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Game Guide

Big Bass Bonanza: A Fishing Slot Built on One Simple Collect Mechanic

Five reels, ten lines and a fisherman who scoops up cash values. It is one of the plainest-looking slots of the decade and one of the most copied. We explain why, and how to pick between the dozen sequels.

Big Bass Bonanza reached casino lobbies in December 2020. The studio that designed it is Reel Kingdom; Pragmatic Play distributes it. It has no grid tricks, no cluster pays and no cascading reels. It is a 5x3 slot with ten fixed lines. What it has is a free-spins round with a mechanic so easy to follow that you can explain it to a friend in one sentence: fish carry money, the fisherman collects it.

That clarity is why the series has grown into more than a dozen titles. It is also why so many players overrate how often the good part happens. Below we separate the two.

The Base Game in Thirty Seconds

Wins pay left to right on ten lines. Low symbols are card royals; higher ones are the tackle box, the dragonfly, the rod and the float. Fish symbols carry a cash value printed on them, expressed as a multiple of your total bet. Outside the bonus those values sit there unclaimed, which is part of the tease.

The scatter is the bass jumping out of the water. Three, four or five scatters award 10, 15 or 20 free spins.

The Free-Spins Round, Step by Step

  • In free spins, the fisherman is a wild. If he appears on a spin that also shows fish, every fish value visible is added to your win.
  • A counter tracks how many fishermen you land. Each group of four adds 10 more spins and lifts the value of later collections, first to double, then triple, and finally ten times.
  • A fish worth 10x collected at the 10x level therefore pays 100 times the bet.

The whole payout curve of the game hangs on that meter. A bonus with two fishermen and no retrigger is common and usually small. A bonus that reaches the 10x level is rare and responsible for most of the big results you see in clips.

What the clips leave out: to reach the 10x multiplier you need twelve fishermen in one round. The mechanic is simple; the outcome it is famous for is not frequent.

Published Figures

ItemBig Bass Bonanza
ReleaseDecember 2020
Reels and lines5x3, ten lines that cannot be changed
Default RTP96.71%
Maximum win2,100x the bet
VolatilityHigh
Free spins10, 15 or 20 for 3, 4 or 5 scatters

The default RTP of 96.71% is on the generous side for a modern slot, which partly explains the game's popularity with streamers and reviewers. As always with this studio, other configurations exist. The information screen tells you which build the casino is running, and that is worth checking before you judge the game.

How to Budget for a Collect Slot

Because the base game pays little and the bonus depends on a retrigger ladder, the important number is how many free-spins rounds your budget sees. Our rule for this game: bring enough for about 250 base spins at your chosen stake.

  • At 0.10 per spin, that is 25 units.
  • At 0.50 per spin, that is 125 units.
  • The expected cost of 250 spins at 0.10 is 25 x 3.29% = about 0.82 units. Variance will swamp that figure, but it shows that the price of a relaxed, low-stake session is small.

If the casino offers a demo, try it first. Watching how often a free-spins round ends with no retrigger is the best antidote to the highlight reels.

Where to Find Fishing Slots Like This

Collect-style fishing slots are now a genre of their own. You'll find this type of game at the five casinos below. Search the lobby for the specific edition you want, since each casino chooses its titles and RTP builds by country. The welcome code goes in the cashier before you confirm your first deposit.

ZeSlots
Play at ZeSlots Official site · 18+
Big slot shelves

ZeSlots

250%on your first depositCodeZESLOTS250

The catalogue leans on slots, so collect-style games are well represented.

CasinoWinner
Play at CasinoWinner Official site · 18+
Biggest first match

CasinoWinner

300%on your first depositCodeWIN300

With a 250-spin budget in mind, WIN300's 300% first-deposit match gives the most room of the five.

YourWin24
Play at YourWin24 Official site · 18+
Slots between live rounds

YourWin24

250%on your first depositCodeYOUR250

A good fit if you like a slow slot session between live-table rounds.

Cas2Bet
Play at Cas2Bet Official site · 18+
Fishing plus football

Cas2Bet

100%on your first depositCodeCAS100

The sportsbook sits on the same account, handy on a match day.

The Series: Which Big Bass Should You Load?

The original has been followed by a long line of sequels, most of which change one lever of the same machine:

  • Bigger Bass Bonanza moves to a 5x4 layout with more lines and larger fish values.
  • Big Bass Splash adds random pre-spin modifiers in the bonus, making the round less predictable.
  • Big Bass Bonanza Megaways puts the collect idea onto the variable-reel Megaways engine.
  • Big Bass Hold & Spinner swaps free spins for a hold-and-win respin feature.
  • Big Bass Bonanza 1000 raises fish values and the cap, pushing more of the value into rare outcomes.

Our advice is dull but useful: if you are new to the series, play the original first. It has the clearest link between what you see and what you win, and the most forgiving maximum. The sequels trade some of that clarity for bigger ceilings.

What the Game Does Not Do

It does not remember anything between spins outside a bonus. It does not "warm up". The fisherman is not more likely after a run of fish-only spins. And a gamble or bonus-buy option, where present, prices outcomes close to the game's RTP; it does not beat it.

Related reading: Book of Dead is the other classic 5x3 high-volatility slot most players try early; our Pragmatic Play studio guide places the Big Bass series in context; and the casino games hub lists everything we cover. For phone play, the sites themselves are compared in our best mobile casinos guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Big Bass Bonanza a high-RTP slot?
Its default published return is 96.71%, above the typical modern slot. Casinos can run other configurations, so check the figure in the game's information screen.
What happens in the Big Bass free spins?
Between 10 and 20 spins are awarded for three to five scatters. Fishermen act as wilds and scoop up any fish values on the reels; landing them in groups of four adds spins and raises collections to double, triple and finally ten times.
How much can Big Bass Bonanza pay at most?
The original is capped at 2,100x the stake. Later editions in the series raise that ceiling.
Is Big Bass Bonanza a Pragmatic Play game?
It carries the Pragmatic Play name in lobbies, but the design comes from Reel Kingdom, a studio that works with Pragmatic on distribution.
Which Big Bass game is best for beginners?
The original. It has the simplest link between the fish values you see and what the fisherman collects, and a lower maximum that goes with a less extreme volatility profile than the 1000 edition.
Where can I play Big Bass Bonanza style slots?
You'll find fishing collect slots of this type at CasinoPurple, ZeSlots, CasinoWinner, YourWin24 and Cas2Bet. Availability of each edition depends on the casino and your country.