Big Bass Splash, a game from Gibraltar-based studio Pragmatic Play, became its newest franchise member in June 2022. At the time, it was the fifth entry in a series that began two years earlier with Big Bass Bonanza. Yet the basic idea hadn’t changed. It was a slot about a cartoon fisherman and his prize catch. So, how does Big Bass Splash keep its audience?
A Twist
In the two years since the Big Bass Splash slot was released, the Big Bass franchise has ballooned to at least 22 individual games, taking the bearded angler through time and space, and to seasonal adventures like Halloween and Christmas. There’s even a separate slot, Club Tropicana, whose protagonist resembles our fisherman on holiday.
Paddy Power’s read-up on Big Bass Splash describes it as a game with traditional slot elements like wilds and scatters but a Free Spins mode adds a twist to the gameplay. Free Spins starts when three scatter symbols, each depicting our namesake bass, appear on the reels. However, players get more free turns with additional scatters, up to a maximum of twenty with five fish.
Free Spins does have its secrets. Zero to five modifiers that change the gameplay can be applied before the mode starts. These add more scatters and/or wild symbols and allow special features to appear – dynamite, hooks, and the bazooka. Free Spins can also start from its second level and have two more spins attached at the outset.
An Accessible Face
As its name and features suggest, Big Bass Splash sometimes takes a more dramatic approach to what the British Library describes as a 164,000-year-old activity. Its highest-paying symbol is an amphibious monster truck, for instance. The overall ambience is calm, though. The soundtrack might suggest a party, but the scenery is drawn in pastels, depicting bubbles and swaying seaweed.
Arguably, this is where the appeal of the Big Bass franchise lies. Even the more outrageous instalments (e.g. Big Bass Mission Fishin’, which takes its cues from Mission Impossible and James Bond, and Big Bass Halloween, where our hero has a taste for two-legged treats) have an accessible, even gentle face to show players.
Big Bass does run with its original theme most of the time. Our fisherman has been boating in Big Bass Floats My Boat, visited a fabled Golden Lake in a medieval adventure, and dodged piranhas in Big Bass Amazon Xtreme. Festive slots frequent more frozen climes, such as in Bigger Bass Blizzard – Christmas Catch.
Bigger Bass Splash
A fish symbol unites many of Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass games. This creature provides instant rewards and increases in girth with the value of the prize. It returns in Big Bass Splash’s recent update, Bigger Bass Splash. Our protagonist seems to have ended up in an angler’s paradise like Hawaii, albeit with a similar mix of calm pastels and hi-octane symbols (in this case, a speedboat) on the reels.
The Big Bass franchise is one of the most popular slot franchises, appearing on casino websites across the web. Just one question remains: what comes next for this storied fishing saga?
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