Big Bass Return to the Races: Slot Overview
Pragmatic Play's fishy frens Reel Kingdom is heading to the horse races, again, in order to put out another rendition of its popular Big Bass slots, again. Titled Big Bass Return to the Races, players are in for another batch of wild symbol caught Money symbol action. Those hoping for some new mechanics will be sorely disappointed, though, since this weird amalgamation of horses, racing, and fishing connotations was made possible by fitting a race track skin over Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake.
This might sound weird too, but if you like grass, you might like Big Bass Return to the Races' visuals, where a lush green race track area backgrounds a gaming grid also covered in lush green grass. Amusingly, the music used in Big Bass Return to the Races' demo was the same as that used in the Golden Lake game, cementing the link and eliciting an internal hehe moment. Hopefully the developer will update the audio before Big Bass Return to the Races goes to market. Or not; it seems like there are a lot of gamblers willing to put up with recycled components when it comes to Big Bass-related slots.
A 5x3 reelset is Big Bass Return to the Races' metaphorical race track, where 10 built-in paylines evaluate winning combinations. Players have access to two bonus buy options, an ante bet, and a stake range of 10 c to $/€250. The RTP for all of them is the same at 96.07% at best. Switching on the ante bet adds 50% to the stake to increase the chances of triggering free spins.
Big Bass Return to the Races lands ten pay symbols on its reels. Awarding 5 to 10 times the bet are the 10 to A card rank symbols, followed by horses, binoculars, beer, boxes, and champagne bucket high pays worth 20 to 200 times the bet. Wilds substitute for any paying symbols, but they do not appear in the base game.
Big Bass Return to the Races: Slot Features
Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols trigger 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. In the base game, when 2 scatters hit, there's a chance the third scatter comes into view by a respin if visible scatters can move down a position and stay on the grid, or a random scatter may just appear. Before free spins start, players pick a card from 12 possible cards to reveal the type of free spins awarded. If a bonus card is revealed, a regular free spins session triggers. If a Golden Cup card is revealed, Golden Cup Free Spins are triggered instead.
Free Spins
During regular free spins, each landed wild symbol collects all the values of Money symbols on the reels. Horse symbols are the Money symbols, and they have values of 2x to 5,000x the bet. All wild symbols are collected too, and every 4th wild collected retriggers the feature by awarding +10 free spins and a multiplier for Money symbol collection of x2 for the second level, x3 for the third level, and x10 for the fourth level. After the fourth level, the feature cannot be retriggered again.
Golden Cup Free Spins
Golden Cup Free Spins are played on a grid that lands blanks, Money symbols and wild symbols only. On each spin, all winlines or combinations with Money symbols are paid, and each wild in view collects the value of all Money symbols on the reels. The basic rules are otherwise the same as the regular free spins game.
During any free spins round, randomly, when there are wild symbols on the reels but no Money symbols, at the end of the spin, Money symbols may appear in random positions. Or, when there are Money symbols but no wild, a lasso may pull a random reel to bring a wild into view. Lastly, when there are wilds on the reels but no Money symbols, a curtains animation may appear to change all symbols except for wilds into something else.
Feature Buy
Big Bass Return to the Races lets players pay 100x to trigger either free spins or Golden Cup Free Spins, or pay 270x to trigger Golden Cup Free Spins.
Big Bass Return to the Races: Slot Verdict
If there weren't enough Big Bass slots already, Prag and Reel Kingdom go and make a horse racing-themed variant, again. We've already been to the track with these guys before in Big Bass Day at the Races, and the features here aren't exactly engorged with ingenuity. For the most part, it's the usual waiting around in the base game for free spins to trigger so wild symbols can catch Money symbols and level up, bringing multipliers into the fray. Bog standard Big Bass stuff that has been wheeled out countless times before. So many times, it's gotten a little boring. Or a lot boring.
In this case, Big Bass Return to the Races is basically a reskin go Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake, which was pretty average, so-so, kind of okay, to begin with. The thing that separates these slots from the general pack is the Golden Lake/Golden Cup Free Spins round. Okay, yeah, that round is a bit different than usual. Though not brand new, obviously. It's kind of thought-provoking, too, in some ways. Since Golden Cup Free Spins are the same as regular free spins, except regular paying symbols are removed from the reel strips, does it mean players are set to enjoy themselves more or have a better chance of achieving the 5,000x win cap during Golden Cup Free Spins compared to regular free spins? Maybe, maybe not. Who can say?
On that note, who can say when this Big Bad madness will end? There are no signs of it doing so anytime soon. One wonders if the series is going to go out with a massive bang, putting on a show the likes of which no one has ever seen before, or just fizzle out and fade away. While Big Bass Secrets Of The Golden Lake was okay, fishing in the Middle Ages wasn't without a certain novelty factor; Big Bass Return to the Races leans closer to the fizzle side.
Big Bass Return to the Races is, well, we all know the deal by now.
