Game provider Pragmatic Play made little attempt to hide their “appreciation” for the Fishin’ Frenzy series of online slots when they released the original Big Bass Bonanza game some time ago. Since then, the developer has continued to pump out a seemingly infinite stream of new titles in the franchise, suggesting that this is undoubtedly one of the best money spinners they currently have in their portfolio. Big Bass Bonanza Keeping it Reel doesn’t add too much more to the established formula – this is another ten-line game with a 10,000x maximum win and a 96.07% RTP, all of which seem just about exactly what we have come to expect from this series by now.
It’s a similar situation with the feature set, too – the fish symbols all have monetary values attached to them, there is a free spin round that can award 10, 15, or 20 spins depending on the number of triggering scatters, and a few special bits and pieces that only occur during said free spin round. There are both bonus bet and bonus buy options too, but, all in all, I can’t imagine there will be many players who will be surprised by what Pragmatic Play has put together here.
Are you a fan of the Big Bass Bonanza series? Or has Pragmatic Play finally milked their finest franchise to death? We’ll let you be the judge with our free demo of Big Bass Bonanza Keeping it Reel, which is available below.
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 10 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 250 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 10,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.07% |
| Our Rating | 8.2 |
Big Bass Bonanza Keeping It Reel Slot Casino Bonuses
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Big Bass Bonanza Keeping It Reel Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
I’m not quite sure exactly when the first Big Bass Bonanza slot was released now, but the series has certainly seen a lot of action since that time. A Megaways take on the format proved extremely popular with players – surprise, surprise! – and we have also seen Bigger Bass Bonanza and Big Bass Splash quite recently. I wouldn’t want to hazard a guess at how many games there are in the series by this point – I wouldn’t even be surprised if Pragmatic Play themselves has lost count at this stage! But what I can be sure of is that the developer is likely to continue pushing out their own variant every time a new Fishin’ Frenzy game turns up on the scene, whilst ever it is making them some serious money!
Does the paytable have anything new to offer? I’m pleased to report that, as a ten payline game, there are at least some decent numbers on there; the highest-paying symbol is one of those spinning top floating things (sorry, avid fishing fans – I don’t know the correct terminology. Please don’t come after me!) and is worth 200x your bet for a full pay line of five-of-a-kind. The fishing rod is next with a return of 100x for all five of those symbols; then we have a dragonfly – presumably because they annoy fishermen rather than being used as bait! – which is worth 50x your bet for a full pay line. A well-stocked bait box is worth 50x your bet for a full pay line. The empty spot on the end of the top row of symbols is supposed to hold the fish/money symbols, and it is presumably just a bug that the image is currently missing. A full pay line of any combination of these is worth 20x your bet. After those five high-paying symbols, there are five more royals with payouts of between 10x and 5x for five-of-a-kind, and that’s your lot.
The available betting range is enormous here – you can bet from as low as €0.10 per spin up to a monstrous €250.00 every couple of seconds. If you have that kind of bankroll, surely you have something more fun you can be doing than spinning this slot?! Just saying, folks!
Base Game & Modifiers
There is little new in the base gameplay of Keeping it Reel to discuss here – it’s the same typical five reel, three row layout common to so many other online slots, with ten fixed paylines. All the big wins are locked up in the bonus round, as that is the only place where the special golden wild symbol can be found. If you have ever played a typical online slot, you know exactly what to expect from the base game offered here.
Money Symbols
All fish symbols that land on the reels have a random monetary value assigned to them, but these are useless during the base game, as they can only be collected by the fisherman that only shows up in the free spins feature. I’ve always found this a curious feature of the Fishin’ Frenzy and Big Bass Bonanza games and all other clones that use this same payout mechanic.
Ante Bet
For a cost of 50% on top of the regular spin cost, you can improve your chances of winning the free spins bonus round by adding numerous additional scatters to the reels. When the ante bet is enabled, the feature buy facility is disabled.
Big Bass Bonanza Keeping It Reel Slot Bonus Features
Let’s get into the real action, finally! The only “reel” differences between this game and the original Big Bass Bonanza are to be found in the bonus round, after all! Hitting three scatters will award 10 free spins, whilst four or five will award 15 or 20 free spins, respectively.
Free Spins
Unlike other Big Bass Bonanza games, any money/fish symbols not collected during this mode will be collected into a landing net instead. On each free spin, a fish will escape from the landing net, reducing the total value of your catch. Land the golden wild at any stage during the bonus, and you will be awarded the current value of the net.
Like some other previous games in the franchise, every fourth wild symbol that you collect will advance you to a new level of the feature, increasing the currently active multiplier level. Level two has a 2x multiplier, whilst level three increases this to 3x, and level four gives you the maximum multiplier of 10x. You cannot re-trigger the bonus round any further than this.
There is one more element to Keeping it Reel – a “dynamite spin” feature can kick in at the end of a feature, although I never saw it happen during testing. This will only occur if one or more fishermen symbols are visible on the final spin and will result in several fish/money symbols being added to the reels in random positions, ready for the fisherman to collect.
Bonus Buy
For a cost of 100x the current bet, you can opt to skip the base game and go directly to the free spins feature. When you purchase a bonus round, the number of free spins is randomly determined, just as when playing the base game; there is no option to purchase the 20-spin bonus, for example. I actually think that this is a good thing – there has been a recent trend for developers to include ludicrously expensive bonus buy features in their games, and I’m glad that Pragmatic Play has so far chosen to avoid this.
Big Bass Bonanza Keeping It Reel Slot Review Final Thoughts
What more can we say about Big Bass Bonanza – Keeping it Reel? If you enjoy these games, you will certainly enjoy this one. The tweaks made to the formula are good ones, and I hope they will be kept in future iterations – and let’s face it, there are almost certain to be future iterations – of the franchise. Nevertheless, it does feel as if Pragmatic Play is flogging their prize horse (or fish) to death at this point. Tread carefully, guys!
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