Big Bass World Domination

Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass series is to slot gaming what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is to cinema. The first game, Big Bass Bonanza, came out in December 2020. By May 2025, there were 25 slot titles in the Big Bass Universe, with another, Big Bass Boxing Bonus Round, due to be released in June 2025. That’s a rate of one new Big Bass game every two months!

That might sound like a lot, but it’s worth remembering Pragmatic Play aims to launch eight new slot games every month. They’ve also had plenty of success with their non-fish related titles, most notably Gates of Olympus, Wolf Gold, Sweet Bonanza and Mustang Gold.

Yet none of those games can match the Big Bass series for sheer number of variations. Open up any online casino in the UK and you’ll see a dozen or more Big Bass games. Some sites give the series its own section. There’s Megaways Big Bass, Hold and Spin Big Bass, Christmas Big Bass, Halloween Big Bass, Big Bass with a Western theme, Jungle Big Bass, Vegas Big Bass and more.

And it all began with the original: Big Bass Bonanza, developed in collaboration with Reel Kingdom. It wasn’t the first fishing game on the market, and it didn’t have the biggest RTP (although at 96.71% the return to player was more than respectable). Yet somehow, the combination of high volatility and the free spins round, in which the game’s angler lands fish with monetary values, captured the imagination of slots fans.

Success was almost immediate. Big Bass Bonanza won Best Game at the 2021 iGB Awards and in September that year, a dynasty was born, with the less-than imaginatively titled Bigger Bass Bonanza. Before the year was out, we had Big Bass Bonanza Megaways and Christmas Big Bass Bonanza. The scary thing is that there is no sign of the Big Bass feeding frenzy coming to an end. Perhaps in another five years, there might be entire casinos devoted entirely to the Big Bass.

• Dawn of the Age of the Bass: Big Bass Bonanza
• Basic Bass: The Essential Updates
• Upgraded Bass: The Feature Slots
• Calendar Bass: The Seasonal Editions
• Bass Out Of Water: The Theme Shows
• Big Bass Expanded
• Big Bass: The Good and the Bad
• So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

 

Full List of Big Bass Slots

Dawn of the Age of the Bass: Big Bass Bonanza

Big Bass Bonanza ( December 2020)

Five reels, ten paylines and a cheery looking angler who looks like he knows way too much about tackle boxes. This was where the Big Bass story began, with Big Bass Bonanza, released near the end of 2020. Pragmatic Play and Reel Kingdom had hit on a successful formula with a bright, colourful slot that was fun to play and offered an engaging bonus round. Land three Scatters and the free spins kick in, the angler starts to haul in those money fish, and there’s a chance of re-triggering the bonus with progressive multipliers.

Basic Bass: The Essential Updates

There have been some innovative reimaginings of the original game, but sometimes Pragmatic Play have stuck with what they know works.

Bigger Bass Bonanza (September 2021)

Okay, no awards for the title here, but ‘bigger’ is actually a good description. There’s a Florida element to the game, with a sprinkling of neon and synths, but this is essentially Big Bass Bonanza, only more so. There’s two more paylines than in the original, the maximum win has been doubled to x4000, and there are more Wilds on the reels, making it easier to retrigger the bonus round. The volatility increased too, so there are a few more empty nets with this version, but when you land a catch, the prize is much bigger.

Big Bass Bonanza: Keeping It Reel (October 2022)

The sixth installment in the series (and fortunately the only Big Bass game to feature a terrible pun in the title), Big Bass Bonanza: Keeping it Reel was only the second Big Bass game released in 2022, but it made a big splash. The average RTP was down slightly from a maximum of 96.07% compared to the 96.70% of its predecessors, but the top payout was substantially increased, from x5,000 with Big Bass Splash to x10,000.

Visually, there were no big changes, but there was a new Golden Fish symbol, worth a x2,000 payout on its own, along with the headline Reel It In feature, in which the fisherman could reel in money icons from off-screen if his net came up empty. It proved one of the most successful Big Bass installments, winning 2024 Game of the Year at the iGB Affiliate Awards.

