Cash Bonanza

When we think of a slot machine, we probably do think about 7s, bells, cherries, lemons, or maybe watermelons – after all, they’re known as ‘fruit machines’ for a reason. Many years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find a slot machine that offered anything other than a fruity theme. Now, it seems the opposite is true – you’d be hard pressed to find a new release centred around fruit, with providers almost trying to out-do each other with more extreme themes, and well executed graphics. That is, until now. The team at Pragmatic Play have decided to take us back to basics in their upcoming release, Cash Bonanza. With 4,096 ways to win (minimum), a default RTP of 96.52% (other settings available), and high volatility, let’s see how wins up to 5,000x bet can be achieved in this new release.

cash Bonanza Base Game

Visually, game play takes place inside a bank vault lined with quilted emerald green leather – which makes sense when we consider the name, Cash Bonanza. Less sense, though, when we remember the symbols available on the reels. Either way, things are crisp and clear, so we certainly can’t claim the graphics to be outdated in execution – maybe just more so in design. Audios are upbeat, jingling and jazzing through to keep us interested.

Cash Bonanza Base Features

Taking place across 6 reels, each reel begins at a height of 4 symbols high, for 4,096 ways to win, although this increases as high as 262,144 thanks to the respin feature available. Wins are formed by matching symbols in any position, or any size, across adjacent reels beginning at the leftmost reel. Symbols available are as we mentioned – classic fruit machine symbols, with watermelons, oranges, lemons, plums, cherries and blueberries paying between 0.05 and 0.20x bet for 3 of a kind, up to values between 0.4 and 1x bet for 6 of a kind matches. Next, clovers, bells and stars reward players with 0.3x bet for 3 of a kind, and values between 2 and 2.5x bet for 6 of a kind. Finally, red 7s pay 1x bet for 3 of a kind, up to a nice 10x bet for 6 of a kind.

Wild symbols, green stacks of cash, can appear on reels 2-6, and substitute for all symbols except Scatters, represented by golden vaults. Wild symbols are locked in place for every respin.

increasing Ways Respin Feature

The Increasing Ways Respin feature is active during the base game. On every spin, symbols involved in winning combinations are locked into place, alongside any other occurrences of these symbols on the reels. Wilds and Scatters are also locked into place. The reels will then respin, with an increased amount of ways to win. If more symbols are added to the winning combination, or a new combination is formed, another respin will be awarded, and the ways to win will again increase.

Respins continue until no more symbols are locked into place. Ways to win can increase as high as 262,144.

3 Or More Scatters Trigger Free Spins

Cash Bonanza Bonus

At the end of any respins, if 3 or more Scatter symbols are in view free spins will be awarded. 3 Scatter symbols triggers 8 free spins, plus an additional +4 spins for every Scatter beyond the third.

Free Spins will begin at the amount of ways to win that the triggering spin has reached, and the amount of ways to win will not reset between free spins.

The Increasing Ways Respin feature remains active during free spins. On every spin, a win multiplier is active, that increases by +1 for every respin. The win multiplier does not carry over between free spins, instead resetting to x1.

2 or more Scatters landing during free spins awards +4 free spins, plus an additional +4 free spins for every Scatter beyond two.

cash Bonanza Free Spins

The maximum win available is 5,000x bet.

First Impression

Cash Bonanza will inevitably suit a very specific kind of player, but it probably won’t be the hard core player chasing an experience like no other. Often, games like these develop a smaller cult following, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the same thing happen here.

On a statistical side, there isn’t much to complain about. Default RTP is 96.52%, although lower settings are available (as low as 94.50%), so players would do well to check. Volatility is high, and the standard Pragmatic maximum win of 5,000x bet is available. There’s no bonus buy, but with the respin feature active in the base game, and the ways to win carrying over, that may make for a better experience.

Free Spins are really where the only excitement comes into play, with a win multiplier active alongside the respin feature – where we really hope for more, smaller connections than larger groups of symbols to continue to increase the multiplier. It’s hard not to feel that things would have benefitted from the multiplier carrying over between spins, but we haven’t really seen what Cash Bonanza is capable of, yet…

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.