Home›Bonanza slots›Big Bass – Keeping it Reel
🕒 Last updated: 27 July 2026
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel banks the money symbols that the rest of Reel Kingdom’s fishing series throws away. Released through Pragmatic Play in October 2022, it runs a 96.07% top RTP on a 5×3 grid with 10 fixed paylines and a 10,000x maximum win.
That RTP is the headline weakness: it sits below the modern average and is the lowest top tier in the Big Bass line-up. The compensation is a prize net above the grid that stores values instead of letting them expire, plus the shortest published max-win odds in the series at 1 in 2,143,163.
| Provider | Reel Kingdom / Pragmatic Play |
| Release date | 2022-10-24 (October 2022) |
| RTP | 96.07%Operator-selectable tiers: 96.07% / 95.07% / 94.07% |
| Volatility | High |
| Maximum win | 10,000x your stake |
| Layout | 5×3 |
| Paylines / ways | 10 fixed paylines |
| Bet range | 0.10 (EUR/GBP/USD); 0.15 with Ante Bet – 250 (EUR/GBP/USD); 375 with Ante Bet — see conflicts, sources disagree |
| Hit frequency | 1 in 8.77 spins (all wins); free spins 1 in 117 spins; max win 1 in 2,143,163 |
| Bonus buy | Yes — 100x the bet (RTP stays at 96.07% when buying) |
Where to play Big Bass – Keeping it Reel online
Where to play Big Bass – Keeping it Reel — casinos we work with
How Big Bass – Keeping it Reel works
The frame is deliberately conventional: five reels, three rows, ten fixed paylines, wins paid left to right from the first reel. What changes is the setting — the series’ bearded fisherman has relocated to a colder, faintly icy waterhole, while the bright symbol set and bouncy soundtrack carry over unchanged.
Stakes start at 0.10 per spin, or 0.15 with the Ante Bet engaged, which adds 50% to the stake in exchange for extra scatters. The maximum stake is where the published data breaks down: BigWinBoard’s spec table and SlotCatalog both show 50, while BigWinBoard’s own review text, OLBG and FruitySlots all say 250, rising to 375 with Ante. We quote 250 because three independent write-ups give it and it matches the series standard, but this figure is genuinely unresolved — check the stake selector in your client before assuming either.
The base game is dry by design. All wins combined land about once every 8.77 spins, the thinnest rate of any Big Bass title with published maths, and free spins trigger roughly once in 117. Two scatters is not automatically a dead spin: a third can be hooked onto the screen to start the round.
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel bonus features
Three, four or five scatters award 10, 15 or 20 free spins, and only in that round do wilds appear — standard wilds and Golden Wilds, both substituting for everything except the scatter. Money symbols carry cash values, and a wild landing beside them collects those values in the usual way.
The prize net is what separates this game from its siblings. In most Big Bass titles, money symbols that land without a wild are simply lost. Here their values are swept into a pot displayed above the grid and held there for later. The catch is built in and worth understanding: on each following spin a random fish escapes the pot, so the stored total decays while it waits.
Golden Wilds are the payout event. One collects the money symbols landing alongside it and the entire contents of the prize net in a single hit. Beyond that the ladder is series standard — every four wilds or Golden Wilds banked retriggers the round with +10 free spins and steps the collection multiplier through x2, x3 and a final x10, with no retrigger after the last level. Random additions help the two halves meet: fishermen on screen with no fish can summon fish, and fish with no fisherman can summon fishermen.
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel RTP, volatility and max win
The three configurations are 96.07%, 95.07% and 94.07%, and even the best of them is below what most releases from 2022 onward offer. If your casino has loaded the bottom rung you are playing a 94.07% game, which is a materially worse proposition than the number at the top of this page. The RTP shown in the game’s own information screen is the one that applies — check it at every new site, not once. Buying the bonus at 100x does not change it; the return stays at 96.07% on the top tier.
High volatility, rated 5 out of 5, plus a base game paying once in 8.77 spins means the balance erodes steadily between bonuses, and the bonus arrives about once in 117 spins. Against that, the 10,000x ceiling carries the shortest published odds in the series at 1 in 2,143,163 — still remote, but roughly three times shorter than Big Bass Bonanza 1000’s. This is a game for short funded sessions rather than long grinds.
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel pros and cons
What we like
- Prize net stores money-symbol values that other Big Bass games discard
- Golden Wild collects the on-screen values and the entire pot at once
- Shortest published max-win odds in the series at 1 in 2,143,163
- Buying the bonus at 100x leaves the RTP unchanged at 96.07%
- Complete published maths: hit rate, bonus rate and max-win probability
What to watch out for
- 96.07% top tier is the lowest in the Big Bass range and below the modern average
- Driest base game in the series at one win per 8.77 spins
- Maximum stake is disputed — sources give both 50 and 250
- The prize net decays, with a fish escaping on every following spin
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel compared with other Bonanza slots
On raw numbers Keeping it Reel sits mid-pack. Big Bass Bonanza 1000 shares the 5×3, 10-line layout and beats it on both RTP (96.51%) and ceiling (20,000x), while paying slightly more often at 1 in 7.58 spins against 1 in 8.77 here. Reel Action runs 96.50% with a far livelier 1-in-4.83 hit rate but caps at 2,100x, and Football Bonanza sits at 96.50% and 5,000x. Outside the family, NetGame’s Big Catch Bonanza offers a comparable fishing theme on a 5×3 grid with 12 lines, 96.05% RTP and a 12,000x maximum.
Verdict
Keeping it Reel earns its place for one reason: the prize net makes stranded money symbols recoverable, which changes how a bonus feels when wilds arrive late. That is worth something to players who already like the collect mechanic and want a variation on it. Anyone shopping on numbers should look elsewhere — 96.07% is the weakest top tier in the range and the base game is the driest at one win per 8.77 spins. The unresolved maximum stake is an added annoyance for anyone betting large.
Big Bass – Keeping it Reel FAQ
What is the RTP of Big Bass – Keeping it Reel?
The three available settings are 96.07%, 95.07% and 94.07%. Even the highest is below the modern average, and the operator picks the tier, so read the RTP stated in the game’s information screen before you play.
What is the maximum win in Big Bass – Keeping it Reel?
10,000x your stake, a figure confirmed by Pragmatic Play and every review source we checked with no disagreement. The published probability of hitting it is 1 in 2,143,163 spins.
How does the prize net work in Big Bass – Keeping it Reel?
During free spins, money-symbol values that land without a wild are added to a pot above the grid instead of being lost. A Golden Wild collects the whole pot along with any values on screen, but a random fish escapes the pot on each spin that passes.
Does Big Bass – Keeping it Reel have a bonus buy?
Yes, at 100x your bet, and the RTP stays at 96.07% when you buy rather than dropping. Bonus buys are blocked in several regulated markets, including the UK.
Which casinos have Big Bass – Keeping it Reel?
It is distributed by Pragmatic Play, so it appears in the lobbies of most casinos that carry the Pragmatic Play catalogue. We do not list specific operators on this page — use your casino’s provider filter to check.
