Big Bang Boom

Big Bang Boom: Slot Overview

Hey players, if you've got a soft spot for things exploding, virtually on screen of course, then we might just have the ideal game for you. It's titled Big Bang Boom and comes from veteran online slot designer NetEnt. This isn't a game that says one thing in the title but delivers something else in practice. Big Bang Boom, on the contrary, unleashes a lot of explosive stuff onto its wildly expansive gaming grid in the form of Bomb symbols, which help keep the base game unpredictable, as well as providing a unique and unusual explosive hold 'n win style bonus round.

The first thoughts when viewing Big Bang Boom were, hmm, this is vaguely like Hacksaw Gaming's Chaos Crew. This impression was brought about by things like the use of neon colouring, the particular quality of the symbols, and the overall vibe. On the subject of vibe, Big Bang Boom's is full of boisterous vitality. The soundtrack, in all phases of play, is excellent, giving the game a rebellious, punky, EDM, hitting the town going clubbing to see what the night might bring type mood.

It also has a very expandable grid which starts each spin in the base game with 4 reels holding 4 symbols each. Utilising a ways to win pay system, Big Bang Boom's number of ways ranges from 256 to 10,000 when the gaming grid is fully grown. Highly volatile, Big Bang Boom is available in a range of RTP options, possessing a maximum return value of 96.07%. When making a wager, the options are 25 p/c to $/€100 per spin, with two bonus buys being available.

One of Big Bang Boom's quirks is that in the base game, the grid can expand only vertically. This means it is possible to land only winning combinations of 3 or 4 of a kind. For low pays, Big Bang Boom's got stencil fonted J to A card ranks, worth 0.16 to 0.2 times the bet for 4 OAK, and a blue smiley face, a green butterfly, a purple heart, and a yellow crown as the four premium symbols. A four-of-a-kind premium hit pays 0.4 to 1 times the bet. To finish off this section, Big Bang Boom does not have wild symbols, but it does have a stack of Bomb symbols.

Big Bang Boom: Slot Features

Features time, and here we've got Expanding Reels, Avalanches, Super Bombs, free spins, Treasure Prizes, plus the bonus buys to go over.

Expanding Reels

The game grid has 3 covered rows of positions above it and 3 covered rows of positions below it. A position is uncovered when a winning symbol is vertically adjacent to a covered position or a bomb explodes, and the explosion directly affects a covered position.

Avalanche Feature

A winning way or an exploding bomb starts the Avalanche feature. The winning symbols or parts of the explosion disappear from the reels, leaving space for new symbols to Avalanche in. Avalanches continue until no new win hits or no bombs are on the reels. When winning symbols and bombs are on the reels at the same time, the Avalanche occurs after winning symbols disappear, and bombs explode.

Super Bombs Feature

There are 7 types of bombs in the game. Bombs explode after wins are evaluated and cause Avalanches.

• Vertical Bomb – explodes in a vertical direction removing adjacent symbols to the top and bottom of its position.
• Horizontal Bomb – explodes in a horizontal direction, removing adjacent symbols to the left and right of its position.
• Diagonal Bomb – explodes in a diagonal direction, removing adjacent symbols at the corners of its position.
• Plus-pattern Bomb – explodes in a cross-shaped direction, removing symbols adjacent to its position on the top, bottom, left and right.
• Omni-directional Bomb – explodes along with all symbols adjacent to its position.
• Cluster Bomb – in the main game, it randomly uncovers 3-5 covered positions. In free spins, it explodes 3-5 random positions that are not occupied by other bombs.
• Persistent Bomb – only appears in free spins. It explodes along with all adjacent symbols to its position and persists till the feature ends, exploding on each spin.

The Vertical Bomb, Horizontal Bomb, Diagonal Bomb, and Plus-pattern Bomb appear in the base game or free spins. The Persistent Bomb only shows up in free spins. The Omni-directional Bomb and Cluster Bomb can appear in the Treasure Prize feature, base game, or in free spins.

Free Spins

A total of 6 free spins are awarded when all reels reach 10 positions high in the base game. Free spins are played on a 4x10 grid that can be expanded up to 8x10 – 2 extra reels left and 2 extra reels right. During the round, only Prizes with a value of x1, Vertical Bombs, Horizontal Bombs, Diagonal Bombs, Plus-pattern Bombs, and Persistent Bombs may land. When Prizes land, they lock to the reels till the round ends. When a bomb explosion covers a Prize, its value is multiplied by x2 up to a maximum of 2,048x. At the end, all Prize values are added up and awarded.

Treasure Prize Feature

Treasure Prizes may be found when new positions are uncovered in the base game or in free spins. Vertical Bombs, Horizontal Bombs, Diagonal Bombs, Plus-pattern Bombs, Omni-directional Bombs, and Cluster Bombs are Treasure Prizes that can be uncovered in the base game or in free spins. In free spins, it is also possible to uncover a prize of 16x, 32x, or 64x, or +1 additional free spin.

Buy Feature

From the feature buy, players can buy 6 free spins for 75 times the bet, or 6 free spins with a Persistent Bomb placed on the reels from the first free spin for 150 times the bet. Free spins trigger instantly without a base game spin when bought.

Big Bang Boom: Slot Verdict

Big Bang Boom turned out to be one of NetEnt's more interesting releases. It feels fresh, it's got an attitude, plus it does some pretty cool stuff. In spirit, Big Bang Boom is a bit like a mix of Nitropolis and Chaos Crew while doing something different with the gameplay. It's like, how to put it, picture the hero of a slightly dated cyberpunk movie, walking into a club in the not-too-distant future, where everyone's wearing far-out clothes, sporting far-out hairstyles, being all individual and futuristic, while far-out futuristic beats are pumping. By the way, we mean this in a positive, completely non-sarcastic way. Basically, Big Bang Boom's got a great 'tude.

The gameplay's pretty neat, too. The grid might look small to start with, but like a PopWins slot, it can expand a lot, though only upwards or downwards in the base game, offering something you don't see every day in a 4 reel slot. Nice that NetEnt went with a ways to win pay system rather than paylines, too. The bonus round is also pretty unique, in part thanks to the expanding grid element, in part thanks to the wide variety of bomb symbols popping up all over the place. A hint of the Doubler from Quickspin's heavy hitter Cash Truck was evoked due to the way explosions double the Prize values they cover. As for winning potential, since prize values can reach a ceiling of 2,048x, the max win of 4,300x the bet might seem a little disappointing for some, perhaps.

However, arguably not disappointing enough to be a deal breaker since Big Bang Boom is a playably unique online slot and made for a pleasant surprise after reviewing a couple of unimpressive games from NetEnt in the form of 101 Candies and Crab Trap. Big Bang Boom is a game that manages to have both simple and complex elements, evoking memories of other games while remaining an individual, fun game to experience.