Big Bass Splash

Big Bass Splash is the Pragmatic Play fishing slot that arrived on 23 June 2022 as the fifth game in the Big Bass series, keeping the familiar shoreline theme of tackle boxes, rods and a new monster truck while adding a few tricks that make the road into the bonus round less frustrating than before. It runs on five reels and three rows with 10 fixed paylines that pay from left to right, and Pragmatic lists its default RTP at 96.71% with the top prize capped at 5,000 times your bet.

How the base game works

Most spins are about lining up the royals and the fishing symbols across the paylines, while the fish symbols carry random cash values that only come into play once the free spins start. The moments worth watching for come when two scatters land without a third, because the game can then nudge the reels holding a scatter down one position and respin the others, or send a hook to pull a reel up and reveal another scatter, which gives you an extra chance of reaching the feature.

Free spins and the fisherman collect

Three, four or five scatters award 10, 15 or 20 free spins, and before the round begins the game randomly applies anywhere from zero to five modifiers, which can put more fish or more fishermen on the reels, raise the chance of the dynamite, hook and bazooka features, start you at level two, or add two extra spins at the start and on every retrigger. During the round the fisherman wild collects the value of every fish money symbol on the screen, and every fourth fisherman you collect retriggers the feature with 10 more spins while lifting the collection multiplier to 2x, then 3x and finally 10x on the third retrigger, after which the round cannot be retriggered again. If your winnings in the round reach 5,000 times your bet it ends immediately and pays that capped amount, and at casinos that offer the feature buy you can go straight to the free spins for 100 times your total bet.

Who it suits

Big Bass Splash is widely rated as a high volatility slot, so long quiet spells in the base game are normal and most of the value sits inside the free spins, which makes it a better fit for patient players with a budget that can ride out dry runs than for anyone hoping for a steady trickle of small wins.

Playing on mobile

The game plays in the browser on Android phones and iPhones at casinos that carry it, and the free demo on Pragmatic Play's own site lets you learn how the features work before you put any money down. EasyBet is one of them; our review of a mobile casino you can join from R5 has the details.

Check the RTP before you play

Pragmatic supplies Big Bass Splash in more than one RTP setting, and independent trackers report lower versions at 95.67% and 94.60%, so before playing for real money it is worth opening the game's information or paytable screen to see which figure your casino is actually running.

Big Bass Splash is for players aged 18 and over only, so please play within your limits, and if gambling stops being fun you can call the National Responsible Gambling Programme on 0800 006 008, which is a free call.