Big Bass Floats My Boat (February 2024)

After a few digressions into diverse themes and new game mechanics, Pragmatic Play returned to basics with Big Bass Floats My Boat. This update transferred the action to the high seas, but didn’t introduce anything particularly new. The volatility was still high and the maximum win of x5000 was slightly underwhelming, given that there had already been four x10,000+ editions in the series. The Hold and Spin mechanic, which debuted a year earlier, was a small upgrade, but otherwise, this was a fairly standard and uneventful reboot.

Big Bass Bonanza Reel Action (May 2024)

The bold blue-and-white Reel Action banner attached to this game’s promotional banner gave the impression that there was something new about this edition, but on closer examination, it turned out to be a not-particularly inspiring retread. This was a slightly lower volatility variant than many of the others in the series, but the x2100 maximum win was a significant downgrade, and the ability to purchase the free spin round for x100 your stake (not available to UK players) felt like more of a cynical addition than an upgrade.

Bigger Bass Splash ( February 2025)

Pragmatic Play was not reinventing the wheel with this one, but Bigger Bass Splash, the first Big Bass game of 2025, offered more of an update than some of its predecessors. There was a slight change of scenery, with a shift to a tropical island and an appropriately relaxed soundtrack, but there were also no fewer than seven bonus features, including Dynamite Spin, Wipeout and the Bonus Hook, which gives you a chance to trigger one of five modifiers in the free spin game. It’s not groundbreaking, but it feels like less of a cash grab than some others in the series.

Big Bass Bonanza 1000 (April 2025)

The 25th Big Bass game, and in a way it is remarkable that Pragmatic Play have been able to squeeze another variant out of the same basic game. There’s very little difference between Big Bass 25 and Big Bass 1, although there are a few tweaks. The maximum win is up to x20,000, making it the joint highest in the series. There’s the potential to land a fish with a multiplier of x1000 your bet, and a new Bazooka feature in which money symbols are added randomly to the wheel. And that’s about it. Five years in and it’s fair to say this fish diet is a little monotonous.

Upgraded Bass: The Feature Slots

One of the ways that Pragmatic Play has tried to stir up the Big Bass pond is by linking the basic game with new game mechanics. This has sometimes been successful, sometimes less so.

Big Bass Bonanza Megaways (November 2021)

Given the ubiquity of Megaways slot versions, it was perhaps inevitable that we would see a Big Bass Bonanza Megaways and it duly arrived as the third of the series, in November 2021.
The Megaways feature was revolutionary when it first appeared, although most players are familiar with it by now. In Big Bass Bonanza Megaways there are six reels with varying numbers of symbols on each reel, creating a potential 46,656 ways to win. The Cascading Reels feature also makes an appearance here: winning symbols disappear, and new ones take their place.
Underneath, the game is largely unchanged. It is still a high volatility slot, and the maximum win is x4000. But the Megaways mechanic drastically changed the way the game felt to play, and this is one of the better entries in the Big Bass series.

Big Bass Hold and Spinner (March 2023)

For the ninth edition of the series, Pragmatic Play had a go at introducing the Hold and Spin mechanic, with some success. The original game is largely unchanged. It’s still a high volatility game, though only the second in the series to feature a five-figure maximum win.

The big change here is the additional bonus game. Land three coins on the reels and the Hold and Spin feature is triggered. In this game, only blanks and money symbols spin, for a total of four respins, and they reset when you land additional coins. The coins range in value up to x2000 and diamond symbols offer even bigger payouts. Like the Megaways innovation, this is an interesting departure and adds to the base game rather than repackaging it.

Big Bass Hold and Spinner Megaways (August 2023)

After Big Bass Megaways and Big Bass Hold and Spinner, what new idea could Pragmatic Play come up with next? None, as it turned out, but they did have the idea of throwing both of these mechanics together. This sounds like it could be a mess. The Megaways engine with its cascading reels, the Hold and Spinner feature with all of its diamonds, coins and sticky multipliers, and the original game, all mixed together?

