Big Bass Bonanza Slot

Big Bass Bonanza is a fishing slot released by Pragmatic Play in 2020 and built by its partner studio Reel Kingdom. The theme is a day on the lake — rods, tackle and a fisherman in a boat — but the reason the game is known at all is its free spins round, where a fisherman symbol collects the cash values attached to fish. It worked well enough that it turned into a series, with Bigger Bass Bonanza, Big Bass Splash and others reusing the same idea.

• Free spins
• Money symbols
• Collector wild
• Retriggers
• Increasing multiplier

Studio

Pragmatic Play

Released

2020

Layout

5 reels, 3 rows

Ways to win

10 fixed lines

Volatility

High

How It Plays

Five reels, three rows and ten fixed paylines. Combinations are paid left to right from the first reel, three or more matching symbols on a line, and where two combinations fall on the same line only the higher one counts.

The stake is set as a single total bet rather than by separate coin and line controls; in the standard build it runs from 0.10 to 250 a spin. The base game is deliberately plain — line pays on fishing tackle and card royals, with the scatter as the only extra symbol. The fisherman and the money fish belong to the free spins, so everything the game is known for sits inside that one round.

Symbols

The low end is card royals — 10, J, Q, K and A. Above them sit fishing items: a float, a tackle box and a reel. These regular symbols pay modestly, and a base-game session mostly consists of small line hits while you wait for scatters to line up.

Two symbols matter more than the rest of the set. The scatter opens the free spins, and inside the round money symbols land as fish with a cash value written on them, tied to the total bet. The fisherman is the wild there and also the collector. The largest single amount you are likely to see comes from collected fish values with the round multiplier applied, not from a line combination.

Bonus Feature

Three or more scatters anywhere on the reels start the free spins: three award 10 spins, four award 15 and five award 20.

Two symbols appear only in this round. Money fish land carrying a cash value, and the fisherman acts as a wild. When a fisherman lands, he collects the value of every money fish visible at that moment and adds it to the balance. Fish that no fisherman reaches before the round ends pay nothing at all, which is why a bonus can finish flat even after several money symbols have landed.

Collected fishermen are counted through the round. Every fourth one retriggers ten more free spins and raises the multiplier applied to the values he collects — 2x after four, 3x after eight, 10x after twelve. That escalation is the whole shape of the feature: a short round returns little, a long one is where the large results come from. Nothing about it can be influenced from the panel, and no spin is ever due — each one is drawn independently of everything before it.

Controls

The panel is Pragmatic Play’s standard one. The spin button sits on the right, with total bet, balance and last win along the bottom. The bet is picked from a list of fixed amounts rather than by setting a coin value and a line bet separately, so one control covers the whole stake.

Autoplay runs a chosen number of spins and can be told to stop on a loss limit or when a single win passes an amount you set. Turbo and quick spin only shorten the animation. Where the operator allows it, a Buy Free Spins button starts the round immediately for a fixed multiple of the stake; it is switched off in markets that do not permit feature purchases. The game information panel holds the paytable, the rules and the return figures for the build you are playing.

Every game also carries an information panel with its rules and its return-to-player figure for the build running here. That panel is the accurate source; a number copied from elsewhere may describe a different build — see how to read RTP.

Pros and Cons

This is a high-volatility game with an empty base game and everything loaded into a single feature. Long stretches pass with nothing but small line pays, and the free spins themselves often end modestly — a short round with two or three collected fish is the ordinary outcome. The version people remember, twelve fishermen deep with a 10x multiplier, is the rare one.

It suits a player who is comfortable with that shape, playing for the feature rather than for steady returns, on a stake small enough to sit through the dry spells. It is a poor fit if you want frequent wins, anything to decide, or a base game with something happening in it. Anyone who prefers a slower, gentler slot will find this one one-note.

18+ or the legal age where you live. This game carries a house edge like every other. Play only with money you can afford to lose.

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Questions

How do the free spins start?

Three or more scatters anywhere on the reels. Three award 10 free spins, four award 15 and five award 20.

What do the fish with amounts on them do?

They are money symbols and they only pay when a fisherman lands during the free spins. He collects the value of every money fish on screen at that moment. Fish that are never collected pay nothing.

How does the multiplier work?

It is tied to the fishermen collected during the round. Four set it at 2x and add ten spins, eight set it at 3x, twelve set it at 10x. It applies to the values the fisherman collects.

Is there a wild in the base game?

No. The fisherman wild and the money symbols belong to the free spins. Outside the round the game runs on line pays and the scatter alone.

If the bonus has not come for a long time, is it closer now?

No. Every spin is independent and the game keeps no record of how long it has been since the last round. A demo mode on virtual credits is the cheapest way to see how often the feature actually arrives.