Bonanza Slot
Big Time Gaming is the producer of the Bonanza slot, one of the most popular entrants in this Australian developer’s portfolio. Often being accredited as the title that popularized the Megaways engine and the mining theme, this release has inspired a whole number of online slots since its release in 2016. Featuring mine carts, gemstones, and innovative game mechanics such as rising multipliers, the gameplay and graphics of this Bonanza slot still hold up to this day.
Bonanza Game Design
When it comes to the artwork featured in the Bonanza slot, this positions gameplay at the front of a mine. Various boulders toppling over a cliff face can be seen here, with a couple of bushes, flower patches, and other greenery creeping out of their crevices. A mineshaft can be seen across the tip of the screen here, above which a payline counter is displayed.
At the bottom of the Bonanza slot, a small wooden miner's hut can be seen, its single window being lit up by an oil lamp inside. These visuals laid the groundwork for many other mining-themed releases to come, Gold Mine Fortune and Prospector Extra Gold Megaways being some popular entrants in this genre.
Bonanza Mechanics
The Bonanza slot was one of the first online casino games to feature the Megaways engine. This means the number of rows displayed across the 6 stone columns changes in every spin. Each reel could land with between 2 and 7 rows of symbols across it, something which causes the payline count in play to fluctuate. The maximum number of paylines could reach up to 117,649, as is tracked by the counter at the top of the screen, with 3+ adjacent reels needing to display the same symbol to trigger a prize.
Towards the bottom of this shifting playtable is an extra row of 4 segments, which are aligned to the central reels in the Bonanza slot. Even though it was released in 2016, the title remains fully compatible with PCs, smartphones, and tablets at PlayStar due to its use of the HTML5 framework. This adapts the title to different devices without having to lose any of the original quality.
Bonanza Slot Symbols
The 6 lower-valued symbols in the Bonanza slot have been taken from online table games. However, to fit the mining theme, these card royals have patches of dirt on their colorful fonts. The remaining 4 higher-valued symbols are various colored gemstones likely to have been taken from the mine upon which the playtable is set.
When it comes down to the bonus symbols included by Big Time Gaming, there are just two of these. The Bonanza slot features a stick of dynamite and some golden letters, with these acting as the wilds and scatters, respectively.
Bonanza Bonus Features
Before getting into any of the nuanced bonus symbols in the Bonanza slot, we must first highlight the fact that this game features cascading mechanics. This is common for online casino games that use the Megaways engine, and this feature removes any card or gemstone symbols when they form combinations across adjacent reels. This sees them disappear in an explosion, with the empty spaces left in their wake then being filled by new symbols from above. This mechanic is coined as ‘Reactions’ in the Bonanza slot, with it having a predominant role in the free spins round, as you will come to find out shortly.
Wild Symbols
The extra row beneath the main playtable in the Bonanza slot is the only space in which dynamite stick wilds could potentially appear. Should these be landed on one of the four segments, they could step in for any base game symbols, assuming their value when doing so. If a wild symbol lands in a position to do so, it can make or increase a base game symbol combination in play.
Bonanza Free Spins
The golden letter scatters in the Bonanza slot spell out the word ‘GOLD’, and if 4 of these land at once to do so, this could trigger 12 free spins. In this, every trigger of the Reaction mechanic could potentially see an active multiplier increase by +1 each time. What’s more, for every 3 golden mine carts that may appear, this could add an extra 5 free spins to the player's count.
Play Bonanza at PlayStar Casino
Big Time Gaming really created a classic with the Bonanza slot, seamlessly combining dynamic gameplay and mining graphics that still hold up today.
The Megaways mechanic in the Bonanza slot has since been adapted into many casino staples, Twin Spin Megaways and Blood Suckers Megaways being two examples.
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