Big Bass Bonanza Megaways. Christmas Big Bass Bonanza. Big Bass: Keeping It Reel. These are all instalments of Big Bass Bonanza, the hugely popular online slot series created and developed by renowned casino content provider Pragmatic Play. They have paid out huge prizes, they have won prestigious awards and they have entertained millions of players around the world since the release of Big Bass Bonanza, the first game in the franchise, back in December of 2020.
Seeing as you can play the original Big Bass Bonanza on SlotCatalog, we figured it would be interesting to take a bit of a deeper look at the slot that the whole Big Bass hype. How does it work? Why did the game gain such popularity? And are the most recent instalments of the series worth it? Let’s take a quick glance at one of the most popular online slot machines in recent years.
Big Bass Bonanza by Pragmatic Play
As far as we know, there has been a total of thirteen editions of Big Bass Bonanza online slot by Pragmatic Play. We want to start at the beginning though, with the release of the game that started it all. At the time, towards the end of 2020, the now famous and widely used “fishing mechanic” was not as common yet for online casino games. That is, until developer Reel Time Gaming (which is part of Pragmatic Play nowadays) came along and released Fishin’ Frenzy in 2015, the game that in reality led to the development of Big Bass Bonanza.
The idea? To give new life to the previously mentioned “fishing mechanic” in Reel Time Gaming’s online slots. The result? An action-packed game with simple yet pleasing graphics in which players essentially need to collect as many fishermen as they can and progress through the many levels. On the way to glory, they also collect Free Spins and all kinds of multipliers via the bonus game, as well as an explosive Dynamite Modifier that can be triggered on any Free Spin.
How did Big Bass Bonanza become a classic?
Of course, it’s easy to imagine Big Bass Bonanza appealing to fans of fishing who also live a spin or two in an online casino from time to time. This title got a lot more attention than that though and grew into one of the most popular and most famous online slots in the world. That also allowed Pragmatic Play to build an entire (and still ongoing) series out of the original Big Bass Bonanza online slot.
A lot of the above is thanks to the above-average RTP (Return-to-Player) ratio of 96.71%, but that’s not at all. Big Bass Bonanza managed to combine a simple yet pleasing design with straight-forward gameplay and a well worked-out overall theme. They also created the level structure that allows players to progress through the game.
On top of that, in comparison to its inspiration Fishin’ Frenzy, Reel Time Gaming added a much-needed bonus game. The fact that there is only one bonus game available perhaps hints at the game’s age (five years is considerable in online casino content terms), but this hasn’t stopped it from attracting millions of players, in great part thanks to the guaranteed minimum of 10 Free Spins upon activation.
Unlocking Free Spins on Big Bass Bonanza
Players can activate the bonus game in Big Bass Bonanza by landing three, four or five Fish Scatter symbols on the reels at the same time. Based on how many of these symbols you collect at once, you will immediately get 10, 15 or 20 Free Spins. The Wild symbol in the bonus game comes in the shape of a fisherman and when he forms part of a winning line, he transforms all standard symbols in that line.
The Fisherman Wild also has another very interesting role in the bonus game, namely to collect Fish symbols with cash amounts on them. These vary between x2 and x2.000 your original total bet, but usually, these Fish just swim off. That is, unless the Fisherman lands, because he will gather all of the fish on the screen and pay out the total of all multipliers. On top of that, you also get another 10 Free Spins when you manage to land the Fisherman Wild at least four times.
Giving other Big Bass online slots a try
As we mentioned earlier, at the moment of writing, Pragmatic Play’s portfolio contains no less than thirteen titles from the Big Bass Bonanza series. Naturally, some are better and more entertaining than others, so below we have listed some of the instalments of the series that piqued our interest.
- Big Bass Bonanza Megaways
You have probably heard of Megaways before, but just in case you haven’t: Megaways slots offer a relatively new and innovative game mechanic for online slots that increases the number of existing pay wins considerably. For the Big Bass series for example, in which Big Bass Bonanza Megaways represents the third instalment, adding the Megaways mechanic to the original title increased the number of pay lines from 10 to 46.656.
- Big Bass Hold & Spinner Megaways
About two years after Big Bass Bonanza Megaways, Pragmatic Play released Big Bass Hold & Spinner Megaways. This made multipliers of up to x20.000 the original bet possible for players, which made this online slot one of the most exciting new releases at the time.
- Big Bass Splash
The release of Big Bass Splash in June 2022 represented an important moment in the life of the franchise, which had started losing some its earlier popularity. This instalment of the series offered an additional mini bonus game that activated right before the main Free Spins bonus game, as well as a few interesting other options and features. At the time of its release, the x5.000 maximum multiplier was the highest ever in the Big Bass Bonanza series.