Big Bass Bonanza Megaways: cascades and the fishing bonus
Big Bass Bonanza Megaways combines up to 46,656 ways to win with a fishing bonus whose retriggers multiply both ordinary wins and collected fish.
The reels keep changing height, winning symbols tumble, and the fisherman collects after the cascades finish. Its 4,000x total-bet round limit puts a ceiling on the whole sequence.
Pragmatic Play and Reel Kingdom released this edition in 2021. Choose it for the combination of ways wins and a collector feature: the important screen is the one left after the tumbling, when the fish and fishermen can finally be counted.
Six changing reels, rather than a fixed line pattern
The main game has six reels. Reels 1 and 6 can each show up to six symbols. Reels 2 to 5 have up to five main symbols each, with another position above each of them on a separate top reel. At the fullest arrangement, six positions on every reel produce 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 = 46,656 possible ways. A shorter reel arrangement gives fewer ways. That maximum is a layout count, not 46,656 winning combinations on every spin.
Matching symbols pay from left to right on adjacent reels, starting on reel 1. Their vertical positions can differ. A missing matching symbol on a reel breaks the run; matching symbols beyond that gap do not extend it. The separate top-row positions belong to reels 2 to 5 when matching ways are counted. The top reel moves independently, while the paying direction still begins on the leftmost main reel.
For each winning way, the game pays its highest qualifying combination. It then adds wins from separate ways. You do not receive the three-symbol and four-symbol awards for the same four-symbol way together.
Worked example: how one symbol makes several ways
Suppose a USD 2 spin has two fishing rods on reel 1, three on reel 2 and one on reel 3, with no rod or substituting wild on reel 4. There are 2 x 3 x 1 = 6 winning ways for three rods. The three-rod award is 1x the total bet per way, so those ways pay 6 x 1 x USD 2 = USD 12.
This hypothetical result includes only that rod combination. A longer match, another symbol win or a later tumble would require its own calculation. The number of displayed Megaways and the number of winning ways are different quantities.
Every ordinary symbol payout uses the total bet
These awards are multipliers of the whole total bet for one winning way, before a free-spin stage multiplier. Multiply the award by the total bet and by the number of qualifying ways. The float pays from two adjacent reels; every other ordinary symbol begins at three. "No payout" means that count has no printed award.
Fishing float
- 2 reels
- 2x
- 3 reels
- 5x
- 4 reels
- 10x
- 5 reels
- 25x
- 6 reels
- 50x
Fishing rod
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 1x
- 4 reels
- 2x
- 5 reels
- 2.5x
- 6 reels
- 7.5x
Dragonfly
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.25x
- 4 reels
- 1x
- 5 reels
- 1.5x
- 6 reels
- 2x
Tackle box
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.25x
- 4 reels
- 0.5x
- 5 reels
- 0.75x
- 6 reels
- 2x
Fish
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.2x
- 4 reels
- 0.4x
- 5 reels
- 0.6x
- 6 reels
- 1.75x
A
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.2x
- 4 reels
- 0.4x
- 5 reels
- 0.6x
- 6 reels
- 1.75x
K
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.2x
- 4 reels
- 0.25x
- 5 reels
- 0.6x
- 6 reels
- 1x
Q
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.15x
- 4 reels
- 0.25x
- 5 reels
- 0.5x
- 6 reels
- 1x
J
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.15x
- 4 reels
- 0.25x
- 5 reels
- 0.5x
- 6 reels
- 0.9x
10
- 2 reels
- No payout
- 3 reels
- 0.1x
- 4 reels
- 0.2x
- 5 reels
- 0.4x
- 6 reels
- 0.8x
The net marked WILD substitutes for ordinary paying symbols. It appears only on the top row above reels 2, 3, 4 and 5, and substitutes for neither the scatter nor the fisherman. That makes its position useful when it connects a left-to-right run, but a wild above reel 2 cannot create the missing start on reel 1.
