Big Bass Bonanza Megaways

Theme and Design

Bright, Cheerful and Iconic Game Design

For the Megaways version of Big Bass, Pragmatic Play don’t re-write the script. The action takes place underwater, with the 6-reel grid displaying the same iconic paytable symbols as you find in all other games in this series. It’s a cheery display with bright colors and the classic Big Bass soundtrack. Nothing more needs to be said!

RTP and Variance

Big Bass Bonanza Megaways has three available RTP settings. It is up to your slot site operator to choose which to run the game at. They are 96.7%, 95.66% and 94.62%. You want to play at 96.7% if you can, which is a very good RTP rate – anything over 96.5% is above average. You can check the RTP where you play by hitting the ‘I’ button under the reels, then scrolling through the pages until you see ‘Game Rules’. Look down that page and you’ll see ‘Return to Player’.

I would recommend trying MrQ from Lindar Media who consistently run Pragmatic Play slots at the optimum RTP settings.

Of course, like all other Big Bass games, this is a volatile one, so be prepared for an uneven win distribution and set your stake low to avoid burn out.

Maximum Win

The max payout available on Big Bass Bonanza Megaways is 4,000x, which is the same as you find on Bigger Bass Bonanza. Back in November 2021 that wasn’t bad but these days we expect more. If you want to try a Big Bass game with more potential try Hold and Spinner (10,000x).

Symbols and Paytable

This might be a Megaways slot with 6 reels but it has fewer win ways than the classic 1178,649 configuration. That’s because reels 1 and 6 display up to 6 symbols and reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 have up to 5 symbols only. That gives you a maximum of 46,656 win ways per spin.

You’ll also see an extra reel set with 4 reels and 1 row that sits above the middle 4 reels and spins horizontally, independently of what is underneath.

Win ways are different to paylines. You only need to land identical symbols on adjacent reels from left to right starting at the left most reel, regardless of their row position, to score a win.

The pay symbols themselves will be familiar to anyone who has played a Big Bass game before. There are 10 in all. The low payers are the cards, 10 through to Ace. These are valued at from 0.1x for 3 10s up to 1.75x for 6 Aces. The premiums are the shoal of fish, the tackle box, the may fly, the rod and reel, and the float. These are valued at from 0.2x for 3 shoals of fish up to 50x for 6 floats.

There is also a Wild that appears in both base game and free spins round. It is ONLY appears on the top 4x1 reel and substitutes for any pay symbol to complete a win way.

Features and Gameplay

The gameplay is very similar to all the other Big Bass slots. It’s what makes these games so popular, so why change it, even when the reel format is different? Tumble wins keep the action ticking along, and cash collects and free spins add the thrills.

Tumble Wins 

Let’s start with these. After any winning spin, winning symbols are removed from the grid and new ones drop in to replace them. This may create more wins. If so, the process repeats. And so on, until no more wins occur.

Free Spins and Cash Collects 

To get a decent-sized win from this game you’ll need to trigger the free spins round. That is where the cash collects happen. The leaping bass represents the scatter symbol and 3 or more are needed to unlock the free spins as follows:

• 3 scatters: 10 free spins
• 4 scatters: 15 free spins
• 5 scatters: 20 free spins
• 6 scatters: 25 free spins

Throughout the game, when the shoal of fish symbols land they carry a cash value of 2x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x or 4,000x. But these values can ONLY be unlocked during the free spins round when the fisherman symbol lands at the same time.

As well as helping you to collect the cash values, the fisherman symbol can also extend the round. Each time he lands he is collected in a meter above the reels. Every 4^th one collected gets you 10 more spins and increases a global win multiplier to 2x, 3x then 10x. After 12 fishermen are collected, the round cannot be extended further. But that is still an additional 30 free spins up for grabs!

Second Chances for Near Misses

Like other Big Bass games, there are some near miss features too.

If you see 1 or 2 fishermen, but no fish symbols to collect, then a dynamite explosion MAY occur, bringing fish onto the grid OR a bazooka may go off, changing ALL the symbols on the grid except for the fishermen.