Bonanza Megaways Slot (Big Time Gaming): Overview

By now, just about everyone has heard of Bonanza, so we’ll open this review by recalling when we first came across it. Back in the early days of our casino streaming period, the Megaways craze arrived and took over. Prior to that, streams were largely packed with high variance titles from studios like NetEnt, Thunderkick, WMS, Play’n GO, and Microgaming. A few 1024 ways games had begun to show up, but Microgaming’s 243-way slots were otherwise the go-to option for the kind of action that the Megaways engine would soon replace.

When Bonanza first appeared in online casinos, it didn’t exactly arrive with a bang. Before long, though (and it really didn’t take ages), it started getting noticed by the streaming crowd, building momentum and spreading fast—until it felt like nobody was playing anything except Bonanza. It offered something players hadn’t experienced before: from the oddball soundtrack and unusual reel setup, to the then-unheard-of win ways and huge upside. Hunting for the “D” (as in G.O.L.D.) quickly became one of the earliest online slots memes.

So, what is the game all about? If you’re new to online slots, here’s the quick breakdown. Bonanza is a 6-reel gold mine-themed slot which, while not the very first Megaways title, became the game most closely linked with the Megaways idea. It introduced mechanics that felt fresh at the time, including cascading reels, the extra horizontal reels used to help complete wins, a rising win multipler, and an enormous number of paylines—up to 117,649. Still a major favourite at the time of writing, this high variance slot is available at 0.20 to €/$20 per spin on all devices, and it’s found at most SG Digital/Microgaming casinos that host the platform.

Set above a bustling mine, Bonanza leans into a classic gold rush story. In the background you’ll spot hills and waterfalls, along with the familiar little hut that also appears in Lil’ Devil. The first six symbols are coloured playing card ranks: the aqua 9, the yellow 10, the green J, the blue Q, the red K and the purple A. On top of that, five coloured gemstones show up as the premium symbols. These include the emerald, the sapphire, the ruby and, lastly, the amethyst. This one can boost your total bet by as much as 50 times your stake when you land a six of a kind.

Bonanza Megaways Slot (Big Time Gaming): Features

Once you load up Bonanza, it’s not only the presentation that grabs attention. The look and feel are certainly a big draw, but the built-in mechanics are just as exciting. To begin with, you’ll notice carts appearing on a Horizontal Reel. These carts contain symbols and sit above reels 2-5. In practice, that means an extra symbol is added to each of those four reels, giving you more opportunities to create larger or additional wins on every spin. It’s also the only area where wild symbols can appear.

What many players consider even more impressive, though, is the Reactions mechanic. Any time you hit a winning combination, this feature triggers. All symbols involved in the win react and vanish from the reels, and new symbols drop in from above—plus from the right via the carts mentioned earlier—potentially forming further wins. Because of this, it’s possible to chain multiple payouts from a single spin, which is a big part of what makes Bonanza so compelling.

But there’s more. If you spell out G O L D in the base game, you’ll be awarded 12 Free Spins (with each additional scatter beyond that adding an extra 5+ spins to your starting total). On top of that, if 3 scatter symbols appear during the free spins round, you’ll gain an extra 5+ free spins added to whatever you still have remaining. Not only that, but there’s an Unlimited Win Multiplier active during the feature. It begins at 1x and increases with every Reaction that occurs throughout free spins.

Bonanza Megaways Slot (Big Time Gaming): Verdict

Bonanza has had a massive influence, helping to bring the Megaways concept into the mainstream while also pushing Big Time Gaming into the spotlight almost instantly as one of the industry’s leading studios. It also strengthened Big Time Gaming’s standing as the top name for high variance, ultra high potential slots. Some have compared its reach to Starburst, which might be fair in certain ways, but we’d argue Bonanza’s overall impact has been even bigger.

At the time of writing in 2019, Megaways still dominates the market, and no new breakthrough has yet emerged to seriously challenge it. If anything, more and more rival providers are queuing up to secure their own Megaways license, which underlines just how successful the concept has been—and continues to be.

There’s hardly any need to over-explain Bonanza at this stage. Very few slots have been talked about as much, or spun as often. On top of that, there’s now a huge range of Bonanza-style variations available, released by different Megaways licensees such as Blueprint Gaming and Red Tiger. There isn’t much left to add beyond the obvious: Bonanza is one of the finest online slots ever created, and if you still haven’t tried it, it should be right at the top of your to-play list.