Bass Brothers Review – A Prize Catch for Fishing Fans
When it comes to online casino titles, slots have become synonymous with fun themes. While there’s plenty of online slots based on fishing, Bass Brothers, created by Nailed It! Games and hosted on PokerStars, is in a “school” of its own.
Fishing slots have been around for a while, with Big Bass Bonanza and its sequels still standing as some of the genre’s most popular titles. Bass Brothers, however, also brings a lot to the party with plenty of fun twists.
There’s a Reel Multiplier mechanic, a Respin feature that builds tension, and a Bonus Spin that can trigger randomly during the game. Together, these features give the slot a unique pace that feels different from other similar slots.
- Developer: Nailed It! Games
- Game Layout: 5 reels x 3 rows
- Paylines: 20 fixed paylines (left to right)
- Volatility: High
- RTP: 94.15% (on PokerStars)
- Max Win: 5,000x bet
- Min/Max Bet: £0.20 – £5.00
- Bonus Features: Reel Multipliers, Collect Feature, Respin Feature, Bonus Spin
- Special Symbols: Wild, Cash, Jackpot, Collect, Respin
- Playable On: Desktop, tablet, smartphones
Theme and Design: Bobbing Boats and Bass Brothers
Design-wise, Bass Brothers has five animated fishermen floating above the reels, each with their own style and personality. These fun little characters make the game feel more playful and also explain the game’s title, details that other fishing-themed slots don’t go into.
Below the fishermen, the reels are filled with colourful fishing-related items, including bait boxes, dragonflies, bobbers, and boats. Alongside these sit the standard 9 to Ace card royals, which act as the lower-paying symbols.
The backdrop of Bass Brothers is a calm lakeside with blue skies, water rippling in the distance, and colourful coral. The ideal fishing conditions bring a nice, cheerful vibe rather than a more tense deep-sea adventure. The soundtrack also reflects this tone, with light, playful music and the occasional splash of the fish. There’s also reel sounds when special symbols are hooked. It’s not overwhelming, but it has enough features that stop longer sessions from feeling stale.
Core Gameplay: Fishing for Big Features
Bass Brothers runs on a 5×3 grid with twenty fixed paylines. Wins are created when three to five matching icons fall on adjacent reels from left to right, starting with reel one. The low-paying royals return small multipliers, while themed items like fishing birds, bobbers, and tackle boxes give far better values. The highest paying standard symbols can return up to 5x the bet for five-of-a-kind, but the standout is the Lifesaver Wild.
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Wilds substitute for all standard symbols and help complete paylines, but they also have a value of their own. Landing five Wilds across a line gives 10x the bet, making it the most valuable payline win available in the base game. These Wilds only appear during the regular spins, not in the feature rounds.
The action in Bass Brothers, however, goes well beyond simple payline wins. The main focus is on special symbols and features that revolve around Cash values, Jackpots, Collect symbols, Reel Multipliers, Respins, and Bonus Spins.
Cash and Jackpot Symbols
Throughout the game, fish-shaped Cash symbols can appear on any reel. These carry values that range from 0.5x the bet up to 7x. There are also three Jackpot symbols: the Minor, worth 10x, the Major, worth 50x, and the Mega, worth 500x the bet.
To claim these values, a Collect symbol needs to land during the same spin. Without it, the Cash and Jackpot symbols just sit on the reels and don’t pay out. With that being said, every uncollected Cash or Jackpot symbol contributes toward the Bonus Spin feature, so they can still come in useful later on.
The Collect Mechanic: A Massive Haul of Features
Collect symbols can land on any reel. When one appears in the same spin as Cash or Jackpot symbols, it gathers all the values and adds them to the total win. If multiple Collects appear, they each collect the prizes on their reels individually, which has a chance of building the payout.
What makes the Collect mechanic more interesting is the addition of Reel Multipliers. Each reel in Bass Brothers has its own multiplier that starts at 1x. If a Collect symbol lands without any Cash or Jackpot symbols to collect, the multiplier for that reel goes up by +1, and it can keep building up to a maximum of 10x.
When Cash or Jackpot symbols finally land on that reel together with a Collect, the multiplier is applied to the total value of those prizes. For example, if reel two has climbed to a 5x multiplier and a Collect lands with a Mega Jackpot worth 500x, the payout from that reel becomes 2,500x the bet. After that’s collected, the multiplier for that reel resets back to 1x, while the other reels keep the progress they’ve made.