In fact, it turns out to be quite a tasty fish stew. The RTP is at best 96.07% and the volatility is high, but there’s a big maximum win of x20,000 – at the time the most potentially lucrative Big Bass game. The main features complement each other well, in a chaotic, entertaining way, and while it doesn’t necessarily feel like a new game, it does feel like a souped-up version, like a fishing trawler that’s also a submarine and sometimes a battleship. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

Big Bass Bonanza 3-Reeler (November 2024)

For the 22nd Big Bass game, Pragmatic Play took a more mellow, retro approach. Big Bass Bonanza 3-Reeler is a medium-high volatility slot, with a modest x5,000 maximum win, but its main selling point is the striking use of an old-fashioned three-reel layout. In an era of six-reel slots, Cluster Pays, Megaways and expanding reels, there’s something refreshing about going back to a simpler game mechanic. The popular elements of the original are still in place, but the game feels less frenetic and complicated, and it was a welcome change of pace.

Calendar Bass: The Seasonal Editions

Like sitcom writers casting around for episode ideas, it was perhaps inevitable that Pragmatic Play would at some point give us some seasonally themed varieties.

Christmas Big Bass Bonanza ( December 2021)

Think of the laziest way of linking a slot game with Christmas. Maybe put the main character in a Santa hat? Sprinkle some ice and snow visuals everywhere? Throw in some jingling bells?
Well, you’ve just described all of the original features of Christmas Big Bass Bonanza. Everything else is exactly the same. The RTP is between 94.6% and 96.71%, there’s five reels, ten paylines and a maximum win of x2100. The name of the game is literally the original title with the word ‘Christmas’ stuck in front of it. That really tells you all you need to know.

Bigger Bass Blizzard (November 2022)

A year on and Pragmatic Play set out once again to prove that an icy environment doesn’t always keep your fish fresh. This time, they made more effort with the name, but don’t let that fool you. Don’t be taken in either by the cute, animated holiday sequence that opens the game: that’s pretty much the end of the innovation. The gameplay at Bigger Bass Blizzard is nearly identical to the original. There are five reels, twelve paylines and the familiar free spins game. It’s Big Bass Bonanza in a Santa suit, with a soundtrack that appears to be a banjo version of Jingle Bells.

Big Bass Halloween (October 2023)

In 2023, we got two seasonal fishy offerings, the first being Big Bass Halloween. As with the previous two Christmas editions, the game pretty much designs itself. Original game mechanics? Check. High volatility? Check. Five reels, ten paylines? Check. Thrown-together seasonal aesthetic? Well, judge for yourself. For this edition, we got jack-o-lantern fish, spooky music and a fisherman with the worst trick or treat costume ever. The only scary thing about this game was how Pragmatic Play kept getting away with this.

Big Bass Christmas Bash (November 2023)

A month later we got the third Big Bass Christmas game, but this time, Pragmatic Play decided to give us more than a snowy reskin. The festive aesthetic is back, but there are new elements to the gameplay. The most notable addition is the Fisherman Wild symbol. This symbol is able to collect money from the fish during the free spins bonus game, and there are modifiers to be activated before the free spins begin. It doesn’t count as a reinvention of the game, but there’s enough new elements here to make this the best of the seasonal Big Bass titles.

Big Bass Halloween 2 (October 2024)

Like its predecessor, Big Bass Halloween 2 doesn’t bring anything new to the table in terms of gameplay, and this is essentially a reskin of the original game. This time, though, Pragmatic Play has made an extra effort to incorporate the theme into the presentation and gameplay.

This time, the fisherman wields a chainsaw rather than a rod, the water has a red tinge, and there are some appropriately creepy symbols, including insects, spiders, dead fish, and pumpkin Wilds, while the soundtrack is appropriately eerie. The maximum RTP is a healthy 96.64% and the top win available is x5000. For a reskin, it’s a good one, and this is one of the better editions of the Big Bass saga.

