Big Bam-Book

Big Bam-Book: Slot Overview

Back in the day before the Internet became the fount of all knowledge, if you wanted to know something, options were largely limited to asking someone or getting a book, often from a library, to find the answer. If you couldn't find it there, oh well, guess you'd never know. One wonders how much, if any, knowledge remains that is not stored on a server somewhere in the world, sucking up electricity. If you're more of a pen-and-paper person, you might be interested in joining the heroes of Push Gaming's Big Bam-Book, a fairly close relation to the popular slot Big Bamboo. In this game, players join a group of warrior animals as they collect ancient books that trigger free spins where a progressive multiplier element may be found.

An exotic Asian land is where Big Bam-Book resides. Not the bamboo forest of before but a more built-up spot of sloping tile-roofed buildings, mountains, trees, and so on. A sassy cartoon look prevents Big Bam-Book from being a heavily traditional Asian-themed slot, but there's no doubting where the main cultural references come from. Load a Push Gaming game and players have come to expect robust artwork, and while Big Bam-Book might not be the creme de la creme of the studio's portfolio, it looks good.

A conventional 5-reel, 3-row gaming grid is Big Bam-Book's active area, with 10 paylines built in. They generally award wins from the leftmost side of the grid on adjacent reels, but in free spins, it is possible to win from non-adjacent symbols. Base bets in Big Bam-Book range from 10 c to $/€100 per spin, and three Push Bet options may be selected. The game's math model is a highly volatile one, and its highest RTP value when not using the Push Bet clocks in at 96.31%.

Big Bam-Book's low pays are pretty plain: they're 4 playing card suits, while the mids are three lethal weapons, and the highs are 3 character symbols. Lines of 5 card suits pay 5-10 times the bet, 5 matching weapons are worth 25 times the bet, and 5 of the same character symbol award 100 to 500 times the bet. Wilds land on all reels and are worth up to 500x the bet for a 5 wild win. Wilds substitute for all symbols except Mystery Bamboo symbols, Instant Prize symbols, and scatters.

Big Bam-Book: Slot Features

Big Bam-Book mashes together bits of Big Bamboo with a 'book' slot, supplying features such as Mystery Bamboo symbols, Golden Mystery Bamboo symbols, Instant Prizes, progressive free spins with multipliers and levelling up, plus bonus buys.

Mystery Bamboo Symbol

In the base game and in free spins, landing 3 or more Mystery Bamboo symbols triggers the Mystery Bamboo Expansion. When triggered, the Mystery Bamboo symbols expand to fill each reel they landed on. The expanded Mystery Bamboo symbols reveal either matching pay symbols, wilds, or they may convert to Golden Mystery Bamboo symbols. Any new paylines are awarded, even if the payline awarded a payout before the expansion.

Golden Mystery Bamboo Symbols

Mystery Bamboo symbols may convert into Golden Mystery Bamboo symbols. Golden Mystery Bamboo symbols reveal Instant Prizes worth 1x to 100x each. In the base game, they may reveal scatters - once per reel.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols are present on all reels. Getting 3 scatters awards 8 free spins, 4 scatters awards 12 free spins with the multiplier meter starting at level 1, or 5 scatters get you 15 free spins with the multiplier meter starting at level 2. Whenever a scatter symbol lands in the free spins round, it is added to the multiplier reel. 4 scatters are needed to progress the meter to the next level.

• Level 1 - x2 multiplier and +5 free spins.
• Level 2 - x3 multiplier and +5 free spins.
• Level 3 - x5 multiplier and +5 free spins.
• Level 4 - x10 multiplier and +5 free spins.

The multiplier applies to any Instant Prizes awarded from Golden Mystery Bamboo symbols. Also, during free spins, symbols revealed by the Mystery Bamboo Reveal pay on each of the 10 paylines, regardless of reel position.

Bonus Buy

It is possible to buy free spins triggered by 3, 4, 5, or a random number of scatter symbols for 63.6x, 138.2x, 187.6x, or 100x the bet, respectively.

Push Bet

Big Bam-Book's three Push Bets are:

• Scatters - pay 20% extra to have an increased chance of landing scatter symbols.
• Mystery Symbols - pay 20% extra to have an increased chance of landing Mystery Bamboo symbols.
• Mysteries and Scatters - pay 40% extra to have an increased chance of landing Mystery Bamboo symbols and scatters.

Big Bam-Book: Slot Verdict

Mystery symbols, oftentimes in a slot, you know, they can be a little bit plain. They land, they reveal a pay symbol, maybe a wild, maybe something more exciting, then any wins are evaluated. In the hands of Push Gaming, mystery symbols/stacks are elevated to a higher entertainment status. They've rocked players in games like Razor Shark, Mystery Museum, and, of course, the last Big Bamboo slot. In Big Bam-Book, they're pretty suspenseful. Extra so in free spins since during that phase of play revealed stacks of symbols pay from any position in the grand old Book of Dead tradition. Push Gaming hasn't built Big Bam-Book around this feature per se, but it's a nice add-on, and it gave the studio an opportunity to dream up a clever name for the game.

Another crowd favourite is Instant Prize wins, of which Big Bam-Book is able to deliver, as well as a progressive multiplier to apply to coin wins in the free spins round. As an aside, if the free spins multiplier applied to expanded symbols, it wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. Push Gaming has taken its foot off the gas for Big Bam-Book compared to Big Bamboo, or at least removed the nitrous oxide injector if we're sticking to motoring metaphors. For instance, Instant Prizes in Big Bam-Book top out at 100x (before any multiplier is applied) compared to the 5,000x of Big Bamboo. Also, low-pay card suit symbols are not converted to Mystery symbols as they were before. The result is a slot that is capped at 10,000x the bet this time, with less devastating firepower to potentially boost players towards its cap.

Squishing down the outer limits of the curve may have produced a more rounded experience, and this was the supposition formed by Big Bam-Book. Gamblers who prefer Push Gaming's more extreme carnival rides may not get the kick in the backside they're after, but Big Bam-Book serves a sweet helping of familiar features with an innovative and mysterious twist.