The fisherman has a separate collection job during free spins. The scatter starts that feature and has no cash payout of its own. A fish has two jobs: it is an ordinary paying symbol in the table and can carry a separate money value for the fisherman to collect. The fish's 1.75x six-reel award and a money value printed on a fish are different awards.
Cascades finish before the fisherman settles the fish
After a ways win, winning symbols disappear and symbols above fall into their spaces. The game fills the remaining gaps with new symbols of the same size as in the initial result. It checks the replacement arrangement for another win and continues until the tumbling produces no further winning combination. Successive cascades in that round cost no extra stake. The base-spin total is credited after the sequence finishes.
Fish tumble normally in the base game. During free spins they stay on screen and fall towards the bottom as other winning symbols tumble. Scatters do not tumble. The feature therefore needs its own reading order: finish the cascades, settle the ordinary fish ways, then collect the money values with the fishermen still visible.
The fish can carry 2x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x or 4,000x the total bet. Those money values are randomly assigned. Seeing one does not add it to the base-game payout: the collection belongs to the free-spin feature. Each fisherman collects the values of all visible money fish after cascading.
Worked example: two collectors on a 3x stage
Suppose the total bet is USD 1 and the final feature screen has fish worth 2x, 5x and 10x, plus two fishermen. Their fish total is (2 + 5 + 10) x USD 1 = USD 17. Each fisherman collects that USD 17, so two collectors make USD 34. On a 3x retrigger stage, the collection is USD 34 x 3 = USD 102.
Ordinary ways wins are added separately and also receive the stage multiplier. This is a hypothetical calculation, not a recorded spin. The round cap still applies to the combined result, including earlier wins in the same feature.
Scatters start the trip; fishermen extend it
Three or more scatters anywhere on the reels trigger free spins. The English USD demo configuration awards 10 spins for three scatters, 15 for four, 20 for five and 25 for six. The launch description lists the three-, four- and five-scatter awards; the six-scatter entry appears in the USD demo's trigger table. Use the trigger table for the build you open when checking the six-scatter award.
The feature uses special reels. Fishermen can appear on all reels during free spins, and all landed fishermen are collected towards the feature's progression. Every fourth collected fisherman qualifies another batch of 10 spins. Progression moves one stage at a time, when the required number of fishermen has been collected. The new batch begins after the previous batch ends; its multiplier belongs to those retriggered spins.
Starting batch
- How reached
- At least three scatters
- Spins
- 10, 15, 20 or 25
- Multiplier
- 1x
First retrigger
- How reached
- Four collected fishermen
- Spins
- 10 more
- Multiplier
- 2x
Second retrigger
- How reached
- Eight collected fishermen in total
- Spins
- 10 more
- Multiplier
- 3x
Third retrigger
- How reached
- Twelve collected fishermen in total
- Spins
- 10 more
- Multiplier
- 10x
The stage multiplier applies to all ordinary ways wins and fish collection, not only the money fish. It is the multiplier of the active batch. The 2x, 3x and 10x stages do not combine into a 60x multiplier, and qualifying for a later batch does not reprice wins from the earlier batch.
There are at most three retriggers. After twelve fishermen have advanced the feature through its progression, further fishermen do not add another stage or more spins. They can still act as collectors. Reaching the last stage therefore changes the payment multiplier without making the feature endless.
Dynamite and bazooka can rescue an empty collection
When a free spin finishes with only one or two fishermen and no fish on screen, a random dynamite animation can add money fish in random positions. A random bazooka animation can instead replace the other visible symbols while retaining the fishermen; the new symbols can include fish and more fishermen. These are possible interventions, not guaranteed rewards for an empty screen. They do not need a purchased feature or a player-selected target.
The familiar fisherman artwork can make it tempting to treat him as the game's wild. In this edition, watch the net for substitution and the fisherman for collection. That distinction explains both the base-game ways and what happens at the end of a free spin.
The 4,000x ceiling covers the whole round
The maximum round win is 4,000x the total bet. If the total reaches that limit, the game immediately ends the round, pays up to the cap and forfeits the remaining features. A USD 1 total bet therefore has a USD 4,000 round ceiling. This is a maximum, not a predicted outcome or a cash prize available on demand.
