Theme of the Game
Are you ready to go down the shaft and mine your way to the vast fortune you so rightfully deserve? Big Time Gaming has you covered with their release called Bonanza.
Even at first glance, it stands out much like the gems you’re trying to dig out from the earth, with a 6×4 playing field and a whopping 117,649 ways you can complete a winning combination. But be careful! Extracting the gems from the stone causes them to crack and break, which means new rocks will come down and fill their place.
But you’re feeling greedy. You want to get to your fortunes faster. If that’s the case, you’ll want to find some Wilds, conveniently shaped like sticks of dynamite lit up and ready to blow! These can replace any other icon on the grid, except Scatters.
And as far as Scatters go, they come in the shape of gold-plated letters. Get four Scatters that spell out GOLD, and the game will reward you with twelve free spins, which comes with a fun little screen transition that takes place inside the mineshaft itself. Bigger risk, bigger rewards!
Developer
Big Time Gaming is an Australian group that brought together a lot of talented developers under the same umbrella.
The results have been obvious – while they are far from a big, household name such as NetEnt or BetSoft, Big Time Gaming has already won the hearts of some slots enthusiasts with their releases. Licensed in the UK, Gibraltar, Canada and Alderney, their products are more often than not a safe bet due to strict regulations.
How To Play It
Bonanza looks and feels spectacular to play around with. The county music is going to be hit or miss depending if you like it, but it is easy enough to disable it. Graphics are smooth and simple, with more care put into animations on the sidelines and on the reels themselves.
Without any set paylines, the only thing you can adjust is the total stake, which ranges from $0.20 up to $20. Not a particularly wide variety, and some profit minded players will probably scoff at the maximum wager being that low. That said, thanks to the cascading reels, you could very quickly turn that $20 into a lot more.
In order to win, you need to have three same symbols placed left to right. The only thing that matters is for the icons to be adjacent to each other, and the size of the stone chunk does not matter.
And what kind of icons can you expect? The wins are split into a lower and higher tier. Lower tier symbols are 9, 10, J, Q and K, while higher paying icons comprise of different coloured gems.
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Special Features
The reactions, or cascading reels, are very important to take note of. Each winning combination will be replaced with different symbols as the stones crack away. For reels 2, 3, 4 and 5, you can see what icons will replace the ones that disappeared by the cart that sits above the reel. While the free spins bonus is active, each consecutive reaction also grants a multiplier.
In order to trigger the above mentioned bound round, however, you need to line up four Scatters across the reels, so they spell out the word Gold. In general, this is going to be a difficult sell, as special icons such as Wilds and Scatters are very rare in Bonanza.
Provided you do get lucky and get the Scatters you need, you are awarded twelve free spins, and are taken to a different playing field. It just looks different, but plays exactly the same as before. Each Scatter that appears while the bonus is active will grant five more free spins.
Maximum Payouts
If you were a high roller coming into this game hoping for a massive win, Bonanza sadly does not have anything close to satisfactory. The highest possible single win is $1000, and that amounts to getting six of the most valuable icon in a row while playing with the maximum wager, and the value of the gemstone after the first drops rapidly.
Instead, the real meat of this slot, and where most of the profits will come from, is getting lucky with the cascading reels. Chaining those falling stones together and building the multiplier is usually what it will take to dig yourself out of a hole.
Summary
In the grand scheme of things, we loved Bonanza. It has a certain charm to it, and it is rather fun to play, especially if you get lucky to chain a lot of reactions together for a massive win. But if you want to play this slot to come out ahead of cash, the chances are immensely low.
The special icons very rarely occur, and free spins are even more difficult to get. If you want to have fun, this game is great. If you want to turn a profit, you may want to look elsewhere.