Bonanza Falls

Bonanza Falls: Slot Overview

Few slots in online gambling have reached the illustrious status achieved by Big Time Gaming's smash hit Bonanza Megaways. It technically wasn't the first Megaways slot, that honour went to Dragon Born, but Bonanza was the one which really forced gamblers to sit up and take notice. So potent was Bonanza's set of features that the same combination continues to appear in so-called new slots down to this very day. Even BTG itself aren't immune to cashing in on Bonanza's success, using it as the vehicle for a Christmas version and as a stepping stone for the studio's jackpot system Megapays.

For this incarnation, BTG has bolted on a new Megadozer mechanism, which acts like a physical coin pusher machine that shoves goodies onto the grid, but only during free spins. For the base game, Bonanza Falls is a case of business as usual, mostly. Certainly, not much is different looks-wise during this phase of play, where the gaming area is situated at the entrance to a mine shaft, accompanied by waterfalls, a water wheel, a shack, and so on. It's a classic view, which Big Time Gaming has largely left untouched, saving the innovations for when free spins are active.

The base game grid is the same, too, meaning the main area is made up of 6 vertically spinning reels, with a 4-position horizontally moving minecart reel on top. When combining both, up to 7 symbols may appear on a column, producing up to 117,649 ways to win when the panel is fully stacked. As before, the volatility is high, and the RTP comes in at 96.51%. This is more than half a percent higher than the original, however, take note a 94% version is available too, which is a new move for BTG. The stake range has been tightened to 10 c to $/€10, though players have more options for accessing the free spins round this time.

A stock Megaways feature, the reaction system takes symbols from the board when they create a win and fills the gaps they leave behind with symbols on the reel strips. Reactions end when no new win is created. As for symbols, the same assortment return as before, though payout values have been whacked down a notch. These are 9 to A card ranks as the lower values, then a green gem, blue gem, red gem, and a diamond as the highs. Hit a winning way containing 6 low pays, and the payout is 0.8 to 1 times the bet, or 1.5x to 8x when containing high pays. In the base game, bundle of dynamite wilds may appear on the top reel to replace any regularly paying symbol, on the main reels in free spins.

Bonanza Falls: Slot Features

Up till now, Bonanza Falls has been pretty much same same, but now is when the innovations arise. Predominantly through the Megadozer feature, which has had a major effect on free spins and is joined by reaction wins, the Win Exchange, and a free spins buy.

Free Spins

To gain entrance to the bonus round, you'll need to land at least 4 scatter symbols spelling G, O, L, and D to win 12 free spins. Should this happen with more than 4 scatters, each additional scatter awards +4 free spins. Free spins have a progressive win multiplier starting on x1, but it does not, repeat does not increase following reactions. Instead, it may be increased by the Megadozer feature. On any free spin or reaction, the Coin Dozer may push one or more Bonus Coins onto the reels. When this happens, Bonus Coins award:

• A wild with a multiplier of up to x5.
• A symbol randomly picked and added to the reels, counting for multiple instances as shown, up to x10.
• A +1 multiplier, which increases the win multiplier by 1.
• +4 free spins added to the remaining amount.

Win Exchange and Free Spins Buy

Rather than waiting for the D (or any other scatter) to naturally hit, players have two other ways of possibly reaching the bonus round. One is the Win Exchange, where base game wins of between 25x and 100x the bet may be gambled on a wheel for the chance to win free spins. The other way is simply to buy them for 100 times the bet. When buying free spins, the RTP is 96.52%.

Bonanza Falls: Slot Verdict

In a world awash in Bonanza wannabes, the thought of adding another one to an already substantial list might be shudder-inducing, even if it is an iteration of the real thing from the game's actual makers. As you've no doubt deduced by now, though, Bonanza Falls is no carbon copy of the classic slot but something quite different. Well, free spins have something new to uncover; the base game not so much. However, if players just ain't got time to spell out GOLD naturally, this time they can skip all that via the Win Exchange if they're feeling lucky or just buy the round for a set fee and head on into the mine to bash a few rocks around.

Scrapping the incrementing of the win multiplier by reaction wins puts a new spin on the bonus round. Now, like hoping the coin pusher at your local arcade drops a mini Pop Toy or whatever, players will be wanting Bonus Coins to fall onto the reels to bestow their bounties. Doing it this way may (or may not) make it trickier to build as big a win multiplier, but players now have multiplier wilds and multi-instance symbols to contend with. Regarding winning potential, the tweaks have had a positive impact as Bonanza Falls utterly dusts the original game with an eye-watering 93,540x the bet top prize.

This figure, when combined with the way free spins perform, certainly provides a different overall ride than before, almost to the point of almost feeling like a brand-new game. So much so some may wonder why BTG used Bonanza as the delivery system for the Megadozer feature's debut. Ah well, whatever the business case, the studio's come up with a fun new way to spill modifiers onto the reels, freshening up one of its most beloved games in the process.