Big Bass Bonanza review: 96.71% RTP and up to 2100× max win

Big Bass Bonanza by Pragmatic Play (Reel Kingdom studio) is the 2020 fishing slot that spawned one of the provider’s biggest series. A classic 5×3 grid, 10 fixed paylines and a money symbol collect mechanic that only comes alive in free spins. The base game is simple — almost too simple. Everything that matters happens when the fisherman steps in and starts reeling fish out of the screen.

Is Big Bass Bonanza worth playing?

It is for you if you rate RTP above ceiling. The 96.71% default RTP is the highest of any Pragmatic Play slot we have reviewed, and medium-high volatility means exactly what it says: you do not need a disproportionate balance to reach the bonus. It is also the right game if you enjoy collect mechanics, where you watch the prize build fish by fish instead of arriving all at once.

It is not for you if you are chasing big numbers. The 2100× ceiling is modest for 2026 — Sweet Bonanza does ten times that, and the sequel Big Bass Bonanza 1000 reaches 20,000×. It is also not for you if a quiet base game bores you: without the scatters, this is a traditional payline slot with A-K-Q-J-10 card symbols and not much else. Patience is part of the product.

Base game: 10 fixed lines and the wait for the scatter

In the base game, wins pay left to right across the 10 fixed lines. The symbols that matter are the fisherman (wild) and the bonus/scatter, which lands on reels 1, 3 and 5. Note one important detail: in the base game, money symbols are not collected. They just sit there. Until you gather 3 scatters, you are playing an ordinary payline slot.

Free spins: the fisherman collects

This is the whole game. 3 or more scatters award 10 free spins, and the rule changes: fish carrying values only pay when the wild fisherman lands on screen and collects them. Every visible fish is scooped up at once. A fisherman dropping in with a screen full of fish is the moment you play for.

Multipliers and retriggers

The trick that makes Big Bass Bonanza pay: every 4 fish collected, the fisherman’s multiplier rises (2×, then 3×, then 10×) and you win extra free spins. Chaining several retriggers with the multiplier already at 10× is the only realistic route to the 2100× ceiling. It is also why good sessions here are rare but readable — you can see exactly how many fish you need for the next step up.

Symbols and payouts

We do not publish per-symbol values: Pragmatic Play ships different configurations of the same game and the exact paytable depends on the version your casino runs. The info panel inside the game always shows the right numbers. On this slot the symbol table is close to irrelevant anyway — the value is in the collect. Here is the structure:

Element	How it works
Grid	5×3 with 10 fixed paylines, paying left to right
Fisherman	Wild; in free spins he collects every money symbol on screen
Money symbols	Fish carrying a value; they only pay when collected in the bonus
Scatter (bonus)	Reels 1, 3 and 5; 3 or more award 10 free spins
Progression	Every 4 fish collected: multiplier steps up (2×, 3×, 10×) and extra spins are awarded
High symbols	Rod, tackle box, float
Low symbols	A, K, Q, J and 10 cards
Minimum bet	0,10 € per spin
Max win	2100× your bet

Note: 96.71% is the default RTP published by the supplier, and it is the best reason to play this one rather than the flashier sequels. We ran the same verification here that we ran on Sweet Bonanza, where we found the entire internet repeating a wrong RTP — on this game the figure checks out. The usual caveat still applies: the default RTP is not a contractual guarantee from your casino, because Pragmatic Play licenses several configurations of the same game and some operators run the lower ones. Check the info panel. As for volatility, we classify it as medium-high rather than “high” because that is what the documentation says — we do not round up to make a review sound more dramatic.

Big Bass Bonanza vs the competition

Slot	Default RTP	Volatility	Max win	Note
Big Bass Bonanza	96.71%	Medium-high	2100×	Best RTP in the group; contained ceiling
Big Bass Splash	96.71%	High	5000×	Same RTP, fisherwomen with multipliers, bigger ceiling
Big Bass Bonanza 1000	96.51%	High	20,000×	Same mechanic, lower RTP, ten-times-bigger ceiling
Sweet Bonanza	96.48%	Medium-high	21,100×	Scatter pays and bombs; similar risk, incomparable ceiling
Gates of Olympus	96.5%	High	5000×	Random multipliers instead of a collect
Sugar Rush	96.5%	High	5000×	7×7 clusters with fixed per-position multipliers

The matchup that matters is inside the family, and it is a real trade-off. Big Bass Bonanza 1000 runs the same fisherman mechanic with a 20,000× ceiling — nearly ten times the original — but it pays for that with 0.20 points of default RTP (96.51% against 96.71%) and a step up in volatility. There is no free lunch: the bigger ceiling comes straight out of ordinary sessions, which run drier. The original is the version that lasts longer on the same balance; the 1000 is the one that gives you a genuine shot at a prize worth talking about. Big Bass Splash sits in between, with the original’s RTP and a mid-sized ceiling.

Against Sweet Bonanza the comparison is less favourable than it looks: similar risk (both medium-high), RTP in Big Bass’s favour, but a 2100× ceiling against 21,100×. If your goal is to play for a long time, pick this one; if it is to hunt a big number, this is not the place.

Bankroll tips

Since almost everything is decided in the bonus, what you need is enough runway to get there: stake a small fraction of your balance per spin and count in spins, not in euros. The 0,10 € minimum bet helps — it is among the lowest in the catalogue and lets you learn the rhythm cheaply. Set a loss limit and a win limit before you start, and stick to both. Do not chase losses by raising your stake after a bad run: the maths does not know what happened to you over the last fifty spins. And use the demo on this page to see how many spins pass between bonuses on average — that is the figure that decides whether this game is for you.