Big Bass Bonanza

Big Bass Bonanza

8 / 10
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Get your fishing rod and hop on the boat in the Big Bass Bonanza pokie, a cool named fishing-themed game brought to you by the power houses Pragmatic Play and Reel Kingdom. The best part of this easy to understand 5 reel, 10 payline pokie game is the Free Spins feature which gives you 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Make sure to land the fisherman wild and you’ll see how he collects all the values attached to the fish symbols. Four wild symbols gives you a retrigger which also leads to a 2x multiplier. All subsequent retriggers then increase that multiplier to 3x and 10x. With a very convenient RTP of 96.71%, we invite you to quickly find out more in our in-depth Big Bass Bonanza review.

Big Bass Bonanza Review

Nothing beats a cold beer whilst trying your luck with a fishing rod, and you sort of get the same vibe as soon as you play this pokie. At least to some extent as the visual experience didn’t get the effort it deserved. The static background isn’t as good as we’d hope for, as you would expect the ocean to be filled with a bit more life. This isn’t necessarily a show stopper though as the bonus round can still deliver some pretty thrilling moments of play.

Big Bass Bonanza will quickly remind seasoned players of Reel Time Gaming’s popular Fishin’ Frenzy series, but a big difference is that you can now place bets between $ 10 and $ 250 per spin. This is a lot more than what the actual source of inspiration of the game offered, so it looks like Reel Kingdom and Pragmatic Play are angling for high rollers with this one. It can certainly seem that way if you consider the high volatility, but the limited 2,100x cap on the max potential win is a bit of a drawback in that regard.

Nice to know

Launched 14 December 2020
RTP 96.71%, 95.67%
Volatility Medium
Software Pragmatic Play
Features Additional Free Spins, Additive symbol, Cash Collector, Free Spins Multiplier, Scatter Symbols, Wild
Theme Fish
Paylines 10
Grid Layout 5-3
Min. bet/line $ 0.10
Max win x2100
Jackpot N/A

Positive points

  • ✅ Adequate Base RTP
  • ✅ Visually Excellent
  • ✅ Widely Available
  • ✅ Adjustable Free Spins Feature

Negative points

  • ❌ Ranging RTP

Big Bass Bonanza

Pragmatic Play is, what we’d say, a fairly creative game studio when it comes to releasing new pokie games. They are one of the most leading providers in the iGaming industry today and they’ve partially managed to achieve this status by launching up to 5 new games per month with most of them being successful. This approach hasn’t made them lack quality and it seems to work quite well for them as Pragmatic Play is the provider that dominates the top lists around the world. Despite not being highly original or innovative, Big Bass Bonanza is one of the most popular titles ever to be released by Pragmatic Play.

How to Play

The action in Big Bass Bonanza is built around a 5 reel, 3 row format. Big Bass Bonanza can be played from as little as $ 0.10 per spin, and the maximum bet is a mind blowing $ 250 so expect betting opportunities that suit all kinds of budgets in this one. There are also 10 fixed paylines which means you can’t adjust the number of paylines in play. In order to get started you’ll see how the controls for Big Bass Bonanza are laid out in a very straightforward approach. Here’s how to start making your first spins:

  • Click on the i (info) button to display the paytable. The payouts in this list will adjust as you change your bet.
  • The 3 horizontal lines symbol will allow you to adjust the system settings and gives you the option to toggle the audio settings or take a look at your game history.
  • The – and + buttons on either side of the spin button will let you change your bet. This gives you the option to adjust your coins per line and coin value and you can easily change the total bet as well.
  • The autoplay button is available in New Zealand and located below the spin button. Here, you can set loss and win limits.

Symbol Wins

Brought to you with a fishing theme, there is a simple and cartoonish touch to the design in the Big Bass Bonanza pokie. The graphics are simply drawn, but still give you the feeling that you’re part of the setting. With the well chosen track in the background, it sort of all comes together very well. Set against an underwater backdrop, the blue reels feature brightly coloured A to 10 royals and a collection of higher value, angling related symbols. When it comes to these symbols, in order of value, we have fish, a tackle box, a dragonfly and a fishing road. Pay some extra attention to the multi-coloured float as this is the most valuable symbol. Land 5 of these on a payline and you’ll earn yourself a payout of 200x your total stake. The funny looking fisherman is the game’s wild symbol. The fisherman appears in the bonus round only and substitutes for all symbols except the scatter symbol.

Symbol Payout for 3 Payout for 4 Payout for 5
10 0.5 2.5 10
J 0.5 2.5 10
Q 0.5 2.5 10
K 0.5 2.5 10
A 0.5 2.5 10
Fish 1 5 20
Tackle Box 2 10 50
Dragonfly 2 10 50
Fishing Rod 3 15 100
Multi-Coloured Float 2, 3, 4 or 5 = 0.5, 5, 20 or 200x bet
Fisherman Wild Substitutes for all symbols during free spins
Fish Scatter 3+ triggers Free Spins feature

Bonus Features

Pragmatic Play went ahead and kept things nice and easy as far as features go in Big Bass Bonanza. The only feature you’ll find in the game is the free spins round. There are some extras attached to the free spins through which means this feature is worth landing.

Free Spins feature

The Free Spins feature is triggered in the usual way by landing 3, 4 or 5 fish scatters on the same spin giving us the following options:

  • 3 scatters: awards 10 free spins.
  • 4 scatters: awards 15 free spins.
  • 5 scatters: awards 20 free spins.

The fish symbols that have cash values attached to them come into play during the bonus round – and if, on any spin, the Fisherman symbol lands in the game, he’ll cast out his reel and collect any of the cash values that appear on your screen. This means, the more fish symbols that land – when he does as well – the more lucrative. The fisherman also serves as a wild, and substitutes for all other symbols, helping you to form winning combinations.

Payout Metrics

The Big Bass Bonanza RTP is 96.71% which is broadly considered very high for an online pokie. The game is also in the high range when it comes to variance. On a scale of 1 to 5, we would label the volatility at 4. The maximum win from a single spin is 2,100x the total stake. This will come in the free spins thanks to the potential 10x multiplier. The game has no jackpot prize. Bear in mind that the base game is fairly slow and that the max potential payout isn’t as high. Then again, Pragmatic Play is not known to be very generous when it comes to their maximum wins. Still, 2100x the bet is even below average for Pragmatic.

Summary

Reel Kingdom (Pragmatic Play) didn’t exactly show their most creative side with Big Bass Bonanza. For the fans of Fishin’ Frenzy, little beats the nostalgia the original game by Reel Time Gaming brings to the table which is mainly thanks to the dated visuals and the old school sounds. Big Bass Bonanza looks like a much more modern version of Fishin’ Frenzy, but also has a somewhat busy, repetitive soundtrack, which can become annoying.

In any case, what Reel Kingdom and Pragmatic Play have done well in boosting the RTP a bit. But if you then drop the main prize by more than half from 5000x to only 2,100x, you’re really not trying to get rid of the stingy reputation. Interestingly, Big Bass Bonanza has still proved to be extremely popular. We can only say that the game is technically excellent and has managed to become a widely available game in online casinos around the world. The adjustable Free Spins feature has also turned out to be a smart move.

Big Bass Bonanza was released in 2020 and seeing what a huge hit it quickly became, Pragmatic Play decided to launch different sequels in the years after the launch of the original title.