Joker Blast Bonanza: Slot Overview

Jokers can feel like a go-to choice in the slots world, having appeared countless times already, yet studios still seem drawn to them. This is another outing starring a likeable jokey rascal from Pragmatic Play. Titled Joker Blast Bonanza, it’s essentially a reskin of the provider’s mythology-based slot Sword of Ares, so players can expect familiar elements such as the Multiplier Collection feature with multipliers reaching up to x500 and a free spins round.

This time, though, the heroic god is swapped out for a grinning, waving joker in a bell hat, set against a plush crimson backdrop. From a theme perspective, Joker Blast Bonanza is clearly chasing a different audience than Sword of Ares, but it ends up feeling fairly standard. With the market already packed with joker-themed slots, Joker Blast Bonanza doesn’t do much to separate itself, and as a clone it gives the impression Pragmatic Play wasn’t pushing especially hard to surprise.

The numbers have been carried over as well, including a default RTP of 96.4% or 96.39% if the free spins bonus is purchased. Using a highly volatile model, scored 5 out of 5 by the studio, players can choose stakes from 20 p/c up to $/€100 per spin. Visually, Joker Blast Bonanza plays on an active grid of 6 reels with 5 symbols on each reel.

Joker Blast Bonanza is a scatter-paying slot, so it doesn’t rely on paylines or ways for determining wins. Instead, a payout is formed whenever at least 8 matching symbols appear anywhere on the grid. The pay table is filled with traditional icons, ordered from low to high as lemons, a plum, a strawberry, grapes, cherries, an orange, a bell, a 7, and a diamond. Landing an 8-9 OAK scatter win returns 0.25 to 4 times the bet, while 12-30 OAK scatter wins pay 1 to 20 times the stake. Joker Blast Bonanza doesn’t include wild symbols to assist with wins, but it does feature a few other special symbols that can raise the excitement.

Joker Blast Bonanza: Slot Features

At the heart of Joker Blast Bonanza is its tumble feature, which removes winning symbols from the reels. Any remaining symbols fall as far down as they can, and empty spaces are refilled by new symbols dropping in from above. Once no further cluster win is created, the tumble chain stops and the combined win is awarded.

Multiplier Collection Feature

Positioned above the reels is a meter showing 3 multiplier values during the base game and 6 values in free spins. At the start of every new spin, the multipliers are in a locked state. Through tumbles, the amount of winning symbols or exploded symbols are collected. When certain thresholds are reached, the multipliers become unlocked. When the tumble sequence finishes, the winning total is multiplied by the highest unlocked multiplier. In the base game, it works like this:

• First multiplier – possibly x2, x3, or x4, unlocked when 20 symbols are collected.
• Second multiplier – possibly x5, x6, x7, or x8, unlocked when 50 symbols are collected.
• Third multiplier – possibly x9, x10, x11, x12, x13, x14, or x15, unlocked when 100 symbols are collected.

Bombs

Bomb symbols can land anywhere in both the base game and free spins. When a Bomb appears, it stays on the reels until there are no more winning scatters. When bombs explode, they remove symbols from the grid in a horizontal, vertical, cross, or X pattern – the bomb symbol indicates the direction. Any cleared symbols are collected by the multipliers, and fresh symbols drop in from above. In the base game, Bombs only explode if at least one tumble has taken place.

Free Spins

If 4 or more scatters land in the base game, players receive 15 free spins. During free spins, the multiplier meter operates as follows:

• First multiplier – possibly x2, x3, or x4, unlocked when 15 symbols are collected.
• Second multiplier – possibly x5, x6, x7, or x8, unlocked when 30 symbols are collected.
• Third multiplier – possibly x9, x10, x11, x12, x13, x14, or x15, unlocked when 45 symbols are collected.
• Fourth multiplier – possibly x16, x18, x20, x22, or x25, x30, or x32 unlocked when 60 symbols are collected.
• Fifth multiplier – could be x35, x38, x40, x45, x50, x60, or x100, unlocked when 100 symbols are collected.
• Sixth multiplier – could be x150, x200, x300, or x500, unlocked when 225 symbols are collected.

For anyone wanting to jump straight into free spins, the bonus can be purchased for 100x the total bet. Whether free spins are bought or triggered naturally, they cannot be retriggered.

Joker Blast Bonanza: Slot Verdict

Anyone who has already played Sword of Ares won’t find much new to discover in Joker Blast Bonanza. Mechanically, it’s the same experience, with no fresh twists to watch for and no meaningful changes beyond the obvious shift in theme. It does, however, deliver on its title, packing in jokers, blasts, and, when things align, the potential for a real bonanza. From a positive viewpoint, Joker Blast Bonanza fills a particular niche for players who want a scatter wins slot wrapped in a cheeky harlequin presentation.

From a more critical angle, Joker Blast Bonanza could feel a little like work at times. With nothing particularly inventive and a generic skin laid over a recycled framework, it was difficult to get truly excited while putting Joker Blast Bonanza through its paces. In many respects, it can provide the same kind of thrills as its predecessor and a comparable entertainment style to what’s found in Gates of Olympus and similar titles. Scatter win slots are still gaining momentum, and the mix of the win system, tumbles, bomb clears, and hefty multiplier potential, along with a win cap of 10,000x, the bet, means Joker Blast Bonanza is on paper capable of setting off plenty of harlequin hat bells when it hits.

So the Pragmatic Play production line keeps rolling, helped along by a readiness to release clones here and there. It’s not a poor game by any stretch, but the bland theme, the reused engine, and the familiar feature set make it easy to overlook unless you’re firmly in Joker Blast Bonanza’s intended audience.