Big Bass Xmas Xtreme (November 2024)

Pragmatic Play were trying a little too hard with the name, but by the standards of their first two Christmas-themed Big Bass games, this isn’t awful. The original format is untouched, though this time the maximum win is x5000, and the RTP ranges from 94.05% to 96.07%.

The free spins round is still the strongest part of the game, but this time a little more effort has gone into the wintry aesthetic. It all takes place on a frozen lake that could be in Antarctica or Lapland, there’s a suggestion of the aurora borealis in the background, and the fisherman is decked out in ice fishing gear. It doesn’t rate very highly on the ‘Xtreme’ scale, but like Big Bass Halloween 2 it’s a better effort at incorporating a seasonal theme into a solid game.

Bass Out of Water: The Theme Shows

Seasonally themed slots are a good way to keep churning out the Big Bass clones, but what do you do when it isn’t Christmas or Halloween? Brace yourself because we’re about to sail into some very strange waters indeed.

Big Bass Splash (June 2022)

There was a six-month gap between the release of Christmas Big Bass Bonanza and this Western-themed Big Bass game, which has proven to be one of the most popular in the series.
In this edition, the fisherman is wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots and has a lasso, presumably so he can lasso any fish that try to get away. There’s a banjo soundtrack, a backdrop that has a vaguely Grand Canyon vibe, monster truck icons and bull horns on the tackle box. None of it makes sense, but it kind of works.

That may be because beyond the chaotic aesthetic, the game itself has been refreshed. The volatility is high and maximum RTP is 96.7% but the big change is the addition of pre-bonus round modifiers that are awarded at random each time you trigger the free spins bonus. These include more Wilds, extra spins or more fish symbols, and they add significantly more enjoyment to a basic game that was in need of a shakeup.

Club Tropicana (February 2023)

You could argue that Club Tropicana is not technically part of the Big Bass Universe. There is, after all, no bass in the title, nor in the game. In fact, there’s no fishing at all, as the setting this time is a beach bar in a vaguely tropical location at night.

Two things make this a Big Bass game. First, the fisherman is back, this time rebranded as a dodgy 1970s barman, complete with medallion, sunglasses, and a shirt that appears to be missing some buttons. More importantly, the game is essentially the same. The free spins round works in the same way, but now there are piles of cash to catch in place of fish, and the fishing gear symbols have been replaced by fruit. It’s the same old Big Bass gameplay, wrapped in a gaudy, over-the-top aesthetic that is different enough to make this one of the better variants.

Big Bass Amazon Xtreme (June 2023)

Four months later Pragmatic Play released this Amazon-themed Big Bass title in which the fisherman takes his boat and tackle to the Brazilian rainforest. He spends most of his time slumbering in his boat on a murky looking river, although the free spins round takes place in an interesting jungle temple. Both settings are entertaining, the soundtrack is lively and there are enough additional features to elevate this game above the standard Big Bass reboots.

The maximum win is among the highest in the series at x10,000, and the Money Symbols feature, in which the slumbering fisherman wakes up and scoops up all of the money fish on the reels is enough to keep you playing this high volatility game. The free spins round also offers a selection of random modifiers, including extra multipliers or bigger fish values. This busy, colourful Big Bass variant showed that there was still some bite left in this series.

Big Bass Day at the Races (March 2024)

Big Bass where? At first glance, there isn’t much of a link between fishing and horse racing, but check the date of this equine adventure and you’ll see it was released around the time of the Cheltenham Festival. Pragmatic Play’s attempt to lure horse racing punters was not subtle, then, but in this case, the bait was surprisingly tasty.

The fisherman is now a jockey, the fish have been replaced by horse-and-jockey symbols, and the Money Symbols feature involves a winning post moving back and forth across the screen collecting cash. It makes no sense, obviously, but it definitely represents something new.

