Rolling off the Pragmatic Play production line like a sheet of Euros ready to be sliced into notes is the video slot Cash Bonanza. As well as banknotes, Cash Bonanza is also a fruit bonanza since its dynamic reel set is covered in them. They say opposites attract, but this marriage of fruit and money gels rather awkwardly in a game that feels like two mismatched slots rammed uncomfortably together. For the most part, the core Increasing Ways Respin feature performs quite well, yet the rest feels like it was designed in a hurry to meet a deadline.
As alluded to, it's cash galore in the background, where a glowing portal of a bank vault has chundered stacks of banknotes and gold coins all over the floor. In the middle of the screen is a game grid arranged in a 6x4, 4,096 ways configuration as its default form. It returns to this size at the start of every base game spin, expanding whenever a winning combination hits. We're not so sure about the soundtrack. There's nothing inherently bad about the slow tempo ska-ish track, but it feels slightly incongruent with the cash on one side, fruit on the other, mix.
The stats are decent, though, starting with a default RTP value of 96.5%. Pragmatic Play rates volatility as five out of five, their highest rating, so Cash Bonanza does meander or pop, as it sees fit. To get a win and kick off the respin feature, you'll need at least three matching symbols to land left to right in any row from the left-most side. Any device is suitable for playing the game on, where players can select bets from 25 p/c to $/€175 per spin.
Click on the paytable to witness a line-up of classic slot icons, such as watermelons, oranges, plums, cherries, grapes, four-leaf clovers, bells, stars, and sevens. Values wise, landing a 6 of a kind combination made up of the four non-fruit symbols is worth a payout of 2 to 10 times the stake. The other two symbols are a bank vault door scatter and the wild. Wilds appear on reels 2-6 to replace any symbol bar the scatter. During respins, wilds remain locked on the reels.
Cash Bonanza's principle extra is its Increasing Ways Respin feature. This is available in the base game, as well free spins when they trigger. On every spin, the symbols forming a winning combination and any other instances of the same type on the reels lock in place then trigger a respin. The number of locked symbols on a reel adds that number of positions to the respective reel, up to a maximum of 8. If all reels reach 8 rows high, there are 262,144 ways to win in play. Respins continue until no new winning symbols hit, or the grid is full of them, then a payout is made. During respins, it is possible new winning symbol types hit that were not part of the initial respin. At the start of each paid spin, the grid reverts to default.
Scatter symbols also lock during respins, and if 3 or more are in view at the end of a sequence, the free spins round is awarded. Players win 8 free spins plus 4 for every extra scatter over three. The round starts with the number of positions available on each reel achieved from the triggering spin. The Increasing Ways feature is present in free spins, but this time, the number of positions on each reel does not reset until the end of the round. In addition, on every respin in the bonus round, a win multiplier increases by +1. At the end of the respin sequence, the total win is multiplied by the multiplier. Finally, landing 2 or more scatter symbols awards +4 free spins, plus 4 additional spins for each scatter beyond 2.
You might think a name like Cash Bonanza would create a lot more excitement than it did. Instead of conjuring up images of fountains of banknotes, it just seemed generic. Maybe it's because the rest of Cash Bonanza feels so clinical. Technically, its features work okay; the Jack Hammer style pay system with expanding reels is quite a good idea and gets exciting when multiple winning symbol types pile up over consecutive respins. Every so often, you get a decent payout from it; other times, it's oddly less than you're expecting.
The problem is not with the way the features function, but rather how mismatched everything comes across and how sterile the game feels overall. Maybe if extra thought had gone into choosing a more original theme or toning down the generic presentation, the game wouldn't give off such an unloved vibe. Cash Bonanza performs quite well on a technical level, yet you get the impression the makers were pressed for time or weren't bothered developing it further, so chucked in some fruit and cash and called it a day. This is Cinderella before her fairy godmother dusted off the soot, jazzed her up with glass shoes, and gave her self-confidence. Apologies for the mental whimsies, but there wasn't much about Cash Bonanza firing the imagination otherwise.
Technically, there's that word again, Cash Bonanza has several positives going on. The stats are as reliable as ever from Pragmatic Play, default RTP is decent albeit variable, potential is as well at 5,000x the bet, so it's not a write off as such. Like a sensible town car, it'll get you from A to B, yet why pick a sensible town car when it's parked next to a DeLorean? Again, our focus wandered, much as it did during the Cash Bonanza test run. Functionally fine, Cash Bonanza ultimately lacks anything to really recommend players line up and have a crack.
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