How Big Bass Bonanza pays
The base game is an old-fashioned line pokie. Symbols land on reels, wins pay along the lines the paytable sets out, and there is no tumbling, no cluster counting and no grid arithmetic to learn. A spin resolves once and stops.
Two symbols matter more than the rest. The fish symbol appears throughout, and the fisherman is the wild. In the base game they behave like any other pair of symbols and pay what the paytable says. In the free-spin round their relationship changes completely, and that change is the entire design.
Scatter symbols buy the round. How many you need and how many spins they award are printed in the paytable of the build you have open, which is worth reading once, because the series this game started has several versions with different numbers on that screen.
| Studio | Reel Kingdom, distributed through Pragmatic Play |
|---|---|
| Format | Line-pay pokie with a scatter-triggered free-spin round |
| Money symbol | Fish symbols carry cash values during the free-spin round |
| Collector | The fisherman wild collects the value of every money fish on screen when he lands |
| Published RTP | Supplied in more than one return configuration, so no single figure holds. Read the theoretical return in your lobby. |
| Free play | Where a lobby enables practice mode, or a social app where coins have no cash value |
Casinos to play this style of pokie at
Bonus, wagering, minimum deposit and payout terms, with the full conditions under every row.
Bonus terms
Offer placeholder. Bonus amount, wagering, minimum deposit and eligibility are to be confirmed with the operator before publishing. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 125% bonus up to €1,000 + 100 free spins | 40x wagering on bonus & free-spin winnings | Bonus valid 7 days | Free spins credited over 4 days | First deposit only | T&Cs apply.
Bonus terms
18+ | New customers only | Bonus code BLISS | Min. deposit €20 | 120% bonus up to €500 + 125 free spins | 40x wagering within 14 days | T&Cs apply.
- #4
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 1st dep: 100% up to €500 + 100 FS | 2nd dep: 75% up to €2,000 + 75 FS | 3rd dep: 50% up to €2,000 + 75 FS | 4th dep: 25% up to €3,500 + 50 FS | 5th dep: 50% up to €2,000 + 100 FS | 40x-50x wagering on bonus & FS winnings | Bonus and free spins valid 3 days | Max withdrawal 5x deposit | First 5 deposits only | T&Cs apply.
- #5
Bonus terms
New customers only | Min. deposit €20 | 100% bonus on the first deposit up to €600 + 125 free spins (25 free spins daily over 5 days) | Wager the bonus within 7 days | T&Cs apply | 18+ | Gambling can be addictive.
- #6
Bonus terms
Welcome bonus 280% up to €3,200 + 800 free spins. Bonus winnings are subject to wagering and are capped at €500. The bonus expires after 5 days if the wagering is not met. One bonus per person. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
- #7
Bonus terms
New customers only | Min. deposit €250 | Deposit bonus 100% up to €5,000 + 100 free spins on Collapsed Castle (€0.20 per spin) | Free spins credited in 2 packs of 50 every 24 hours | Bonus wagering x25 (free-spin winnings x25) | Wagering to be met within 14 days | Bonus can be reactivated after 7 days | Bonus is not withdrawable until fully wagered | Bonus T&Cs apply.
- #8
Bonus terms
18+ | New users | Welcome pack across 3 deposits: 100%/80%/60% bonus, up to €2,500 in total + 300 free spins | Min. deposit €20 | 45x wagering | Max bonus bet €5 | Activate within 48 hours, valid 5 days | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #9
Bonus terms
18+ | New customers only | 100% deposit bonus up to €200 | Min. deposit €20 | 40x wagering | Max bet €5 | Bonus valid 10 days | Max withdrawal 10x the bonus amount | T&Cs apply | Gambling can be addictive.
- #10
Bonus terms
18+ | New players | Min. first deposit €20 (CAD/AUD: 15) | Bonus code FIRST | 100% bonus up to €1,000 + 100 free spins | 40x wagering on bonus & free-spin winnings | Max bonus withdrawal equals the bonus amount received | Max bet €5 while wagering | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #11
Bonus terms
Welcome bonus: 100% up to €1,250 on the first deposit (min. €20). The bonus must be wagered 30x with real money and is valid for 14 days. One redemption per player. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
- #12
Bonus terms
18+ | All deposits | Min. deposit €50 | Privilege Wheel: up to €700 bonus or 50 free spins on 3 Royal Coins / Lucky Streak 1000 | 30x wagering | Max withdrawal from free spins €300 | The prize must be activated with a min. €50 deposit | T&Cs apply | BeGambleAware.org
- #13
Bonus terms
Min. deposit €20 | 1st dep: 100% up to €1,000 + 200 FS | 2nd dep: 100% up to €200 + 50 FS | 35x wagering on deposit & bonus | 40x wagering on free-spin winnings | Bonus must be activated within 7 days | Wagering to be met within 10 days | Max withdrawal 6x the bonus amount | First 2 deposits only | T&Cs apply.
- #14
Bonus terms
Welcome package: 100% bonus up to €10,000 + 500 free spins, min. deposit €20. Bonus funds and deposits must be wagered 3x before a withdrawal is possible. Check whether your country is accepted before depositing. Full terms apply. 18+. Play responsibly.
