- ▸ The grid is 5x3 with 10 fixed paylines - you can't switch lines off.
- ▸ Stakes run $0.10 to $250 per spin across every device.
- ▸ Wins pay left to right, starting on the leftmost reel.
- ▸ 3 / 4 / 5 scatters award 10 / 15 / 20 free spins.
- ▸ RTP reaches 96.52%, but operators can ship 95.51% or 94.53% instead.
- ▸ Standard Pragmatic autoplay with loss and win limits is built in.
Reviewed game
Big Bass Splash 1000 (Pragmatic Play)
Play the game
18+ | T&C apply | Play responsibly
Big Bass Splash 1000 is a 5x3, 10-payline video slot: match fishing symbols left to right, and land 3 or more scatters to open the free-spins bonus where the real money is made. Bets run $0.10 to $250 a spin. Here is exactly how the grid, the symbols and the bonus trigger work.
Ten fixed paylines, a 5x3 grid and a stake band that runs from $0.10 to $250 - those are the numbers you set before your first spin of this Pragmatic Play fishing slot, and they don't change round to round. Wins pay left to right from the leftmost reel, three or more scatters open the free-spins bonus, and the headline RTP reaches 96.52% when an operator ships the top model. You'll want to know one thing early: the base game is deliberately quiet. The money fish and the Fisherman wild do nothing until the bonus starts, so most of what makes this slot exciting is locked behind the scatters. This page covers the base mechanics; the full bonus breakdown lives on our free spins guide. For the payout ceiling and the operator RTP spread, see our RTP and max win page.
Key Takeaways
The grid and how lines pay
Start with the layout, because it's the simplest part. You spin five reels, each three symbols tall, for a 5x3 window. There are 10 paylines and they're fixed, so every spin covers all ten and your stake buys the full set. That's different from older slots that let you toggle lines; here you can't, and you shouldn't try.
Wins land left to right. A combination has to start on reel one and run across adjacent reels with no gaps, so three matching symbols on reels one, two and three pays, but the same three on reels three, four and five does not. Only the highest win on each line counts, and line wins are added to any scatter pay. It's a clean, familiar structure that anyone who has played a Big Bass game will recognise instantly.
Because the lines are fixed and left-to-right only, there's no strategy in how you arrange your bet - the maths is set. What you control is the size of the stake and how long you keep spinning. That's it. Everything else is the random number generator doing its job, and Pragmatic discloses the RTP in the paytable so you can check which model your casino is running before you commit real money.
What stays the same every spin
- All 10 lines are active - no line-count choice.
- Left-to-right, adjacent reels only.
- Your total stake is the line bet times ten.
Reading the symbols
Move on to what actually pays. The reel set splits into low symbols, high symbols and three special pieces. The card royals do the light lifting, the fishing tackle carries the real base-game value, and the Fisherman, scatter and money fish are the ones that decide your session. Pragmatic hasn't published the full 1000 paytable, so we're giving ranges rather than exact per-line figures. Treat every number below as "roughly" or "up to", not gospel.
| Symbol group | What it is | Rough line pay |
|---|---|---|
| Card royals (10, J, Q, K, A) | Low symbols, most common | ~5x to 10x a line |
| Fishing tackle (tackle box, lure, reel, rod and boat) | High symbols | ~20x to 200x a line |
| The Fisherman | Top regular symbol; becomes the collecting Wild only in free spins | Highest standard pay |
| Scatter | Opens the free-spins bonus | 3 / 4 / 5 pay and trigger |
| Money fish | Carry cash values, active only in the bonus | 2x to 1,000x the bet |
Here's the catch that trips people up. The money fish and the Fisherman wild sit on the reels in the base game, but they pay nothing there. The money fish only light up their cash values once the free spins start, and the Fisherman only turns into the collecting wild inside the bonus. In the base game the Fisherman is just a high-paying regular symbol. That single 1,000x top money value is where the "1000" in the name comes from, though it is not a cap on your win.
The tackle group is where your base-game money comes from. Land five of the boat or rod across an active line and you're into the top of the standard paytable, which is why a run without scatters can still tick along on the high symbols alone. The card royals fill the reels far more often but pay a fraction of that. This is a deliberately top-heavy design: the meaningful money is stacked into the bonus and the tackle symbols, with the low symbols there mostly to keep the reels turning between the good hits.
One more note on the scatter. It pays on its own as well as triggering the bonus, and it doesn't need to land on a payline, since scatters count anywhere on the reels. That's the standard rule for the symbol type, and it's why three scattered anywhere on the 5x3 window is enough to open the free spins.
Setting your bet and using the controls
Your stake is the first real decision, and it's a wide one. Big Bass Splash 1000 takes anything from $0.10 to $250 per spin, and the game also displays euro values depending on the casino. You set the amount from the bet control near the spin button: open it, pick a total-bet level, close it, spin. There's no separate line-bet or coin-value juggling; you choose one total stake and all 10 lines are covered.
The controls are standard Pragmatic Play kit, so nothing here surprises you if you've played the studio before. Autoplay lets you queue a set number of spins and, crucially, attach loss and win limits so the run stops itself. Turbo (quick spin) speeds up the animations. Use the autoplay limits - they're the easiest built-in way to keep a session inside a budget you set in advance.
Controls at a glance
- Bet: $0.10 to $250 total per spin.
- Autoplay: selectable spin count plus loss and win limits.
- Turbo: faster spin animations.
How the free spins trigger
Everything worth waiting for starts with the scatter. Land three and you get 10 free spins; four gives 15; five gives 20. Reports suggest two scatters can trigger a respin to try to hook the third, though we'd treat that as reported rather than confirmed.
Inside the bonus the money fish switch on and the Fisherman becomes the collecting wild - and that's a genuinely different game with retriggers and a rising multiplier. We keep the full walkthrough on the free spins bonus page rather than duplicate it here, so read that next if the bonus is what you're chasing. On our short demo runs the bonus was rare, which matches the reported free-spins frequency of roughly one in 113 spins (small sample, so take it loosely).
How we'd play it
Set a session budget before you spin and put a loss limit inside autoplay to enforce it. Load the free demo first so you learn the reel speed and see how quiet the base game feels between bonuses, with no real money involved. Keep your stake small enough that a long dry run doesn't end the session early, because this slot carries real financial risk and the wins cluster in the bonus. For the full picture, our Big Bass Splash 1000 review pulls the maths and the verdict together. If you decide to play for real, search the lobby for Pragmatic Play titles, since availability varies by region and operator.
When it's not for you
Skip this one if you like a rich base game. Outside the free spins there's little going on - no wild wins, no active money fish, just standard line pays on a familiar Big Bass grid. The variance is high, the paying spins are reported around 13.64%, and the memorable moments sit almost entirely behind the scatters. If you want steady small hits or you get bored during long gaps, a lower-volatility slot will suit you better than this one.