Holmes and the Stolen Stones

Provider

Yggdrasil

Default RTP

96.8%

Volatility

Medium

Maximum win

See in-game info screen

Core mechanic

Jackpot

What Holmes and the Stolen Stones is

Holmes and the Stolen Stones is Yggdrasil's Sherlock Holmes slot: five reels, 20 paylines, a return of 96.80%, medium volatility, and five progressive jackpot tiers.

That combination is unusual enough to be the subject of this page. Almost every jackpot slot we cover pays for its prize pool with a visibly reduced return. This one does not.

A jackpot slot that still returns 96.8%

Jackpot game	Headline return	Cost per $1,000 staked
Holmes and the Stolen Stones	96.80%	~$32
Divine Fortune	96.59%	~$34
Rainbow Jackpots	Check in-game	Not published
Mega Moolah	88.12%	~$119

Nearly nine percentage points separate the top and bottom rows — two games in the same product category, one costing almost four times as much per dollar staked as the other.

At 96.80% this game returns more than most non-jackpot slots released in the last five years, while still carrying five progressive tiers.

Why this jackpot costs so little

The mechanism is straightforward once you see it: the size of the prize determines the size of the diversion.

Mega Moolah's Mega jackpot is seeded at €1,000,000 and has paid out eight figures. Funding prizes at that scale requires taking an enormous slice from every bet across the network, which is exactly why its return is 88.12%.

Holmes's jackpots are local and modest by comparison — reported in the region of 30,000 coins at the top tier rather than millions. A smaller pool needs a smaller contribution, so very little is removed from ordinary play.

Five progressive jackpots

The game carries five tiers, awarded through a gem-matching bonus round rather than at random. Reaching the round and matching sufficient stones is what triggers a tier.

That structure differs from the random-trigger progressives elsewhere on this site — Mega Moolah's wheel appears on any spin regardless of what the reels do. Here the jackpot sits behind a feature you have to reach first.

Exact tier values, matching requirements and trigger conditions vary between builds and operators, so read the paytable in your version.

The eligibility check

The standard progressive question applies here as everywhere: does a minimum stake qualify for all five tiers?

Some progressives exclude small bets from the top tier. Playing below a qualifying stake means part of every bet funds a prize you cannot win — the worst position available on any slot.

Find the rule in the game panel before your first spin. On a game where the jackpot contribution is small, this matters less than it does on Mega Moolah — but it still matters, and it takes fifteen seconds.

The published numbers

Statistic	Figure
Return	96.80%
Volatility	Medium (some sources say low)
Paylines	20
Jackpots	Five progressive tiers via a gem-matching bonus
Top prize reported	Around 30,000 coins

Medium volatility and the jackpot combination

Medium volatility plus a 96.80% return plus five jackpot tiers is a genuinely rare combination, and it is worth understanding why.

A game cannot be medium volatility with a huge ceiling — the tail has to be funded from the middle, which is what makes a game volatile. Holmes's jackpots are small enough not to hollow out the distribution, so the base game stays active and a bankroll lasts.

Yggdrasil's catalogue is described as deliberately medium-to-high overall, with no tracked title exceeding a volatility rating of 6 — the studio explicitly targets the zone between frequent engagement and meaningful win potential rather than the extreme designs of studios like Nolimit City.

This game sits at the gentle end of that already-moderate range, which makes it one of the more sustainable jackpot slots available.

How to judge any jackpot slot in thirty seconds

1. Read the published return. If it is materially below 96%, a large diversion is happening.
2. Look at the top prize size. Millions means a big diversion; thousands means a small one.
3. Check the eligibility rule. Whether your stake qualifies for every tier.
4. Check the trigger type. Random on any spin, or gated behind a feature you must reach.
5. Decide what you are buying. A ticket, or a game with a small bonus attached.

Those five items separate a Divine Fortune or a Holmes — a decent game with a modest prize layer — from a Mega Moolah, which is a lottery ticket with a slot wrapped around it. Both are legitimate purchases; they are not the same purchase.

Stake sizing in practice

• Check jackpot eligibility before your first spin.
• Budget 250 to 300 spins; medium volatility and a good return support a proper session.
• Treat the jackpots as unlikely, because they are — but note the diversion funding them is small here.
• Do not chase a grown pot. Bigger prize, unchanged odds.
• Set a time limit as well as a loss limit.

Where this fits in a session

This is the rare jackpot slot that works as a main game rather than a ticket purchase. At 96.80% with medium volatility, you can play it for an evening without paying a premium for the progressive layer.

If you want a bigger prize, Mega Moolah exists and costs $119 per $1,000 staked instead of $32. That is the honest comparison, and which side of it suits you depends entirely on whether you are buying a game or a ticket.

Common misconceptions

The first is that all jackpot slots have poor returns. This one returns more than most non-jackpot releases.

The second is that a jackpot tier is due after a long gap. Bigger prize, same probability.

The third is that five tiers means five chances. They are tiers of one prize structure, and the top ones are the rarest by a wide margin.

Who this suits

This suits a player who wants a progressive layer without paying heavily for it, and who values a long session at a good return over a shot at millions.

It suits poorly anyone who wants a life-changing prize — the tiers here are modest, which is precisely why the return is good.

FAQ

Yggdrasil's positioning

Worth setting out, because it explains why this game exists in the shape it does.

Yggdrasil is described as a medium-to-high volatility specialist, with no tracked title exceeding a volatility rating of 6. The studio explicitly targets the zone between frequent engagement and meaningful win potential rather than the extreme designs of studios like Nolimit City.

Their high-RTP tier is unusually deep as a result:

Title	Return
Jokerizer (in mode)	98.00%
Beauty and the Beast	97.10%
Tut's Twister	97.10%
Wilhelm Tell / Baron Samedi / Nitro Circus	~97.00%
Holmes and the Stolen Stones	96.80%

More than a dozen titles at 97% or above is a deeper high-RTP bench than most studios can show. It is the direct consequence of not building extreme tails — the same trade Quickspin made, and the same reason both catalogues return well.

Reading the game panel

• The jackpot qualification rules — whether your stake qualifies for all five tiers.
• The return figure, published at 96.80%, and whether it states the jackpot contribution is included.
• The gem-matching requirements for each tier.
• The tier values, which vary by operator.
• The total bet field before your first spin.

Where this fits in a session

This is a genuinely unusual game: a progressive slot you can play as a main game without paying a premium for the jackpot layer. At 96.80% with medium volatility, a modest bankroll gets a proper session.

Budget 250 to 300 spins, check the eligibility rules first, and treat the jackpot as a pleasant possibility rather than the reason you are there. If the jackpot is the reason, be honest about it and budget a small fixed amount instead — that is a different purchase, and a legitimate one.

Coins versus stake multiples

This game's top prize is reported at around 30,000 coins, and coin-denominated figures are worth understanding because they are easy to misread.

A stake multiple like 4,000x is unambiguous: whatever you bet, the maximum is four thousand times it. A coin figure is not. Thirty thousand coins is worth thirty thousand times the coin value, which is usually a fraction of your total bet.

Coin value	30,000 coins is worth
$0.01	$300
$0.10	$3,000
$1.00	$30,000

Older games and jackpot titles frequently quote in coins because it produces a larger-looking number. When you see one, find the coin value in the paytable before forming an impression of the prize — the same figure can mean three hundred dollars or thirty thousand.