Presentationally, it’s a little basic. The game is set against a generic racecourse backdrop and features standard racing sounds, but the equine version of the free spins round is particularly inventive. This time, when you launch the bonus game, you get to pick horses, each of which can generate a random modifier, and you can retrigger the feature to earn up to 80 free spins, with a maximum x50 multiplier. Surprisingly, this one doesn’t fall at the first.

Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake (April 2024)

A month after giving us a horse racing-themed Big Bass game, Pragmatic Play ventured into slightly more logical territory with Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake. This time, the fisherman is less evident, though he appears to have had an upgrade as he’s wearing a crown when he appears on the reels.

The game continues with the same basic presentation style that was evident with Big Bass Day At the Races. In this case, there’s a golden shimmer on the water, some medieval music and a discarded sword, but that’s about it as far as the theme goes. The free spins game does offer an interesting twist though, thanks to the Golden Lake feature in which the fisherman can hook gold diamonds and rewind the reels to land more prizes. The maximum RTP is 96.07% and there’s a x5000 maximum win for this high volatility edition.

Big Bass Mission Fishin’ (June 2024)

Yes, it’s the angling/secret agent crossover that literally nobody was asking for. For Big Bass Mission Fishin’ there’s a generic soundtrack, and some unremarkable tweaks to the reel symbols that don’t really grab the imagination.

The best part of this game, as with most of the Big Bass series, is the free spins round, and this time there’s a new twist. You can opt for the regular free spins game and pick a modifier from a collection of secret file icons. Alternatively, you can choose the Stack the Cash option.

This game is played with coin symbols that take on random values. When a fish coin hits the reel, a bomb is dropped on a random reel, which doubles the value of the other fish coins. Oh, and there’s a robot crab too. It’s enough of a diversion to make this an above average variant.

Big Bass Vegas Double Down Deluxe (September 2024)

For this Vegas-themed edition, there’s a new feature, the Double Down, which is essentially a bet-boosting mechanic in which you can gamble with your winnings to get a chance at a bigger win. It’s not the most player-friendly feature, but to be fair, it goes with the Vegas theme.

Otherwise, this is the base game with a sprinkling of glitter, a Vegas skyline and neon splashed everywhere. The volatility is very high, and the RTP ranges from 94.5% to 96.5%. It’s kind of flashy, but ultimately leaves you feeling a little empty inside, a little like Vegas.

Bigger Bass Splash (February 2025)

Big Bass Splash had a Western theme, but a little confusingly, for Bigger Bass Splash, Pragmatic Play switched to a tried-and-trusted tropical island aesthetic.  Don’t dwell too much on the theme, however, as this is a fairly basic reskin of the original game, but with one or two extra features. The maximum win is x5000 and the RTP maximum is 96.5%, which puts it in the upper ranks of the series for return to player value.

The features to note are the Dynamite Spins, which generate fish money symbols when a fisherman Wild appears with no fish; the Hook feature, which drags fisherman Wilds onto the reels and Wipeout, which changes all of the symbols on the reels. It isn’t a reinvention, but there are enough bonuses and features to keep players interested.

Big Bass Return to the Races (February 2025)

Released in the same month as Bigger Bass Splash, it’s the sequel that no-one was asking for, but Pragmatic Play decided we needed another horse/fish fusion, so here we are.

Presentationally, it is almost identical to Big Bass at the Races with the addition of multiple fisherman jockeys who serve as the money fish replacements. There are two versions of the free spins round: standard free spins, in which you pick a random modifier by choosing a card, and Gold Cup free spins, which are essentially the same, but feature only jockey, Wild and blank symbols. And that’s about it. With a maximum win of x5000 and RTP between 94.05% and 96.07% there’s not a lot in the way of innovation here.

Big Bass Expanded

Not content with dominating the slots world, Pragmatic Play have ventured into other genres, the first of which was crash games with Big Bass Crash.

Big Bass Crash (2023)

The Big Bass formula doesn’t immediately lend itself to Crash games, in which players have to choose the right moment to cash out. In this case, the game features the Big Bass fisherman in a boat that moves across the screen heading for the inevitable crash.