- #15
Bonus terms
18+. New customers only. The casino welcome bonus of 100% up to €500 + 50 free spins applies on a successful first deposit after the bonus code is entered. Before any withdrawal a 5x wagering of the deposit is required, counting only sports bets at minimum odds 1.6 and casino bets without minimal or zero risk. Withdrawal limits and further bonus conditions apply under the general terms. 18+. T&Cs apply. Play responsibly.
The fisherman feature, step by step
- 01
The scatters trigger the round
Free spins start and the fish symbols change character. From this point each fish that lands carries a cash value, shown on the symbol as a multiple of your stake.
- 02
Money fish sit on the screen and wait
A fish landing on its own pays nothing. It is a value waiting to be collected, which is why the round can look busy and pay nothing for several spins.
- 03
The fisherman collects
When the fisherman wild lands, he collects the value of every money fish visible on that spin. One fisherman with five fish on screen collects all five values at once.
- 04
Collecting fishermen extends the round
Collect the number of fisherman symbols the paytable names and the round extends with extra spins and a higher collection multiplier. The thresholds and the multipliers are printed on that screen and differ between versions of the game.
- 05
Stake size sets the values
The fish carry multiples of your stake, not fixed dollar amounts, so the same collection pays proportionally at every stake. Deciding the stake is therefore the only decision in the round that is actually yours.
The consequence is a round that pays in lumps. Nothing, nothing, then a fisherman lands on a screen full of fish and the round produces most of its total in one spin. That shape is what the volatility rating in the information panel is describing, and the volatility guide shows why a rating like that needs a bigger bankroll than the same return at a flatter rating.
Base game and free spins compared
| Element | Base game | Free-spin round |
|---|---|---|
| Fish symbol | An ordinary paying symbol | Carries a cash value as a multiple of your stake |
| Fisherman | Acts as the wild | Collects the value of every money fish on screen |
| How wins arrive | Steadily and small, along the paytable lines | In lumps, on the spins where the fisherman lands |
| Multipliers | None from collection | A collection multiplier that rises as fishermen are collected |
| What decides the size | The paytable and your stake | How many money fish are on screen when the fisherman lands |
What RTP does Big Bass Bonanza run?
No single figure applies. Studios build a title in several return configurations and operators choose between them, so the same game can carry a different theoretical return in two lobbies, and any percentage you have read for this title belongs to whichever build the writer had open.
Read it yourself instead. Open the information panel, find the line that states the theoretical return, and note it before you stake. If a feature buy is offered, it will normally quote its own figure, and that figure is the one that applies while you use it. What RTP measures works through what a percentage point costs over real turnover, and the page on published return figures explains why this site prints a gap rather than a number it cannot source.
Feature buys and bonus terms
Where a build offers a purchase of the free-spin round, many operators exclude it while a bonus is being wagered and some void the bonus if it is used. That rule is in the operator's terms, not in the game. How wagering is calculated covers the clauses it sits under.
Which Big Bass game have you opened?
The fisherman turned into a series, and the versions differ by a word in the title: a bigger one, a splash one, a Megaways one, a hold-and-spin one, plus seasonal editions. They share the collection idea and vary the parts that decide how it pays: how many fishermen extend the round, how high the collection multiplier climbs, whether the reels use fixed lines or a shifting engine.
- Read the title bar in the lobby, not the thumbnail. Search results and app tiles reuse the same artwork across the series.
- Check the collection thresholds in the paytable. This is the number that most distinguishes one version from another.
- Check the return line again after switching versions. A different title is a different build with its own configuration.
- Check whether the version uses a shifting reel engine. If it does, the ways to win change every spin, and the Megaways explainer covers how that counting works.
Can you play Big Bass Bonanza free?
Where a lobby enables practice mode, yes, and this is one of the games where it is genuinely useful. The collection mechanic is easier to understand after watching one round than after reading any description of it, including this one, and practice mode runs the same build with credits that have no cash value.
The other thing that comes back for a free search is a social app, where you play on coins that cannot be withdrawn. Either way, the part practice cannot show you is how a few hundred spins at a stake you can feel behaves against a bankroll, because the money is the variable it removes. The beginners guide sets out what to check on screen before the first real stake, and how pokies work explains why a run of blank spins carries no information about the next one.
If the collect-and-carry rhythm suits you better than a tumble engine, the two Pragmatic Play tumble games Australians search for by name are covered on the Sweet Bonanza page and the Gates of Olympus page, and the rest are indexed on the pokies page.
Is it against the law to play it from Australia?
The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits the supply of online casino games, pokies among them, to a person physically in Australia without a licence, and the obligation falls on the business supplying the service. The Act creates no offence for the individual placing a bet. The 2017 amendment strengthened enforcement with a complaints process and site-blocking powers, both aimed at services rather than players.
No operator in the table holds an Australian online-casino licence, because there is no such licence for online pokies. They are offshore businesses sitting outside Australian consumer protection, which is why their full conditions are published under every row instead of being summarised. The legal page works through the Act and the separate state and territory regime that covers venue machines.
Read the paytable, then compare the accounts
Note the collection thresholds and the theoretical return in the build you open, then compare wagering and payout terms in the table before you deposit.
Open the table