A fish carrying 4,000x does not remove that ceiling. Extra fishermen or a 10x stage can make the uncapped arithmetic larger, but the round's payout still stops at 4,000x. Ordinary ways wins and earlier collection awards use the same round allowance. The game has no progressive jackpot; "max win" describes this fixed total-bet limit.
RTP and stake limits belong to a configuration
The provider catalogue gives 96.70% RTP. The USD demonstration help also has a 96.72% configuration, whose stake range and volatility label differ from those in the provider's game overview.
USD demo help
- RTP
- 96.72%
- Volatility label
- Medium
- Total stake
- USD 0.20 to USD 240
Provider game-overview configuration
- RTP
- 96.70%
- Volatility label
- High
- Total stake
- USD 0.20 to USD 100
The release announcement also describes the game as high volatility. These are configuration labels, not a measured frequency of wins. Keep the RTP, limits and volatility shown by the opened game's information screen together; do not pair the 96.72% figure with the USD 100 maximum from the other configuration or convert the dollar limits into a promised PLN stake range.
RTP is a theoretical long-run return on total stakes. For a hypothetical USD 2,000 of turnover at 96.72%, the theoretical expected difference is USD 2,000 x (1 - 0.9672) = USD 65.60. Turnover is the sum of stakes across rounds. It is not a USD 2,000 deposit, an actual loss, or a prediction that a session will return exactly 96.72%. RTP does not tell you the chance of winning one spin or reaching the fisherman stages.
Open the browser demo and read its own settings
Big Bass Bonanza Megaways uses the game ID vswaysbbb. The provider's English demo-entry link requests USD and opens a separate browser page. Demo credits are simulated funds and cannot be withdrawn.
The information button opens the rules and payout screens. The plus and minus buttons open the stake menu; the CREDIT and BET labels can switch the display between cash and coins. Settings also cover sound, speed, intro screens and game history. Autoplay has its own start and stop controls where the build provides it. Speed controls change presentation, not the payout calculation explained above.
Can you buy the free spins?
The described Megaways rules start the feature with scatters. They do not list a bonus-buy price or a gamble option. Big Bass Splash's 100x purchase belongs to that separate fixed-line edition. For this Megaways game, the established feature route is the scatter trigger; any different feature menu needs its own game-specific terms.
Before moving from a demo to a casino account, separate the game's rules from the account's bonuses and payments. A promotional free-spin offer is an award with its own wagering conditions. It does not change the slot's scatter count, collector progression or round cap.
Compare the casino account as well as the slot
Vavada's review explains its catalogue, account and bonus choices. Use that account comparison separately from the exact game title and settings in the casino's lobby.
Vavada
Slots and live games from Pragmatic Play, Evolution Gaming and Hacksaw Gaming, with monthly cashback and six account statuses.
- Cashback
- 10% of cumulative net losses, less prior cashback; x5 wageringCalculated from account debits minus credits, less cashback already paid.
- Featured slot
- The Dog HouseOriginal game by Pragmatic Play.
- Live game
- Crazy TimeEvolution Gaming.
Megaways or Big Bass Splash?
Big Bass Bonanza Megaways suits a reader who wants changing ways and cascading wins alongside the fisherman ladder. Its distinctive condition is timing: the fish remain during the feature's tumbles, collection follows the cascades, and the active stage multiplies both the ordinary wins and the collected money.
Big Bass Splash follows a different route, with a 5 x 3 layout and 10 fixed lines. Its fisherman is also a wild, it has modifiers before the feature and hook rescues, and its rules describe a 100x-total-bet feature purchase with a 5,000x round limit. Those rules stay with Splash. The two editions share fishing artwork, but they need different payout calculations and different expectations of how a bonus round unfolds.
Choose Megaways for the variable-reel and tumble sequence. Choose Splash when fixed lines and its separate feature options are the attraction. Keep the complete game title beside any demo or casino listing so the right rules follow the right game.
