Making its debut in 2020, there wasn’t much to set Big Bass Bonanza out from other slots at the time, at least on a superficial level. And while the base game remains relatively unremarkable, it’s the bonus that enabled this slot to climb up the rankings and become one of the most-played and most-copied IPs in all of iGaming over the past half-decade.

Keeping It Simple

Arguably the most important design choice that this Big Bass Bonanza slot introduced, and which others have tried to replicate ever since, was to make the bonus feature simple in concept and execution. In other words, while the previous trend was for flashier and more confusing special features, the team at Reel Kingdom and Pragmatic Play instead used the game’s theme to take things back to basics, with great success.

So, the concept of having money symbols assigned to fish and the collector symbol being the fisherman wild was instantly recognizable to players. And for people who’d likely chosen to launch the game because they have an affinity for fishing, it felt completely appropriate.

In turn, there’s cleverness that goes deeper still, since fishing fans firing up Big Bass Bonanza get to feel both the thrill of landing a whopper and the sweet sting of seeing a real beast land on the reels without that all-important fisherman symbol, equivalent to getting a fish on the hook but not landing it. It’s that tension that keeps people coming back for more, and which has found its way into a range of other iGaming titles in the interim.

Boosting Wins

Another innovation in the Big Bass Bonanza bonus feature is the inclusion of multiplying wilds and the potential to earn additional spins, all rolled into one. Creating a system that effectively lets players level up, and feel rewarded for progressing further in the bonus beyond simply collecting cash, is another engagement-enhancing design decision.

While players might not actually have any more control over the outcome of the bonus than in a slot with a more passive design ethos, they feel like they’re a master of their destiny. And because they know that there’s a path of progression available, they’re compelled to keep spinning to see if they can move further down it in subsequent bonuses, as opposed to sensing that they’ve encountered all that the game has to offer after one bonus.

Building a Franchise

With the core quality of Big Bass Bonanza helping it to gain traction with players, it didn’t take long for the developer and publisher to turn this title into its own franchise, with spin-offs like Big Bass Megaways and Big Bass Splash taking the central IP and adjusting it with new mechanics so fans would continue to support it.

It should be no surprise that the explosion in fishing-themed games, as well as those with bonuses that have clearer designs and baked-in progression, has been spurred by what Big Bass Bonanza achieved. And the original game is still worth playing, even with all its sequels and imitators.