Bonanza Slot Review

Bonanza Game Details

RTP:	96.00%
Reels:	6
Paylines:	117,649

Jackpot:	50 x Stake
Progressive:	No
Bonus Round:	No

Free Spins:	Yes
Auto Play Feature:	Yes
Scatter Symbol:	Yes

Contents show

Bonanza is one of the most famous and well-known video slots ever released, and it’s developed by Australian studio Big Time Gaming.

With a maximum of 117,649-ways-to-win, an Unlimited Free Spins Bonus and a “Win Reaction” feature, there’s plenty of action unfolding in Bonanza, and in this in-depth Bonanza slot review I’m going to tell you all about the game, what you can expect when playing it – and I’ll kick things off with a look at how to play.

Over the past few years, Big Time Gaming have entered the mainstream iGaming industry at record pace, thanks to the creation of their unique game engine called Megaways. This is present in Bonanza, and it means there are no paylines; instead, wins are formed from left-to-right, and each spin sees the number of symbols on each reel varying from 2 to 7. There are a total of 6 rows.

How To Play

Bonanza is incredibly easy-to-play, although I should point out that the game is delivered both by Big Time Gaming directly, and via Microgaming’s Quickfire platform.

The game remains the same regardless of which platform you play from, but there are some very subtle differences in the game’s user-interface. For the purpose of this review, I’m going to look at the Big Time Gaming’s version of the game.

It’s nice and simple to select how much you want to stake on each spin on Bonanza, and I find that most online casinos allow you to stake from as little as 20p, and as much as £20 per spin. This may seem like quite a low maximum bet limit, and it’s all to do with the potential the game can offer; it’s quite possible for Bonanza to produce wins upwards of 10,000X!

You simply need to scroll through the stakes on offer, and once you’ve decided upon the one you want, simply hit the big green spin button, and the game will begin to unfold.

Strangely, Big Time Gaming have opted not to include a quick-play function in Bonanza, although you will find yourself able to set up an autoplay system. This allows you to pre-set up to 100 spins to play out automatically, saving you from having to click the spin button every time.

Like all reputable mobile slot providers, Big Time Gaming allows you to view in-depth information about the game. For example, in the paytable you can learn more about the various symbols and payouts, and you can also read the game’s rules – the help files, as they’re known. It’s also possible to view the RTP of the slot from within these help files.

Symbols and Payouts

As I so often see in today’s online gambling world, Bonanza chooses to use playing card values, including 10, jack, queen, king, and ace as the game’s lower-paying symbols. Interestingly, I found that Big Time Gaming also decided to include a 9 – this is the lowest-paying symbol. The premium symbols include Green, Red and Blue Gems, though it’s the Purple Gem you’ll really want to keep an eye on. Matching a 6-of-a-kind combo of this Purple Gem will award a 50X stake payout.

I should note, that while Bonanza’s symbols may not pay particularly well on their own, it’s the fact that the game is an “all-ways-pays” slot, meaning you can line up multiple variations of each symbol, awarding substantial payouts.

Bonus Features

There’s one main bonus round in Bonanza – the free-spins feature it’s famed for. However, there’s also a smaller, in-game bonus which I’m going to be talking about below too.

Win Reactions

During the base-game, you’ll notice that any wins you manage to form triggers the “win reaction” feature. This basically means that the symbols that are involved with the win disappear off screen (in an explosive animation), and new ones drop down to take their place. What’s really cool, is that this Win Reactions mechanism can continue indefinitely, so there’s no limit to the number of wins you can have in a single spin!

Free Spins

The main free-spins bonus in Bonanza is triggered by landing 4 or more of the gold scatter symbols anywhere in view. Doing so awards you with 12 free-spins. For every additional scatter symbol you land in view, you’ll receive an additional 5 free-spins. I should point out that it’s very hard to trigger Bonanza’s free-spins bonus; the CEO of Big Time Gaming himself stated that it tends to drop in – on average – one in every 350 spins.

During the free-spins bonus, the win reactions feature continues to be present, but there’s a slight twist. With each win, the multiplier will increase by 1X. There is no limit to how high this multiplier can reach, and this is what gives the slot its incredible win-potential – it’s possible to reach a multiplier as high as 50X+!

I should also point out that it’s possible to re-trigger additional free-spins. On the top reel, you’ll notice that Gold Carts appear during the bonus round. Landing three of these in view, during the bonus, will award an additional 5 free-spins. If you’re lucky enough to land four of them in view, you’ll be awarded with an additional 10 free-spins.

Like the multiplier, there’s no limit on the number of free-spins you can receive, and I’ve personally seen videos of people having upwards of 40 free-spins, with a multiplier of over 70X! If you’re lucky enough to reach this stage, you’re virtually guaranteed a big win!

Jackpot and How To Win

Interestingly, even the developers of Bonanza aren’t quite sure of its win-potential. They’ve performed hundreds of millions of spins, and have managed to procure results well in excess of 20,000X your stake – but as for now, as far as I know, the highest that a player has managed to win is slightly over 14,000X their stake. Of course, this is still an incredible amount of money, and it would net you a whopping £28,000 from a £2 bet!

Unfortunately, there aren’t really any ways to increase your chances of winning at Bonanza. Unlike progressive jackpot slots, for example, the size of your stake doesn’t bear any impact on the RTP, and you won’t find yourself having an increased chance by staking a higher amount.

However, I can offer one piece of advice; generally speaking, Bonanza isn’t one of those games that you play for a few minutes, hoping for a big win, and then run away from. Instead, it’s more of what players would call a “grind” game. This means you’re likely to be putting in quite a long session playing it, in order to try and trigger the free-spins bonus.

This is really the only way of increasing your chances of winning, and I think it’s fair to say that the longer you play, the more chance you do have of triggering the main bonus round. I should also point out that Bonanza is generally pretty fair on your balance; some players call it one of the best wagering slots around, as you can often play a few hundred spins and see your balance changing very minimally.

Software

Unfortunately, one of the only downsides of playing Big Time Gaming’s slots is that the software is quite dated – and it’s certainly nowhere near as intuitive as we see from the likes of other game developers like NetEnt and Quickspin. Now, I’m not saying Big Time Gaming’s slots perform badly; far from it. But I think it’s fair to say they’re not quite as well mobile-optimized as some games from other software providers, although they’re still perfectly able to be played.

I actually find that playing Bonanza directly from Big Time Gaming yields a far more positive experience than using Microgaming’s Quickfire platform. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I think – as a general rule of thumb – you should always try to play Big Time Gaming’s version of Bonanza, where available.

Summary

Bonanza has become one of THE most-played video slots on the planet for good reason. It’s unique Megaways mechanic brings about an entirely new way of gaming, and for those looking to constant excitement, the possibility of big wins and a volatile game, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another game like it.

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(Of course, I should point out that Big Time Gaming has now licensed out their Megaways mechanic, and there are now more than 100 Megaways slots on the market) – however, none have the same levels of charm and charisma as Bonanza, and I love the fact that the free-spins bonus is capable of producing such monstrous wins.

My only complaint is the fact that it’s so hard to trigger the feature in the first place. However, to be fair, I should also point out that the average bonus win during the feature is 100X your stake, and this is much greater than you’ll find from virtually every other video slot on the planet.

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Alex Smith

Alex has worked in the iGaming industry for more than 8 years. He's an expert at crafting in-depth, impartial reviews - and covers everything from slots and casinos to sportsbooks and game guides. In his spare time, he likes to pick up a guitar - and he's currently (trying) to learn Chinese!