The Respin Feature
Another great feature of Bass Brothers is the Respin feature, which triggers whenever the Respin symbol lands. When this happens, any Cash, Jackpot, Collect, or Respin symbols already on the reels are locked in place. The remaining spaces then respin, and the process repeats as long as new Cash, Jackpot, or Collect symbols show up.
During Respins, it’s possible to land up to two extra Collects, which increases the chance of potential payouts. When the feature comes to an end, the Respin symbol transforms into a Collect and gathers all the locked values on the reels. The Reel Multipliers are then applied (if applicable), multiplying the total before it’s added to the player’s balance.
This feature plays out a little like a hold-and-spin mechanic, with values sticking in place and tension building as the new symbols land. The Respin feature is a contrast to the more calm base game and is designed to capture the same adrenaline rush as those who’ve hooked a big fish when out on the water.
Bonus Spin
Outside the regular Collects and Respins, Bass Brothers also includes a fun Bonus Spin feature. This can trigger randomly during any round when Cash or Jackpot symbols have landed without being collected.
When active, the Bonus Spin spreads those stored Cash and Jackpot symbols across the reels. Extra Collects, Respins, and extra prize symbols can show up during the spin, increasing the total payout. It’s designed to be a second-chance style mechanic, making sure that uncollected symbols can still be put to use as well as keeping the pace moving, even when the elusive Collects don’t land straight away.
Payouts and RTP Explained
Bass Brothers offers a maximum win of 5,000x the bet, with an RTP of 94.15%. This online slot from PokerStars is highly volatile, meaning wins may not come too often, but the potential for larger payouts can exist.
Regular symbol combos range from low-value royals paying fractional amounts of the bet right up to the themed symbols offering returns between 1x and 5x. The Lifesaver Wild stands at the top of the regular paytable with a payout of 10x for five across a payline. Cash symbols offer between 0.5x and 7x the bet, while Jackpots scale from 10x for Minor, 50x for Major, and 500x for the Mega.
Of course, all of these values can be boosted by Reel Multipliers, which can climb up to 10x. This means that while the symbol values can seem a little on the small side, the multipliers can really boost them.
PokerStars’ Other Bass-Themed Slots
PokerStars has a strong collection of both classic and modern fishing slots, and Bass Brothers fits nicely within that group, offering enough twists to feel distinct but not a million miles away from other fishing slots on the platform. For example, there’s Big Bass Bonanza and Release The Kraken Megaways.
Big Bass Bonanza
Big Bass Bonanza has become one of the most recognisable fishing-themed slots found on online casinos, and for good reason. Developed by Pragmatic Play and hosted on PokerStars, this five-reel, three-row slot keeps things simple but fun. The slot has 10 paylines, has medium volatility, and offers a top win of up to 2,100x the player’s bet. The design is light and cheerful, just like Bass Brothers, with cartoon-style fish swimming across the watery backdrop.
The bonus feature is where Big Bass Bonanza really makes its mark. Landing three, four, or five Scatter symbols, which are fishing boat icons, gives 10, 15, or 20 free spins. During these rounds, the Fisherman acts as the Wild, collecting all visible Fish symbols that carry their own cash values. Each time four Fisherman Wilds are gathered, the feature retriggers with 10 extra spins, plus rising multipliers that go from 2x to 3x and then to 10x.
Bigger Catch Bass Fishing
Blueprint Gaming has returned to its fishing roots with Bigger Catch Bass Fishing, a 5×3 10-payline slot found on PokerStars. Blueprint were the creator of the original Fishing Frenzy series, and brings the same charm and layered mechanics into Bigger Catch Bass Fishing.
Free spins trigger with three or more Scatters, giving the player up to 20 spins. Here, the fisherman appears as a Wild, collecting fish symbols worth anywhere from 1x up to 2,000x, with multipliers growing with retriggers. A golden fisherman can also sometimes appear, which can trigger up to a 10x multiplier.
Final Verdict: A Charming Fishing Slot That Holds Its Own
Bass Brothers may not completely reinvent the fishing slot, but it does offer PokerStars players an online slot with unique features that make it stand out within the genre. The Reel Multipliers build up during sessions, the Collect mechanic turns up the action, the Respin feature builds the tension, and the Bonus Spin gives players another chance after missing opportunities.
The design of Bass Brothers is bright and cheerful, with animated fishermen adding to the charm, and the soundtrack only adding to the atmosphere. With its high volatility and the potential of winning 5,000x the bet, it replicates the adrenaline of real fishing; only bad weather won’t ruin the experience when playing from home.
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