The Big Bass Bonanza slot arrived in December 2020 and turned a fishing trip into one of the most copied templates in the industry. It is a plain five-reel machine with ten fixed lines and no ante bet — everything it has sits in a free spins round where a Fisherman wild sweeps up cash-value fish and a counter quietly raises the multiplier behind them. Below is the verified specification, including the reduced returns many players stake against without knowing it.
Big Bass Bonanza at a glance
- DeveloperReel Kingdom
- PublisherPragmatic Play
- ReleasedDecember 2020 (wide release 14 December)
- Layout5 reels × 3 rows, 10 fixed paylines
- RTP96.71% headline; 95.67%, 94.50% and 94.02% variants confirmed
- VolatilityHigh — 13% hit frequency
- Max win2,100× stake
- Stake range0.10–250 per spin
- Ante bet / bonus buyNeither, in the original release
Reel Kingdom built it, Pragmatic Play publishes it
Credit here is split, and the split confuses people constantly. Reel Kingdom designed and coded the game; Pragmatic Play publishes it. Both are correct at once, because Reel Kingdom works as a development partner inside the Pragmatic Play stable, so listings under either name describe the same machine. It also explains why this feels nothing like the publisher's own titles: where the Gates of Olympus grid pays on symbol count anywhere in view, this is a conventional line game.
Fifteen positions, ten lines, one idea
Symbols pay left to right along fixed lines and nothing cascades. The design effort sits in the free spins, where money fish and the Fisherman turn a flat line game into a collection game.
How the base game plays
Five reels, three rows, ten paylines that cannot be switched off. Combinations run from the leftmost reel rightwards and the displayed bet covers all ten lines. The range is 0.10 to 250.
Symbols are tackle, boats, boxes and card royals plus two specials. The fish scatter lands on any reel and is the only route in. The money fish — a fish carrying a printed cash value — behaves in the base game as an ordinary picture symbol with no collection behaviour at all, and matters only once free spins begin. There is no expanding symbol, respin or gamble ladder.
Big Bass Bonanza RTP: 96.71% headline, and why yours is probably lower
The headline figure is 96.71%, above the informal 96% benchmark — and for many players it is not the number in force. Like most modern slots it ships in several operator-selectable configurations, and three reduced builds are confirmed: 95.67%, 94.50% and 94.02%. What matters is that 95.67% is commonly deployed, not an edge case. Plenty of people who looked up 96.71% are staking against a build a percentage point below it, with nothing visible to tell them apart.
| Configuration | House edge | Cost per C$1,000 staked |
|---|---|---|
| 96.71% — headline | 3.29% | C$32.90 |
| 95.67% — reduced, widely used | 4.33% | C$43.30 |
| 94.50% — reduced | 5.50% | C$55.00 |
| 94.02% — reduced | 5.98% | C$59.80 |
Fifteen seconds that change the maths
Open the in-game menu and read the RTP printed on the information screen. That figure is the build your session is running, and it supersedes every review including this one. Our slots guide explains the configuration system.
High volatility and a 13% hit frequency
The published volatility is high and the hit frequency is 13%. Read that literally: thirteen spins in a hundred produce any return at all, so about seven in eight end with nothing. It is the harshest base game among the titles reviewed here.
Session to session that means a straight-line decline punctuated by very little, and a small line win often returns less than the spin that produced it. The feature carries almost the whole return, so two hundred spins without a trigger is not bad luck but ordinary behaviour. Size the stake against the dry stretch.
Inside the free spins: the Fisherman and the collection multiplier
Three, four or five fish scatters award 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Extra scatters buy a longer round rather than a larger instant payout, so the five-scatter trigger is worth waiting for.
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Money symbols acquire their value
Inside the round, fish symbols carry cash values scaled to your stake, as high as 2,000×. They sit on the reels doing nothing until collected.
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The Fisherman collects everything visible
When the Fisherman wild lands he collects every money symbol in view, not just his own reel. One Fisherman on a screen holding four money fish banks all four at once.
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Each group of four extends the round
A counter tracks Fisherman wilds across the round, and each group of four retriggers +10 free spins — a productive round rebuilds its own spin count.
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And steps the multiplier, three times only
The same counter raises the collection multiplier: 2× after the first four wilds, 3× after the second four, 10× after the third four. Three upgrades, no more.
The multiplier applies to collections only, not to line wins
This is the detail people get wrong most often. Once the counter reaches 2×, 3× or 10×, it applies only to the money-symbol values the Fisherman collects. Ordinary payline wins pay at face value, so a 10× multiplier on a screen with no money fish is worth nothing — which is why rounds that reach the top step can still finish modestly.
