Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake Slot
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5,500+
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United Kingdom (UKGC)
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Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits
The Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake slot is made up of 5 reels, 3 reels and 10 fixed paylines. Land 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols and/or wilds from left to right on a payline to form a winning combination. The only except is the float as you only need 2 or more.
Stakes here range from between 10p and £250 per spin. Uses the plus and/or minus buttons or the settings tab to adjust your bet size. If you’re outside the UK, you will likely be able to set Autoplay. Once active, you can run between 10 and 1,000 auto spins. There are also options to set win and stop loss limits.
The Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake RTP rate is 96.07%. Average an online slot game, there are 95.07% and 94.07% RTP versions which will more than likely be used at various online casinos.
The setting here is rather genteel and laid back. That’s certainly not the case when you look at the variance in this game. This is a high volatility slot coming in at the maximum of 5 out of 5. The hit frequency rate is 14.29% meaning a winning combination will land every 6.99 spins. Triggering the free spins will occur every 113 spins on average though.
Like the other slots in this series, the Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake max win is 5,000 x bet. The max win probability is 1 in 3,378,378 spins (3.378 million).
Theme: classic series get a medieval twist
The Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake slot has a fishing themed with an Arthurian legend twist. Yes, really! It’s come a long way from the original Big Bass game, Big Bass Bonanza, in late 2020.
The reels are set beneath the waves where you’ll see a ruined castle. There’s a cartoon-style quality to the imagery here. It’s simple but rather nicely done. As is the mediaeval-style soundtrack which you might hear in a movie set in the middle ages.
Symbols on the reels include playing card royals and a mediaeval-style typeface alongside fish, a tackle box, a fly, a fishing rod and a float. The float is the most rewarding standard symbol, paying 200 x your total bet if you manage to land 5 across any line.
The Fisherman Wild symbol is represented by King Arthur who sports a magnificent beard and gold crown. He appears in the Free Spins feature and substitutes for all the standard symbols. There’s also a Fish Scatter, which triggers the free spins. Below are all the symbols you’ll encounter:
- 10: 3, 4 or 5 = 0.2, 1 or 5 x bet
- J: 3, 4 or 5 = 0.2, 1 or 5 x bet
- Q: 3, 4 or 5 = 0.2, 1 or 5 x bet
- K: 3, 4 or 5 = 0.2, 2.5 or 10 x bet
- A: 3, 4 or 5 = 0.2, 2.5 or 10 x bet
- Fish: 3, 4 or 5 = 1, 5 or 20 x bet
- Tackle Box: 3, 4 or 5 = 2, 10 or 50 x bet
- Dragonfly: 3, 4 or 5 = 2, 10 or 50 x bet
- Fishing Rod: 3, 4 or 5 = 3, 15 or 100 x bet
- Multi-Coloured Float: 2, 3, 4 or 5 = 0.5, 5, 20 or 200 x bet
- Fisherman Wild: Substitutes for all symbols during free spins
- Fish Scatter: 3+ triggers Free Spins feature
Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake Mobile
Released on the 8th of April 2024, the Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake mobile version plays very nicely. The colourful visuals are neat and crisp and the gameplay is very straightforward, even if you’re playing on a device with a small screen like a smartphone or tablet. It’s available on Android and iOS handsets as well as on desktops, laptops and Macs.
Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake Bonus Features
This fishing expedition comes with 4 bonus features. There’s a standard free spins game as well as the Golden Lake free spins version. In both cases, you’ll be hoping that the king can catch plenty of fish with their attached cash prizes.
Trigger the feature picker by landing 3, 4 or 5 Fish Scatters anywhere on the reels on the same spin. You’ll then be offered a selection of 12 playing cards. Pick one. If you land a Bonus, you’ll play the standard fee spins round. Land a Golden Lake card and you’ll play the Golden Lake Free Spins.
