Skywind Group is a fun one to keep an eye on if you’re a fan of gaming sites powered by Megaways. They’ll remake classics one minute, then release a game with an Asian theme the next, then finally come up with an original concept like Alive! Megaways. It’s safe to assume that neither the future destination nor the production quality can be predicted with any certainty. This time, they’ve chosen to focus on something rarely seen in Megaways: the flashing lights of a circus big tent. Will the end outcome, Big Top Bonanza Megaways, be a smashing success or a gigantic fiasco?
Skywind has managed to cram in a few extra symbols into the grid than normal, increasing the maximum number of possible winning combinations to 200,704 from the standard 117,649. Not a major breakthrough or anything particularly novel, but the abundance of unfamiliar icons on the screen piqued our interest. That’s because in addition to the standard six reels, there’s also a horizontal reel with four positions that can appear at any time. A striped tent, complete with lights and flags to match the theme, can be seen behind the grid. Rather than rely on flashy circus sights, Skywind has chosen to let the reel action do the talking. Perhaps they might have gotten more mileage out of the concept, but the understated aesthetic has its own appealing quality and allows the game to focus on providing fun.
There are three entry points inside Big Top Bonanza Megaways, each representing a different level of seating. The first is to do so consistently, for example by betting £/€200 every spin and hope for a return of 20 percent or more. However, if the ante bet option is available, players may boost their wager by 25% and receive twice as many free spins. Alternately, you can pay 100 times your initial wager to skip the bonus round and get directly to the action. The default RTP of 96.5% is not specified for any of the three choices, and the volatility rating of 3 out of 5 is consistent across all of them.
When three or more identical symbols appear on adjacent reels, the payout is made from left to right and a cascade begins. Carny-style J-A royals, balls, and juggling pins kick off the paytable with payouts of 0.5 to 1.25x the stake for a full house. Six of a type with a higher-value card, such as a knife board, top hat, cannon, or automobile, will return two to five times your initial wager. Finally, a wild symbol emblazoned with a ringmaster can occur on reels 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 and stand in for any other regular paying symbol.
Features of the Slot Machine, Big Top Bonanza Megaways
The major attraction here is the free spins round, but there are also cascading winnings, bonus modifier symbols, and their associated abilities.
Cascades
The cascade function eliminates winning paylines and replaces them with new symbols that can form more paylines. Such cascades persist until no further successes occur.
Bonus Alterations
Above the regular reels (2-5) is a horizontal row with three bonus modifier symbols on it. The Normal, Super, and Mega have the following skills:
The standard one depicting the clown can perform any of the following: expose a wild symbol beneath it; grant a multiplier of 2, 3, or 5; increase the number of chances to win; add 2-6 wilds to reels 2-6; or replace all Jacks with Queens.
Super shows a fortune teller and grants one of the following: reveals two wilds underneath it; grants a multiplier of 5, 8, or 10; boosts the number of paylines to at least 15,625; adds three to nine wilds on reels 2 through six; and switches all Jacks and Queens for Kings.
The Mega icon features a muscular guy who may grant one of many benefits: the replacement of all lower-value symbols with wilds; a 15x, 25x, or 50x multiplier; the activation of Max Paylines; the addition of 5-15 wilds to reels 2-6; or the substitution of Jacks, Queens, and Kings for Aces.
Games Available At No Cost
Free games are triggered when 45, 66, or 101316 scatters appear during the main game. A progressive win multiplier is added to and does not reset during free spins when a cascade results in a win. The multiplier for the progressive win is increased by any multipliers granted by the Bonus Modifiers. Last but not least, getting 3, 4, 5, or 5 scatters in view during the feature will provide an additional 3, 6, 9, or 12 free spins.
A Slot Review of Big Top Bonanza Megaways
By now, we all know that everyone and their mother has licensed Megaways and jumped on the bandwagon, thus diluting the pool. As a result, each subsequent discharge has less of an effect. Games like Big Top Bonanza Megaways are a rare treat, but they do pop up. Sure, it doesn’t break new ground or represent a significant step forward in mechanical advancement. However, the whole turned out to be bigger than the pieces, and the game’s use of Megaways gave us a pleasant gaming experience and a reminder of how cool these slot machines can be.
Determining the precise source of the favorable response is difficult. Perhaps the circus-like atmosphere of the tent added an air of childlike awe? Perhaps, but closer inspection reveals that the increased win multiplier in free spins was just one component of a larger-than-usual number of ways to win and a host of other game variables. It may sound boring on paper, but it was actually a lot of fun. Mega Bonus, the strong man, excelled. He may be quite useful, especially when he is used to trigger maximum paylines or increase the win multiplier during free games. The other two modifiers, Normal and Super, aren’t terrible either; they occasionally add to the excitement. The maximum payout is not particularly impressive, capping out at a meager 5,000x the wager (for Megaways).
Party at the Big Top Megaways was a game that got off to a good start and kept getting better as testing went on. While it doesn’t break any new ground and may benefit from a bigger prize pool, the show succeeds in blending old and classic Megaways elements with some helpful tweaks.