Big Bass Floats My Boat (Pragmatic Play) Slot Demo & Review

It’s not been long since Big Bass Christmas Bash gave us another reminder, not that we really needed one, that one of Reel Kingdom’s and Pragmatic Play’s most successful slots series and biggest cash cows still exists. Foolishly, most of us thought that would be that for a decent length of time, but boy, did we all fall for that hook, line and sinker, as just months later, here we are again with Big Bass Floats My Boat. I don’t think the Big Bass range floats everybody’s boat, but it’s fair to say it does for the majority – else, I’d probably be reviewing something like John Hunter and the Quest for the Ultimate Sugar Rush – or something along those lines. So, will this latest iteration continue to reel you in, or will you throw it back and play one of the hundred other previous releases instead? Well, before we decide, let’s run through the basics. Big Bass Floats Your Boat is a 5-reel slot with 10 paylines, a 96.06% RTP, and a maximum win of 5,000x the bet.

While Pragmatic Play is often criticised for cloning or semi-cloning previous slots, you could imagine the outcry if they did it to such a flagship series, and thankfully, they’re yet to do it so far. Each variation of Big Bass delivers something new, usually via the ever-popular and usually lucrative free spins bonus featuring a money collect mechanic, re-triggers, and multipliers. This time, the difference is how those multipliers appear, as they’re now assigned to reel positions and will increase each time a Fish Money Symbol lands upon them. Each new level on the collection metre once again delivers more free spins while increasing the increments those multipliers increase.

I’m talking to everybody else here as most Big Bass fans are already there, but if you’d like to try out the latest addition to the Big Bass franchise, spin for free on the Big Bass Floats My Boat slot demo below.

Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot
ProviderPragmatic Play
Reels5
Rows3
Paylines10
Bonus Rounds1
Bet Range0.20 - 250
VolatilityHigh
Max Win5,000x
Bonus BuyYes
RTP96.07%
Our Rating7.3

Big Bass Floats My Boat Casino Bonus


Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Demo


Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols

Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Paytable
Big Bass Floats my Boat slot paytable

Either the team at Pragmatic Play has an obsession with fishing, or the Big Bass Bonanza franchise continues to bring in the bucks, and I know which way I’m leaning – I mean, we must be into double figures by now! Aside from the original game, and as it happens, the Big Bass Bonanza free play version remains a popular slot here on our site, we’ve had the obligatory Megaways variations in Big Bass Bonanza Megaways and Big Bass Hold and Spinner Megaways, two Christmas clones, a Halloween edition, and even a Big Bass-themed crash game – and that’s merely scratching the surface, as there are several others. There’s also a safe bet – as I know I’d wager my house on it happening – that there’s still plenty more to come!

So how does Big Bass Floats My Boat measure up against what’s come before it regarding the paytable? In all honesty, it’s not very different, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as there are usually some decent numbers on Big Bass slots. The Fishing Float again takes the top spot with a 200x the stake payout for a full line of five. That’s followed by the Fishing Rod offering a 100x return for all five, a Dragonfly (which is a fisherman’s best friend as they attract the fish), which is worth 50x, and a Tackle Box that also pays 50x once lined up five times across a payline. As for the lower pays, they are represented by the royal, with the Ace and King sharing payouts of 10x, and finally, the Queen, Jack and Ten with equal returns of 5x bet for a winning combo of five.

The betting range on the Big Bass Floats My Boat is huge – even by Pragmatic Play’s standards, as you can spin for as little as €0.10 or max out at a whopping €250.00 per spin. If you can afford the latter on a regular basis, hit me up, as I’m in need of a new best friend!


Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Base Game

Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Base Game
Big Bass Floats my Boat slot base game

Once you set your eyes on the reel format of this latest Big Bass instalment, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were playing many of the others – it’s the same 5-reel, 3-row, and 10-fixed payline configuration, though there are exceptions such as the Megaways variations, you’ll find across the series. The base game offers little, and you’ll all (as you should) just treat it as the required grind to trigger the bonus feature – which offers the best payouts due to the Fisherman Wild Collect symbol. Regular payouts come once three (two for the Fishing Boat) or more matching symbols line up across a payline.


