How do Big Bass Bonanza Megaways free spins work?

Which game and symbols does this cover?

This is Big Bass Bonanza Megaways, the six-reel title released by Pragmatic Play in collaboration with Reel Kingdom. The original Big Bass Bonanza, Big Bass Splash and Big Bass Hold & Spinner Megaways are separate games. Match the complete title in the game’s information panel before using these rules.

Ivy Casino’s published Megaways rules treat Wild and Fisherman as separate symbols: the Wild excludes the Scatter and Fisherman from substitution. Some descriptions loosely call the collector a Fisherman Wild. The distinction matters when reading an ordinary winning combination and a fish collection.

For the five-reel predecessor, use our original Big Bass Bonanza free-spins guide. For the changing-reel format itself, see what Megaways means.

How many Scatters award 10, 15, 20 or 25 spins?

The current supplier product page and Virgin Games’ named-game overview both include the six-Scatter, 25-spin entry. An older description that stops at five Scatters can therefore omit a relevant row. Count the Scatter symbols, rather than every fish or fishing-related picture.

These are game-feature spins awarded inside a game round. A casino promotion that credits free spins to an account is a separate offer with its own eligibility, expiry and money rules. An offer’s spin count does not replace the game’s Scatter table.

How do fish collection and tumbles fit together?

During a tumble, winning combinations are paid and winning symbols are removed so that replacements can fall into the gaps. Money Fish behave differently during the free-spin feature: they fall towards the bottom as tumbles occur instead of exploding as they do in the base game.

1. Identify the Money Fish values in the relevant free-spin result. A displayed value alone is not a completed collection.
2. Find the Fisherman symbols that collect those values. If more than one collector appears, the fish total can be collected more than once.
3. Use the multiplier belonging to the active free-spin stage. Keep this separate from the number of collectors.
4. Read any ordinary ways wins as separate awards before reconciling the settled spin total.
5. Track Fisherman progress towards the next four-symbol milestone independently of the money awarded.

Two Fishermen are not a 2× stage in their own right. Mecca Games’ public rules describe both collectors taking the fish values. If the current stage is already 2×, those are two different factors: two collections, each at the stage’s multiplier.

Fish falling through a tumble describes what happens within that free spin’s sequence. It is not evidence of a stored cash balance carried into later spins. Likewise, an uncollected fish value is not itself money paid to the account; a separate ordinary combination may still have produced a win.

When do the 2×, 3× and 10× stages take effect?

Fishermen accumulate in the feature’s counter; four need not appear together on one spin. The counter measures symbols collected, not the number of spins that have passed or the amount of money won.

Virgin Games’ description explicitly places the retriggered set after the initial allocation. Its new multiplier takes effect on the retriggered spins. For example, earning a 2× batch while three original spins remain does not double those three original spins or reprice the catches already paid. Keep the displayed batch and its factor with each award.

Each stage uses the stated factor: 2×, then 3×, then 10×. The numbers do not multiply together to become 60×. Mecca Games’ Megaways description says the stage factor covers both ways wins and fish awards; the example below follows that stated all-wins rule.

The published rules allow three retriggers. Starting with 25 spins and earning all three adds 25 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 55 scheduled spins. Starting with 10 gives 40 instead. These are conditional allocations, not promised playing time or a guaranteed return. An applicable round-ending win limit can also end a feature before every awarded spin is played.

A cash example: two Fishermen at an active 2× stage

Suppose a resolved free spin is already in its 2× stage, with two collecting Fishermen and no change of stage during the illustrated award. The three fish amounts below are hypothetical cash values before the stage multiplier. The example follows Mecca Games’ published all-wins description; assume no cap or rounding adjustment intervenes.

The fish award is £13.60, while the illustrated total is £14.80 because the example includes a separate ways award. If there is no ways award, do not invent the extra £1.20. If no Fisherman collects the fish, the fish-collection part is zero; that does not by itself settle whether an ordinary combination paid.

These inputs are already cash amounts, so multiplying them by the stake again would be an error. A history entry may also already include the stage factor: identify whether an amount is before or after multiplication before applying it. The result is a return from this hypothetical spin, not profit for the whole feature or session; the earlier stakes and other results are not specified.

What do Dynamite and Bazooka change?

Virgin Games describes these possibilities at the end of a free spin with one or two Fishermen and no active fish. They are possible random events, not an automatic payment whenever a collector lands alone. The supplier’s 2021 release describes a narrower two-Fisherman Bazooka situation; use the conditions shown for the exact game you have opened.

An animation changing the symbols is not a new universal multiplier stage. Keep the resulting fish, collectors and active stage in the same accounting process, and use the final settled award rather than treating every intermediate screen as a separate cash payment.

How to check an unexpected free-spin result

1. Record the complete game title and provider. A similar franchise name can have a different trigger, collector or retrigger rule.
2. Save the game-round identifier and the free-spin or batch number if the history shows them.
3. Record the fish values and whether the history presents them before or after the stage multiplier.
4. Count collecting Fishermen separately from the cumulative Fisherman counter.
5. Identify the active stage, ordinary ways awards and any applicable win-limit message.
6. Compare the settled round record with the game’s information panel. If they disagree, send the round identifier and the specific discrepancy to the casino’s support team.

Public game pages help explain the mechanic, but they do not confirm an individual account’s installed build, return setting or current access. Mecca Games’ page states 94.62% RTP, while Ivy directs readers to the in-game figure. Do not treat a percentage attached to a different version or casino as the setting you are using.

If your question concerns a payment mismatch rather than how this feature works, our guide to checking an incorrect casino payout explains what evidence to keep. The original Big Bass RTP guide concerns the original game, so its configuration table should not be applied to Megaways.