Big Bass Bonanza – Reel Action sends Pragmatic Play’s fisherman back beneath the waves for another run at the series’ original format. Released in May 2024 in partnership with Reel Kingdom, it uses five reels, three rows and 10 fixed paylines.
Anyone familiar with the first Big Bass Bonanza will recognise most of what’s here. Fishing rods, floats, tackle boxes and dragonflies appear alongside the card symbols, while the Free Spins round brings back the Fisherman Wild and valuable Money Fish.
Reel Action concentrates on that bonus rather than filling the base game with separate modifiers. Three or more Fish Scatters open the feature, where each Fisherman collects all Money Fish values currently on screen. His appearances are also tracked above the reels, with every fourth one adding more spins and raising the multiplier.
One extra event can occur when a Fisherman lands without a Money Fish to collect. New fish may then be placed onto the reels at random, giving the angler something to pull in before the spin ends.
The game has a medium-to-high volatility profile, stakes beginning from £0.10 and a maximum win of 2,100 times the bet.
The game uses a 5x3 grid with 10 fixed paylines. Its layout does not change between spins, and there are no cascading wins or variable reel heights.
Regular combinations begin on the first reel. From there, matching symbols must continue onto the second and third reels, with longer runs reaching the fourth and fifth.
Several paylines can produce a return in the same spin. Each completed combination is calculated separately before the amounts are combined.
Fish Scatters work independently of the line system. They can contribute to a bonus trigger from any visible position.
Five card values - 10, J, Q, K and A, make up the lower-paying group. Above them are mixed fish, a dragonfly, tackle box, fishing rod and float.
The table shows the symbol values relative to the total amount staked:
Symbol | 3 Symbols | 4 Symbols | 5 Symbols |
Fish | 5x | 20x | 200x |
Tackle Box | 10x | 50x | 100x |
Fishing Rod | 15x | 75x | 150x |
Dragonfly | 10x | 30x | 75x |
Card Symbols (10-Ace) | 2x – 5x | 10x – 20x | 50x – 100x |
The float sits at the top of the regular paytable. It can also return a prize from only two matching symbols, while the remaining ordinary icons require at least three.
The Fisherman appears during Free Spins and can land across any of the five reels. As a Wild, he substitutes for regular paying symbols but cannot replace a Scatter.
He has a second job as the game’s collector. When a Fisherman and one or more Money Fish appear together, he gathers every visible value.
Fish become Money symbols during the bonus round, displaying amounts from 2x up to 2,000x the bet.
A visible value is not collected by itself. The Fisherman must land during that same round to pull it in.
The Fish Scatter is used to open the main bonus. It does not have to follow a payline and can contribute to the trigger from anywhere on the grid.
Three or more Fish Scatters start the feature:
The Fisherman and Money Fish mechanics become active once the first bonus spin begins. Progress made on the collection meter remains in place until the feature ends.
Whenever a Fisherman lands with Money Fish in view, he collects their combined value.
If the reels show fish worth 2x, 5x and 20x, for example, a single Fisherman collects 27x. Two Fishermen appearing alongside those same fish would each perform the collection.
The amount awarded is also affected by the active multiplier. At the beginning of the bonus, no enhanced multiplier has been unlocked. That changes as more Fishermen are added to the meter.
A Fisherman can land on a spin that initially contains no Money Fish. When this happens, there is a chance that regular positions will be replaced by new Money symbols.
Any fish added through this event can then be collected by the Fisherman already on screen. The modifier is random and will not activate after every otherwise-empty Wild.
Every Fisherman appearing during Free Spins advances the meter by one position. Three milestones are available:
Each multiplier applies to Money Fish collections during the corresponding retriggered spins. The meter does not return to zero after reaching a milestone; it continues towards the next group of four.
A feature that begins with 20 spins and reaches all three milestones can contain as many as 50 Free Spins.
The maximum win in Reel Action is 2,100 times the selected bet.
Individual Money Fish can display values as high as 2,000x, but all regular combinations, collections and multipliers count towards the same overall limit.
If the accumulated win reaches 2,100x during Free Spins, the bonus ends and the capped amount is awarded. Any unused spins are removed.
Reel Action stays extremely close to the original Big Bass Bonanza. Both use:
The 2024 version presents the familiar setup as a separate game with updated visuals and sound. It also places clear emphasis on the event that can add Money Fish when a lone Fisherman appears during the bonus.
The original remains the natural starting point for anyone who wants the first version of the Big Bass format. Reel Action offers another route into broadly similar mechanics without moving to a larger grid or Megaways system.
Players can also browse the wider Big Bass collection at Heart Bingo for Megaways games, jackpot editions and versions with expanded reel layouts.