Putting Bonanza Megapays Through Its Paces
Bonanza Megapays is the latest addition to the Big Time Gaming portfolio. It is not available just yet, but comes to an online casino near you from May 21, 2021. The game is an improvement on Bonanza Megaways thanks to the addition of four progressive jackpots. Let is see how it plays.
Bonanza Megapays Fundamentals
Both Bononza and Bonanza Megapays share the same Megaways engine, but there are a few tweaks under the bonnet. Both online pokies have up to 117,649 paylines because of the Megaways feature. However, the Bonanza Megapays version has a 96.4% RTP instead of 96%. It is a tiny improvement on the pokies’ house edge, but every little helps.
Variance is high but it is the price to pay for a 12,000x maximum payout. This equates to $2,400 for the $0.20 minimum bet and $240,000 for the maximum $20 bet. There are four jackpots, worth up to at least $300,000, too.
What Are The Bonanza Megapays Symbols?
There are ten main paying symbols on Bonanza Megapays. Royals, nine through aces, make up the low-value symbols. Emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds make up the high-value symbols. The reason for the jewel symbols is because the game is set in a mine and you hunting for treasure.
Only the diamonds have any real worth attached to them. Other symbols pay between 0.10x for matching three up to 7.5x for matching six. Diamonds, however, pay 2.00x for matching only two symbols, and 50x for matching six.
| Symbol | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond | 50 | 25 | 10 | 5.00 | 2.00 |
| Ruby | 7.50 | 2.50 | 2.00 | 1.00 | |
| Sapphire | 2.00 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 0.25 | |
| Emerald | 2.00 | 0.75 | 0.50 | 0.25 | |
| Aces and Kings | 1.75 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.20 | |
| Queens | 1.00 | 0.60 | 0.25 | 0.20 | |
| Jacks | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.15 | |
| Tens | 0.90 | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.15 | |
| Nines | 0.80 | 0.40 | 0.20 | 0.10 |
A bunch of lit dynamite depicts the game’s wild symbol. It substitutes for every symbols except the gold scatters.
Four such scatters, spelling the world GOLD, are required to trigger the game’s only bonus feature, namely 12 free spins.
What Are The Game’s Features?
The Megaways engine is a feature in itself, one that creates huge numbers of paylines. There are no set rows or columns because they randomly change with each spin. Four additional symbols appear above reels 2, 3, and 4, which are used to create more winning combinations.
Any winning combinations made on Bonanza Megapays explode, disappear, and new symbols replace them. This continues until no further winning combinations land.
The 12 Free Spins bonus round triggers when G-O-L-D is spelled out using the four scatters. The free spins benefit from a progressive win multiplier that increase +1 after each reaction. Amazingly, the multiplier does not reset and increases to an unlimited number. This feature is rare, but highly lucrative.
The Megapays feature is the biggest lure of the revamped Bonanza machine. It triggers at random and makes it possible to win one of four progressive jackpots.
A symbols is randomly chosen to be the Megapays symbol while the background changes from a mine to a luxury hotel. The board is locked to a 6×7 layout, too.
The game continues awarding respins so long as you land more of the chosen Megapays symbols. This feature ends when no Megapays symbols land, and you need at least four to win a jackpot.
- 4-7 Megapays symbols win the Mini jackpot, which seeds at $100
- 8-11 Megapays symbols win the Midi jackpot, which seeds at $1,500
- 12-14 Megapays symbols win the Major jackpot, which seeds at $20,000
- 15+ Megapays symbols win the Mega jackpot, which seeds at $300,000
Conclusion
Bonanza Megapays is great fun if you turn the sound off because the banjo music almost drove us insane! The 12,000x your stake regular max win and the $300,000+ jackpot are a major lure.
However, there is a major but. Bonanza Megapays has a 96.4% RTP but 9.44% of that is allocated to the Megapays feature. Furthermore, 0.51% is allocated to the four jackpots. This leaves you with a mere 86.96% RTP for the base game, which is almost criminal.
The game is fun but it is difficult to recommend a pokie that has a house edge of 13.04%.
