Dice | Target number | Chance and size of win | House edge on a fixed-RTP game |
| Hi-lo | Higher, lower or same | Chance and size of win | House edge on a fixed-RTP game |
What is the main risk with instant games?
The main risk with instant games is speed, since a round can finish in a few seconds and the next starts immediately. At $1 a round and 5 seconds per round, one hour is 720 rounds and $720 of turnover. A 3% edge on that is an expected loss of $21.60 an hour. Our guide to RTP and volatility shows how to run these sums for any game.
Can real-money instant games be offered in Australia?
Real-money instant games fall within the online casino-style category on our reading of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, so they may not be offered to people in Australia. The Act covers games of chance, including electronic games, played for money or value where the customer pays to enter. These game names don't appear in the official material we reviewed, but we are not aware of an exemption that would cover them. Our guide to the Act has more.
Free demos are for learning how these games behave, and winning in one means nothing outside the demo. If any kind of gambling is causing you stress, you can call Gambling Help Online on 1800 858 858, free and confidential, at any hour.
Written by the Australian Online Pokies Hub Editorial Team.