There’s not a lot going on in terms of gameplay, and while the maximum win of x5000 is similar to the slot versions of Big Bass, the RTP is 95.5%, which is a little lower, though not unusual for Crash games. There’s also a social element with a chat facility and a game leaderboard.

Big Bass Bingo (February 2025)

Big Bass Bingo is a 30-ball bingo variant in which players have to daub off fish instead of bingo balls as they aim to reel in a golden fish, along with the usual jackpot and full house prizes. The game features random awards of golden fish on your ticket, and there are two jackpots.

The Daily Catch is seeded at £2,000, but the big one is The Big Catch, which is a £10,000 seeded progressive jackpot. It has very little to do with the original slot game, but if you’re a bingo fan and you enjoyed the Big Bass series of slots, you may find this hits your sweet spot.

Big Bass: The Good and the Bad

As with any long-running game series, there are some editions that are better than others, some classics, some stinkers and some quirky mishits that kind of work.

The Good

• Simple and engaging gameplay: The core mechanics are easy to pick up, and newcomers will not have any problem getting their heads around the gameplay, even in the later variants.
• High win potential: This is not the case with all of the Big Bass games, but some, such as Big Bass Day at the Races and Big Bass Hold and Spinner feature x10,000 or 20,000 maximums.
• Great visuals and animations: Again, this doesn’t apply to all of the games, but the quality of the visuals across the series is pretty high.
• High volatility: All of the Big Bass games can be classified either as High or Medium-High volatility, and if you prefer higher risk and bigger rewards, that will appeal.

The Bad

• Lack of major innovation: While many of the games offer a new twist on the basic theme, the core gameplay hasn’t changed much across all 25 editions.
• High volatility can be frustrating: The potential for big wins is high, but so are the dry spells, making it tough for players who prefer a steadier return.
• Limited bonus features: Along with the repetitive gameplay mechanic, Big Bass titles tend to stick to the same bonus structures, which can get a bit stale over time.

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

From a simple but engaging beginning, the Big Bass series has become a slot phenomenon, spawning new titles every year and spreading across casino sites like weed on a pond.

To be fair to Pragmatic Play, the original Big Bass game had a lot going for it. And for many players, particularly those new to slots game, it is an accessible and welcoming series. The reel action is simple, the features are easy to follow, and there are some big potential payouts, which can range up to x20,000 depending on which variant you’re playing.

The RTP figures are respectable across the whole series, though as ever, make sure to check the paytable at your casino. All of these Big Bass variants come with three RTP variants, and you obviously always want to be playing the highest, which range from 96.07% up to 96.71%.

On the flip side, the endearing simplicity of the original can wear a little thin by the time you get to the 25th edition of the series. Yes, the themes change, from festive lakes to tropical waters, and the occasional haunted fishing trip, but for a 25-game series, it is remarkable how little experimentation Pragmatic Play have risked throughout.

You have to assume that the numbers add up for this high profile developer, but from the perspective of a slots fan, the law of diminishing returns definitely kicks in.

One area that is an obvious opportunity for significant variety is the volatility. All of the Big Bass games rate high or medium-high on the volatility scale. That means some long waits between wins and for newcomers who were attracted by the engaging theme and straightforward gameplay, that may well lead to a frustrating gaming experience.

It’s also fair to criticise the gameplay. At a time when game developers have been experimenting with all kinds of new bonus rounds and gameplay mechanics, the most that we have got in the way of change in this series is a couple of Megaways editions. And although the free spins round was the main selling point of the original game, it would be great to see some alternative ideas.

Like Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, Mega Moolah and Gates of Olympus, the original Big Bass Bonanza can be considered a classic of the slots genre, and it was deservedly an award winner. There are also enough good variants in the series (Big Bass Bonanza: Keeping It Reel, Big Bass Hold and Spinner Megaways) to justify Pragmatic Play’s obsession with this game. But after 25 editions, even the biggest Big Bass fan would struggle to justify any more fishy outings.