Money Symbols

All Fish symbols that land on the reels have a monetary value of between 0.2x and 50x the bet, and while not new to the series, as I recall, it was a feature in Big Bass Amazon Extreme and Big Bass Bonanza Christmas Bash, the Fish Money symbols actually hold some value in the base game. Unlike in a few earlier releases, where it seemed pointless to have them involved in regular spins as there was no way to collect them, in Big Bass Floats Your Boat, there is a random chance they’ll get collected. When that happens, they’ll have a random multiplier between 2x and 50x applied to their value.


Ante Bet

To the left of the reels is a button that, once pressed, activates an Ante Bet feature, which, for those who are unaware, increases your spin bet by 50% in return for more scatter symbols on the reels.


Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Bonus Features

Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Free Spins Feature
Big Bass Floats my Boat slot free spins feature

Admit it, you all skipped to this section straight away as you know the base game has never been a strong point of any Big Bass title! That’s fine by me, as I strongly agree – it’s all about the free spins feature. I also have to give credit where it’s due, as Pragmatic Play has consistently tweaked the free spins bonus from title to title – though surely we should expect that, or what’s the point in playing a new release? That is the case once again, as you’ll see below.

You’ll need three scatters to receive 10 free spins or four or five to trigger 15 or 20, respectively. There’s also a random chance to unlock this bonus when only two scatter symbols appear, a feature that has appeared in a few of the other more recent Big Bass titles. Either the non-scatter reels re-spin, allowing another chance to find a third or a giant Octopus will appear out of nowhere (as they do) to transform regular symbols into that much-needed scatter.


Free Spins

It’s clear the main premise of the Money Collect Free Spins bonus will remain the same across Big Bass titles – after all, it’s the USP of the series. Each time the Fisherman Wild Collect symbol lands on the same spin as Fish Money symbols, he’ll collect his catch, and you’ll collect the cash prize. As a wild, he’ll also help complete winning combinations by replicating regular-paying symbols.

As for what’s new, each time a fish symbol lands on the reels, it increases that position multiplier by 1x. That value will not reset between spins, which, as you can imagine, can lead to some pretty big multipliers after a good number of spins – especially if you re-trigger the free spins via the collection meter above the reels. That meter keeps count of the Fisherman symbols that appear during the bonus, and after every four, you start with a fresh batch of free spins and increase how much the fish symbols increase the position multipliers by 1x.

There are a few random modifiers that can occur during the free spins bonus, too:

  • When there are Fishermen but no Fish, there’s a chance Fish symbols will appear randomly at the end of a spin. Alternatively, that giant Octopus can return to convert all other symbols into another symbol.
  • If there are Fish but no Fisherman, the Octopus could nudge up a reel to reveal a Fisherman.

Bonus Buy

If you’d like to bypass the base game, you can choose to purchase the bonus via the two variations of the free spins feature on offer. The standard bonus, as explained above, costs 100x your stake, while 300x will get you a lucrative variation, which now requires the collection of three rather than four Fisherman symbols to re-trigger the bonus.


Pros

  • There are enough differences to deem this a true sequel of a sequel of a sequel.
  • The free spins bonus, as always, will rock your socks off.

Cons

  • I can only assume the max win has taken a hit due to the potential of the framed/position multiplier mechanics - but 5,000x still seems too low.

Big Bass Floats My Boat Slot Review Final Thoughts

You've likely spun the reels on everything here on our site, from our Bigger Bass Bonanza demo to our free play Big Bass Splash, so there’s not a lot more that can be said about the series that hasn't before, as it's clear this is a franchise close to the hearts of many. In short, if you’re a fan of this collection of fishing themed slots, you’re likely to enjoy Big Bass Floats My Boat, well, at least for another month or two until the next one hits the proverbial shelves.

7.3

Reasonable


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