Free Spins feature
You’ll start with 10, 15 or 20 free spins depending on how many scatters triggered the round. If you just miss out on a trigger and land 2 scatters, you could randomly receive a respin which offers another shot at landing a triggering scatter.
There are Money Fish symbols which all come with values ranging from 2 to 5,000 x your total bet. Whenever the Fisherman Wild lands, all Money Fish values are collected which are awarded as a prize. Here’s an example of how it works:
- Money Fish symbols of 2, 5 and 10 x bet
- If no Fisherman Wild lands, they swim award with nothing won
- If a Fisherman Wild is present, you’d win 17 x bet (2 + 5 + 10 = 17)
- Landing 2 Fisherman Wilds will see you win 34 x bet
Furthermore, each Fisherman Wild is collected in a meter above the reels. Collect 4 Fisherman Wilds and you’ll get a retrigger and another 10 free spins. The values attached to the fish are boosted by a 2x multiplier and doubled.
Collect another 4 Fisherman Wilds and another 10 free spins are added and the multiplier rises to 3x. If you’re lucky enough to collect 4 Fisherman Wilds again, the multiplier applied to the Money Fish rockets to 10x during the extra 10 free spins. Here’s a table with what can be won:
| Fisherman Wilds Collected | Extra Free Spins | Money Fish Multiplier |
| 4 | 10 | 2x |
| 8 (in total) | 10 | 3x |
| 12 (in total) | 10 | 10x |
Golden Lake Free Spins feature
In the Golden Lake Free Spins feature and you’ll receive 10 free spins on a new set of reels that’s made up solely of blanks, Fisherman Wilds and Money Fish symbols. Land a winning combination made up solely of Money Fish symbols and you’ll win their combined value.
Just like in the standard free spins, the Fisherman Wild reels in the prizes attached to all the fish whenever he appears. Once again, Fisherman Wilds are collected and can deliver retriggers and in turn, 2x, 3x and 10x multipliers boosts to the value of the fish.
Additionally, there are some random extras here too:
- When there are Fisherman Wilds but no Money Fish symbols, Money Fish symbols can appear randomly for a payout.
- When there are Money Fish symbols but no Fisherman Wilds, a hook will pull a random reel up to bring Fisherman Wilds onto the reel.
- Look out for curtains which can flow across the reels when there’s a Fisherman Wild but no Money Fish. When they’re removed, all the symbols on the screen apart from the Fisherman Wild are changed, offering another chance to land a win.
Like with many other Pragmatic Play slots, there is an Ante Bet feature. Costing 50% more per spin, you have a higher chance of triggering the bonus features as more Fish Scatters appear on the reels.
Buy Free Spins feature
Finally, players in some territories, but not the UK, have the optional Buy Free Spins feature. There are 2 options available:
- Free Spins feature = 100 x bet
- Golden Lake Free Spins feature = 270 x bet
Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake Slot Verdict: odd choice of theme for this popular fishing series
The fishy theme has spawned an increasingly bizarre set of spinoffs from horse racing (Big Bass Day at the Races) to Halloween (Big Bass Halloween) and now to the legend of King Arthur. What next? Whatever it is, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
This Arthurian spin on the fishing-themed slot is actually pretty good. The colourful visuals are well put together and the soothing soundtrack fits the theme rather nicely.
The gameplay is pretty standard though. His majesty the wild fisherman is the key to success during the free spins features. Land a decent haul of them to bring the retriggers and multipliers into play and you can net some decent action here. Don’t expect that to happen too regularly though, given the game’s extremely high volatility.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Big Bass Secrets of the Golden Lake slot when I first fired it up. Sure, it’s a bit strange, but it’s a novel take on an ever-popular theme. With 5,000 x bet max wins, a new bonus feature or modifier would have help make it stand out amongst the countless Big Bass series slots now available.
Chris is a slots expert that has reviewed and played over 10,000 slots online. Having being in the iGaming industry since 2004, he loves digging into the mechanics behind the slot games, playing the various bonus features and giving an honest verdict from a player’s perspective.