Those that are familiar with the Big Time Gaming slot called Bonanza know that it is super high variance taken to the extreme, it therefore making it the most dangerous slot one can play online available.

The trouble, if you can call it that, with this slot is the length of time it can take to trigger the bonus round. This bonus round is triggered by having 4 or more scatters in view that spell out the word “Gold”. From both real and play money gaming, I know from experience that it is not uncommon for it take over 2,000 spins before you see this magic word appearing on screen.

The next challenge playing this slot is, that when eventually the bonus does trigger, that it can really do you over by awarding wins between 0x and 20x stake. The bonus round is where the real money sits in this game with an unlimited (yeah right!) multiplier. The multiplier increases each time there is a win.

The base game in Bonanza behaves itself usually pretty well. The balance doesn’t skydive too quickly. It is a little like an egg timer with the balance slowly but steadily heading towards bust town.

Back in February of this year, I met one of the staff of Big Time Gaming in London and we had a discussion about Bonanza. I explained that us gamers don’t want to wait thousands of spins for a bonus to trigger. I compared the slot many a time to Netents Dead or Alive that is pretty high variance too. Unlike Bonanza, the bonus rounds in Dead or Alive triggers on average every 160 spins. The average bonus trigger frequency in Bonanza appears to be every 500 spins as comparison.

During the aforementioned discussion with the Big Time Gaming representative, he sort of admitted that they had the bonus frequency wrong. Whilst they took a lot of time developing the game engine, he could see the frustration from a players point of view.

So should you play this slot? It certainly has the potential. Just look at this win of 14,000x bet size during the bonus round that can be found on Youtube (clip courtesy of streamer Letsgiveitaspin):

Impressive isn’t it? But one should remember that wins like the 14,000x one are rare. I would even say super rare. You most probably have an equal chance hitting the Mega Moolah jackpot as hitting such a massive hit during the bonus round in Bonanza!

So treat this slot with caution. Give it a few spins now and then and see if the bonus round triggers quick. Never chase it, because it more likely than not will end in disaster. I have done it before, chase the bonus round only to be mugged off with a bonus round that paid less than 50x. It was almost fist through screen time!

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