Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action: Slot Overview

Ever found yourself metaphorically casting a line while playing the Pragmatic Play/Reel Kingdom smash Big Bass Bonanza and thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to reach the free spins round a bit faster’? If so, the studio pairing has delivered with Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action, a reworked version of the original that offers not one but two possible routes out of the base game and into the bonus round where Money symbol collection happens.

Surrounded by bubbles, the 5-reel grid is set out at sea just under the surface, right in the fishes’ domain. Visually, Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action sticks closely to what came before. The approach seems to be: if it isn’t broken, there’s no reason to mess with it.

That said, a few numbers have shifted, with the RTP being the obvious one. The earlier game carried a default RTP of 96.71%, while this version trims it down to 96.5%. That return to player figure stays the same regardless of how you play Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action, and there are three options available. One is betting 10 c to $/€250 per spin; another is activating the Ante Bet, which increases the stake by 50% in exchange for extra scatter symbols appearing on the reels. Scoring 4 out of 5, the volatility remains set at medium-high.

Alongside landing cash prizes, standard line wins are paid when matching symbols connect left to right starting from the left of the grid, with ten paylines running across the 5×3, 10 payline gaming grid. The lower-value symbols are the ten through ace card ranks, each paying 10x the bet for five of a kind. Above them sit fish symbols, tackle boxes, dragonflies, rods, and floats, returning 20 to 200 times the stake for five of a kind. Fish also act as Money symbols, carrying values from 2x to 2,000x the bet. There are no wilds in the base game, though wilds play a key role once free spins begin.

Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action: Slot Features

By now, most players know how it goes. The base game is the waiting-around phase on the boat with the bait in the water, while free spins are where collecting cash symbols can really kick off. The upside for anyone who doesn’t want to wait for a natural trigger is that the bonus round can now be purchased.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols on the reels awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. This is also where a fisherman wild symbol joins the action. The wild substitutes for any regular paying symbol to help form winning lines. In addition, when the Fisherman appears at the same time as the fish symbols, it collects all of their prize values. It’s possible for more than one Fisherman wild to land on the same spin, and if that happens, each Fisherman gathers the fish prize values one after another.

Going further, every time a wild symbol lands, it is collected on a meter positioned beside the reels. For every 4 wilds collected, additional spins are granted and a win multiplier is introduced. This sequence can happen 3 times, with +10 free spins added on each occasion. The multiplier starts at x2 on the first trigger, rises to x3 on the second, and reaches x10 on the third. After the third trigger, it can’t progress any further. The multiplier affects Money symbol collection wins rather than standard line wins. Finally, when a single fisherman lands, there’s a chance that random fish Money symbols are added to the reels.

Feature Buy

Players can bypass the base-game waiting by paying 100x the bet, which ensures 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols trigger the bonus round. The RTP when using the free spins buy remains 96.5%.

Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action: Slot Verdict

So there it is for time-poor or impatient anglers who want to get to the good part sooner. Whether Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action arrived because players asked for it, as a simple way to keep the BBB craze rolling, or for some other reason, it’s here. Most of the experience mirrors the original very closely, including the same 2,100x max win. The standout differences are the Ante Bet option and the addition of a feature buy. Put simply, reaching the Money symbol collection stage can theoretically happen faster than before, though it comes with an added price.

But hang on—aren’t bonus buys already present in games like Big Bass Splash, Big Bass Amazon Xtreme, Big Bass Floats My Boat and others? Sure, but Big Bass Bonanza was the first one, the spark that set off the whole Big Bass wave, for better or worse, so fair enough. Revisiting the original and adding extra betting options makes sense in one respect, yet in other ways Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action feels like a fairly tame release. If the bass-themed slot surge hadn’t already hit full flood stage, it might have been easier to get excited about Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action. As it is, it’s another fish slot—this time a remake—mixing a couple of new touches with a familiar whiff of repetition.