You know what's weird? Given the popularity of online slots gambling and betting at the race track, how seldom the two topics meet in one place. In a shocking move, one game which does bring the two gambling outlets together is none other than Big Bass Day at the Races. Yes, this is a Big Bass slot from Reel Kingdom and Pragmatic Play that features very little that is related to fishing.
So, fish are basically out, and horses are in, but to cushion the shock, the game's makers have transferred everything but the skin over from Big Bass Amazon Xtreme. Therefore, players familiar with that earlier release should still feel pretty homely if they're brave enough to try this one. The beardy guy from the series is here too, except this time, he's left the fishing rod and wet weather gear at home and can be seen holding race tickets or even riding a horse.
The same stats as before populate this section, such as a 96.07% default RTP value and a 5 out of 5 rated highly volatile math model. Bet levels are 10 c to $/€250 per spin, or players may activate the Ante Bet. When switched on, the Ante Bet increases the stake by 50% to have a higher chance of winning the feature, though a slightly lower RTP of 96.06%.
Along Big Bass Day at the Races' 5-reel, 3-row gaming grid are 10 paylines, though the greater emphasis is on nabbing Money symbols rather than hitting line wins. However, when landing a winning combination of 5 binoculars, glasses of beer, boxes, or champagne in buckets, the payout is 50 to 200 times the bet. This drops to 5-10x when hitting 5 matching 10-A card ranks. What's called the Man Wild symbol substitutes for all regular paying symbols but only appears during free spins.
Lining up for the features are Money symbols, free spins with pre-feature picks, wild symbol collection, multipliers, random features, and bonus buy.
Horses are the Money symbols. They land with cash values of 0.2x to 1,000x the bet. At random, on base game spins, there is a chance the values of Money symbols on the screen are collected and awarded. When this happens, a random multiplier of x1 to x50 may be applied to the total value collected from the Money symbols.
Hitting 3 or more scatter symbols triggers 10 free spins. If the round is triggered by 4 or 5 scatters, then one or two picks, respectively, are already revealed from the pick bonus. In the base game, when exactly 2 scatters land, there is a chance a third scatter is brought into view via a lasso or a respin feature. Before free spins begin, players click on names to reveal modifiers that apply to the round. When 'And they're off!' is revealed, free spins begin. Possible rewards are:
During the free spins round, all Man Wilds are collected when they hit. Every 4th Man Wild symbol collected awards +10 free spins and a multiplier for Money symbol collections. The multiplier is x2 for the first retrigger, x3 for the third, x10 for the 4th, x20 for the 5th, x30 for the 6th, x40 for the 7th, and x50 for the 8th. After the eighth level, the feature cannot be retriggered anymore. Random events may also occur during the bonus:
For 100x the bet, players can buy a free spins round triggered at random by 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols. The RTP for this is 96.07%.
Is this it? Has Pragmatic Play and Reel Kingdom hit the bottom of the bass barrel and run out of ideas? Are there no more ways the duo can think of to squeeze further fishing-themed shenanigans out of their mega-popular, mega-overdone Big Bass series? Unlikely. It's not too hard to think of a bunch of possible follow-ups – Big Bass Island Adventure, Big Bass High Seas Hijinks, Big Bass and the Misadventures of Admiral Doofis. Nah, it seems more likely that Big Bass Day at the Races is a reset, a breather, or a palette cleanser rather than the last word on the BB range. For better or for worse.
On a cynical note, Big Bass Day at the Races might have been better if it hadn't been a reskin of Big Bass Amazon Xtreme. Though, if you're going to copy a Big Bass slot, that is arguably the one to go for, as it scored highly the first time around, making a glowing impression. The same pros and cons apply to Big Bass Day at the Races as before, where highlights include scoring free spins modifiers from picks to potentially make the bonus round that little bit different and letting the Money symbol multiplier loose the moment it is achieved rather than waiting for the current batch of spins to end is a plus. Can't complain about the max win, either, coming in at 10,000x the bet. Numbers-wise, features-wise, Big Bass Day at the Races is all as good as before.
To wrap it all up then, players get the benefits of Big Bass Amazon Xtreme but a new environment to enjoy them in. On the not-so-plus side, Big Bass Day at the Races is more or less the same old repackaged thing with little more than a scenery change to set it apart from the masses of its saltwater Big Bass brethren.
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