Balloon game: how a round works, RTP and what is known about the odds
You pump a balloon and the multiplier grows with it. Stop in time and you are paid. Pump once too often and it bursts with the stake inside. This page says what the game is, what its RTP is in our data, and what we do not know about its odds.
How to play a Balloon game
- Choose the amount to stake. In some titles you also choose a difficulty or a balloon with its own risk.
- Pump the balloon, by pressing once per pump or by holding the button down.
- The multiplier rises as the balloon grows. Collect at any moment to be paid the stake times the multiplier on screen.
- If the balloon bursts before you collect, the stake is lost.
Balloon game odds: what is known and what is not
We do not publish a table of burst chances for balloon games, because we have not established the chance of a single pump for any title. The titles do not all work alike. In some the burst point is fixed before the round, as in a crash game. In others every pump is a separate step with its own risk. Without that rule a table would be a guess. What is known is the RTP, where the game or the casino states it. The RTP sets the average cost whatever the burst rule is. For the balloon titles in our data that cost runs from 3 to 6 per 100 staked, and the expected loss calculator applies it to your own stakes. How long a balance lasts at that cost is a question for the bankroll survival calculator. One more thing follows if a title applies its RTP at every stopping point, as crash games do: collecting early or late does not change the average result. An early stop wins small amounts often, and a late stop wins large amounts seldom.
Where to play Balloon games: casinos in our data and their RTP
All casinosBalloon titles are rare in the lobbies we read: 12 different ones, spread over 5 casinos. A confirmed RTP is on record for 9 of those titles, and it goes from 94.0% to 97.0%. The rest show their figure only inside the game, if at all. What RTP means in crash games explains how the percentage becomes a cost. To see the balloon titles of one lobby in order of their figures, open the house edge comparison, and for the lobbies themselves the casino list.
| Casino | Titles | With an RTP figure | RTP range | Demo flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drakaris | 6 | 6 | 94.0% to 97.0% | 6 |
 Glorion | 1 | 0 | no figure | 1 |
 DragonSlots | 6 | 3 | 96.0% to 97.0% | 6 |
 Ragnaro | 1 | 0 | no figure | 1 |
 Westace | 1 | 0 | no figure | 1 |
Is a Balloon game rigged? What you can check
A balloon game can be honest and still cost money. The house edge is part of the multiplier ladder, so the game does not need to cheat to earn. The question worth asking is whether the burst was fixed before you started pumping.
Where a title is provably fair, the answer can be checked. The burst comes from a server seed, a client seed and a nonce, and after the round it can be recomputed with the provably fair verifier. Where a title has no seeds, the stated RTP is the only figure to go by.
No program can see the burst point in advance. The reasons are the same as for crash, and why crash predictors do not work lists them.
Balloon game demo: pump with play credits
Among the 12 balloon titles, 12 are listed with a demo. A demo shows how the title behaves: whether the multiplier moves in steps or in one smooth climb, and where you are allowed to collect. It cannot show the burst chance, since a few dozen rounds are far too few to measure it.
Tools that work for Balloon games
Questions about Balloon games
How do you win at a Balloon game?
You win a round by collecting before the balloon bursts. When to collect is your only choice, and it does not change the house edge.
When does the balloon pop?
At a random point that the player cannot see. The exact rule differs between titles, and we have not confirmed it for any of them.
What is the RTP of Balloon games?
Between 94.0% and 97.0%, for the balloon titles where we could confirm a figure.
Is there a calculator for Balloon games?
Not one built on the rules of the game, because the chance per pump is not established. Calculators that need only the RTP, such as expected loss and bankroll survival, work for any title.
Is a Balloon game the same as crash?
The idea is close: a growing multiplier and a sudden end. Some balloon titles follow the crash formula and some use steps, so the two are not always the same game.
