Play Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action For Real Prizes
Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action Review
Even slot connoisseurs can be forgiven for not keeping up with all the different variations in the Big Bass series. Well, here’s another one, whether you asked for it or not. These titles will always be popular, but they rarely do much to build on the original, Big Bass Bonanza.
Yes, we’ve even had sequels like Big Bass Splash that technically add more to the fishy formula than this game does. To sum Reel Action up compared to Bonanza, there’s now an ante bet, a buy the bonus option, and the RTP has dropped slightly to 96.50%. Oh, the music has changed and the background is now subtly animated too.
Other than that, the gameplay is the same: match base symbols on 1 of 10 paylines to win. Land 3 or more Scatter symbols to enter the bonus round, and here the Fisherman Wild makes appearances to collect values from the Fish Money symbols.
Pros
- It’s the same game you (may) know and love
- The newly added background animations are pleasing to the eye
- Ante bet and buy the bonus options now available
Cons
- There’s not that much that's different compared to Bonanza
- The RTP has actually dropped
- Other versions like Splash are arguably better already
Gameplay
How To Play
- Choose your bet size and start spinning.
- You’re looking to line up 2-5 base symbols on the 5 x 3 grid in the base game.
- 3+ Scatter symbols will take you to the free spins round. You can turn on the ante bet feature to increase your chances of Scatters, or simply buy the bonus for 100x your current wager.
- The bonus game still uses the same base paylines, but now the Fisherman Wild appears from time to time, gathering up all the values from Fish Money symbols on the grid. Every Wild also lights up a panel in the progressive meter up top, and every 4 Wilds retrigger more free spins and activate a multiplier.
Bonus Symbols
- Scatter symbol: These appear randomly in the base game.
- 3 will award 10 free spins.
- 4 will award 15 free spins.
- 5 will award 20 free spins.
- Fish Money symbol: These appear in both the base game and the bonus round, but only in the bonus round does their money value contribute to your wins.
- Fisherman Wild symbol: This chap will only appear in the bonus round. As well as acting as a Wild to complete paylines for you, he collects up all the Fish Money symbols on-screen. He also lights up one square on the progressive meter, helping you reach more free spins and multipliers.
Bonus Features
- Ante bet: For 50% more wager, you increase your chance of landing Scatter symbols.
- Buy the bonus: For 100x your wager you can skip the base game and go straight to the bonus round. 3, 4, or 5 Scatters can hit randomly when you choose this.
- Progressive meter: Whenever a Fisherman Wild lands, a square on this meter lights up. By progressing along the line you unlock more free spins and multipliers – this is the key to doing well in this slot.
- Hit frequency: 1 in 4.83.
- Free spins frequency: Spinning naturally, it’s said to be 1 in 114.
- Max win: 2,100x with a probability of 1 in 3,927,730.
SweepsPlays verdict
- Maybe we were a little harsh in the intro. Bonanza is missing buy the bonus and ante bet options, especially if you compare it to more modern slots, so on one hand you can see a reason for an upgrade.
- However, Big Bass Splash already has a buy the bonus option, plus other things like the free spins modifiers which are absent here. The titular Reel Action is not a special added feature, which is perhaps what we were expecting.
- Basically, there’s now a subtly different version of Big Bass for every granular set of preferences. It’s not like it has the most bells and whistles out of any Big Bass game, but some players might like its combination of features.
- It’s still not the easiest game, but it does have a medium volatility rating for gamers who don’t like super high variance.