The 2,100× ceiling follows: a round must last long enough to bank twelve wilds and still hold high-value fish once 10× is live. A boundary, not a plan.
No ante, no buy, and how it handles bonus wagering
The original release offers neither an ante bet nor a feature purchase, and for most players that is an advantage. A bonus buy costs a hundred times the stake, far beyond the C$5 maximum bet permitted while welcome-bonus wagering is outstanding, and pressing it is the commonest way to void a bonus by accident. Here the button does not exist. The welcome offer terms set out the rest.
Slot play counts in full toward wagering, so the game qualifies — but a 13% hit frequency against a 25–35× requirement and a 20-day clock is demanding, because the money that would rescue the balance sits inside a feature that may never arrive. Keep the stake far below the C$5 ceiling and treat turnover, not profit, as the goal. For a gentler low-volatility option see the Starburst review; our mobile notes cover browser play.
Strengths, drawbacks and the rest of the range
What works
- 96.71% headline return, above the usual benchmark
- Scatter count sets the round: 10, 15 or 20 spins
- Retriggers let good rounds run a long way
- No bonus buy to void a welcome bonus by accident
What to watch
- A 13% hit frequency makes the base game unusually thin
- 95.67% is common, so the headline is often not yours
- The multiplier ignores line wins, and is easily misread
- 2,100× is a modest ceiling
Bigger Bass, Splash, 1000 and Megaways are different games
Bigger Bass Bonanza, Big Bass Splash, Big Bass Bonanza 1000 and the Megaways build are separate releases with their own models and maximum wins; nothing above transfers to them. The artwork is close enough to cause real mistakes, so read the exact title in the game window — the lobby overview shows how titles are grouped.
A game that pays on roughly one spin in eight is very good at producing the feeling that a result is overdue, and nothing about the last two hundred spins makes the next one likelier. Set a deposit limit before you open it, and treat raising the stake to recover as the point to stop rather than continue. Our responsible gambling guide covers deposit caps, loss limits and the provincial helplines. In crisis, call or text 9-8-8.
Big Bass Bonanza questions
Who actually made Big Bass Bonanza?
Reel Kingdom developed it and Pragmatic Play publishes it. Both credits are accurate, which is why databases disagree about the name to show. Reel Kingdom works as a development partner inside the Pragmatic Play group, so listings under either studio describe the same December 2020 game.
What is the Big Bass Bonanza RTP?
The headline configuration returns 96.71%. Reduced builds are confirmed at 95.67%, 94.50% and 94.02%, and 95.67% is commonly deployed, so many players are not on the headline number. The build running in your session is printed in the game's information panel.
How many free spins does it award?
Three fish scatters award 10 free spins, four award 15 and five award 20, so extra scatters buy a longer round rather than a bigger instant payout. Once inside, every four Fisherman wilds collected retriggers a further 10 spins on top of whatever remains.
How does the Fisherman wild work?
When the Fisherman lands during free spins he collects every money symbol visible on the reels, not only those on his own reel. Each money fish carries a cash value scaled to your stake, up to 2,000 times it. Money symbols never pay by themselves.
How does the multiplier increase?
A counter tracks Fisherman wilds across the round. After the first four collected wilds the multiplier becomes 2×, after the second four it becomes 3×, and after the third four it becomes 10×. That is three upgrades in total, and 10× is the ceiling.
Does the multiplier apply to every win in the round?
No. It applies only to values the Fisherman collects from money symbols. Ordinary payline wins during the same free spins pay at face value. A high multiplier on a spin with no money fish on screen adds nothing, which is why a round reaching 10× can still finish small.
Is there a bonus buy or an ante bet?
Neither, in the original release. There is no way to purchase entry to the free spins and no paid option to improve the trigger rate. That removes a hazard, since feature purchases usually cost a hundred times the stake, far above the C$5 cap allowed while bonus wagering is outstanding.
Is Big Bass Splash the same game?
No. Big Bass Splash, Bigger Bass Bonanza, Big Bass Bonanza 1000 and the Megaways version are separate releases with their own models and maximum wins. The artwork is close enough to cause mistakes, so read the exact title in the game window before applying any specification.
Check the info panel, then cast off
The return in force is printed inside the game, and on this title it is often the 95.67% build rather than the headline figure.
Open Big Bass Bonanza18+ / 19+ depending on province. Not available in Ontario. High volatility with a 13% hit frequency. Bonus wagering 25–35× with a C$5 maximum bet per spin. Full terms apply at the operator.