Big Bass Bonanza Megaways: Slot Overview

Big Bass Bonanza and its follow-up, Bigger Bass Bonanza, rank among Reel Kingdom‘s biggest hits. With that in mind, it was only natural that the Pragmatic Play partner studio’s first Megaways release would join the bass-fishing lineup. Big Bass Bonanza Megaways blends the familiar core with a couple of fresh additions to keep things feeling new. Still, the main goal remains the same: during free spins, land as many value fish symbols as you can and let the fisherman scoop them up to build sizeable returns.

In terms of presentation, Big Bass Bonanza Megaways looks almost identical to Big Bass Bonanza, with the expanded reel setup being the standout change. Here, gameplay takes place on 5 main reels, plus an additional 4-symbol reel across the top that spins horizontally. Reel Kingdom hasn’t maxed out the Megaways potential, so the number of ways to win peaks at 46,656. Beyond that, everything feels comfortably familiar—deep blue waters, wiggling fish, and that laid-back island-style soundtrack.

Moving to a bigger reel configuration also means the game’s key stats have been scaled up compared to the original. On the plus side, the default RTP rises to a solid 96.7%, while volatility is officially high, carrying a 5 out of 5 rating. The maximum potential is a bit more divisive: it’s higher than before, yet it can still feel underwhelming—especially for a Megaways title. Still, if you’re more interested in chasing fish than chasing huge jackpots, it runs smoothly on any device and supports bets from 20 p/c to $/€100.

The standard pay symbols are unchanged and award wins left to right on adjacent reels, beginning from the leftmost reel. Lower-value icons are 10-A card ranks, while the higher-value set includes tackle boxes, dragonflies, fishing rods, and a fishing float. Landing six of the premium symbols pays between 2 and 50 times your stake. The remaining paying symbols are the fish. In the base game, fish combinations pay up to 1.75x the bet, and in free spins their values are gathered by the fisherman symbol. Lastly, a wild appears only on the upper four-position reel and substitutes for any symbol except fish or fisherman symbols.

Big Bass Bonanza Megaways: Slot Features

Overall, the feature set stays reassuringly close to the original, centering on free spins and the fish-and-fisherman collection mechanic. Added on top are tumbles, along with random Bazooka or Dynamite modifiers that can show up during the bonus.

Tumbles

On any spin, winning combinations are paid out and removed from the reels. The remaining symbols drop into the empty spaces, and new combinations can form to generate extra wins. Tumbles continue until no wins occur.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters activates the bonus, awarding 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. The first key difference is that during free spins, fish symbols are not removed by the tumble mechanic; instead, as tumbles happen, they drop down to the bottom of the screen. Also, whenever fish symbols land at the same time as a fisherman symbol, the fisherman collects every fish value shown and pays it to the player. If multiple fisherman symbols are present, the collection happens again for each one.

On top of that, fisherman symbols that land are collected in a meter beside the reels. For every 4 fisherman collected, the feature retriggers, granting +10 extra free spins plus a multiplier that applies to fish symbol values. The first, second, and third retrigger award a x2, x3, and x10 multiplier, respectively. After the third retrigger, no further retriggers can occur.

Bazookas and Dynamite

During free spins, if there are 1 or 2 fisherman symbols on the screen with no fish, one of two random modifiers can trigger. The Dynamite feature adds fish symbols to the screen in different positions. Alternatively, the Bazooka can fire, which explodes all symbols currently visible, except for the fisherman symbols.

Big Bass Bonanza Megaways: Slot Verdict

The mix of hooking fish while collecting cash prizes clearly hits the mark for a huge number of online players. What began as a trend some time ago is still thriving, and the mechanic has since been adapted to plenty of themes beyond fishing. Big Bass Bonanza Megaways proves there’s still life in the formula, and Reel Kingdom seems happy to squeeze as much as it can from the concept—Megaways being a perfect reason to do so. While it plays very similarly to Big Bass Bonanza, Megaways adds its trademark extra excitement and more ways to win. It’s not a groundbreaking reinvention, but it should satisfy anyone who enjoys the scatter-and-collection style popularised years ago by Fishin’ Frenzy.

It was only a matter of time before Fishin’ Frenzy came up, since it served as Big Bass Bonanza‘s main inspiration. Here, a better head-to-head comparison is Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways, as it’s the most direct rival, and both titles have their strengths if you want fish-themed action. Reel Kingdom’s take offers more developed mechanics, including the fisherman collection retriggers, and the two added modifiers bring a bit of extra variety. Where Blueprint Gaming’s game has the edge is in raw win potential. Big Bass Bonanza Megaways has a maximum of 4,000x the bet, almost twice the original, but surprisingly modest for Megaways, while Fishin Frenzy Megaways pushes the cap to 10,000x (even if that ceiling hasn’t been widely demonstrated yet). If you’re purely chasing the bigger number, the choice is obvious.

If you liked Big Bass Bonanza but wanted a livelier version, Big Bass Bonanza Megaways is a strong progression. That said, it’s a little disappointing Reel Kingdom didn’t inject even more energy via higher win potential, which could have helped the game appeal to an even broader crowd.