In short: Bonanza is Big Time Gaming's 2016 gold-mining slot and the game that made Megaways famous: six reels of changing height, up to 117,649 ways, and cascades that refill the grid from two directions. Its free spins carry a win multiplier that rises by one with every cascade and has no cap. Expect long quiet spells punctuated by bonus rounds that can be very large.
Megaways on a six-reel grid
Bonanza was released on 7 December 2016. Each of its six reels can show up to seven symbols, and the number of symbols on each reel changes every spin. At seven symbols on every reel the count reaches 117,649 ways; shorter reels mean fewer.
Big Time Gaming calls it the original Megaways game, though the mechanic actually debuted in Dragon Born. The company's chief executive has recalled that Bonanza was shown at G2E in Las Vegas in 2016 and dismissed by one marketer as too complicated, before it went on to become a major hit. Evolution bought Big Time Gaming in 2021.
Dual Reactions and the mine carts
Winning symbols disappear, and replacements drop in from the top and slide in from the right, a system Big Time Gaming calls Dual Reactions. Carts above reels two to five roll in from right to left, adding symbols below. One spin can therefore chain several wins before it settles.
Spell GOLD for free spins
Four scatters spelling G-O-L-D start 12 free spins, and each extra scatter adds 5. Stacked scatters riding in the carts add more: three stacked give 5 spins and four stacked give 10.
In the free spins every win triggers a reaction, and the win multiplier starts at 1x and climbs by one with each reaction, with no upper limit. That makes the round about chains rather than single hits: a spin that cascades five times adds five to the multiplier for the wins that follow. Where it is offered, the bonus buy starts the 12 free spins for 90x the stake.
RTP, volatility and the 26,000x cap
Big Time Gaming's default RTP is 96.11%, with a 37.94% hit frequency and a maximum payout of 26,000 times the bet, and the studio describes Bonanza as high volatility. Stakes run from 0.20 to 20 per spin. The multiplier has no limit, but the payout does: 26,000x is the most a single round can pay.
A 37.94% hit frequency sounds generous, but on a Megaways grid many of those hits are small cascades worth less than the stake. The game's value is concentrated in the free spins.
Ontario note: Ontario's government-run online casino offers Bonanza at 96.0% RTP, with the same 0.20 to 20 stake range. Settings can differ between sites, so check the game's info screen; here is why the same slot can have different RTP.
Bonanza next to its follow-up
Bonanza More Gold, scheduled for 25 November 2026, raises the ceiling to 100,000x with a 96.52% RTP and adds a Feature Wheel and Super Wheel that can boost the Megaways, wilds and multipliers. The original remains the simpler game: one cascade engine and one multiplier.
Playing the demo
Most base-game spins are a wait for scatters, with cascades keeping the screen busy in between. In the free demo, count the reactions on winning spins during free spins, since that is what drives the multiplier, and note how many base-game spins pass between GOLD triggers. That gap is the real cost of the game, and the demo is a free way to measure it.
