Travel to a tranquil wilderness somewhere in the Far East with our Big Bamboo review. This 2022 Push Gaming slot stars a number of cute and cartoonish Asian creatures, headed by the majestic panda.
What’s more, the game is overflowing with features, not to mention a healthy maximum potential payout of 50,000x. Learn all about this highly-volatile game in our Big Bamboo slot review.
| Software Provider | Push Gaming |
| Release Date | March 2022 |
| RTP | 96.13% |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 50,000x |
| Reels x Rows | 5 x 6 |
| Minimum – Maximum Bet | $0.10 - $100 |
| Number of Paylines | 50 |
| Themes | Asian, Nature |
Big Bamboo Details, RTP and Volatility
An unorthodox grid of five reels and six rows lies deep within a bamboo forest, offering 50 fixed paylines. A frustratingly high level of volatility facilitates an impressive top prize of 50,000x per spin.
The return to player rate of Big Bamboo is a respectable 96.13%, though a less-rewarding version of 94.13% exists. Finally, you can play this March 2022 release for just $0.10 per round, rising to a maximum bet of $100.
Theme & Graphics in Big Bamboo
No Big Bamboo review would be complete without discussing the theme, which focuses on Asian wildlife. Symbols on the reels include several colorful and cartoonish creatures. Of these, the cute bamboo-chomping panda is unquestionably the star.
A peaceful, almost hypnotic soundtrack accompanies your gameplay. This certainly helps you to relax and find your inner zen. However, things change during the bonus feature, and the music becomes much more tense and dramatic.
Big Bamboo Slot Features
This slot is packed with interesting features and mechanics, which we’ll tackle in the next part of our Big Bamboo review.
Regular Symbols
Four playing card suits serve as the lower-paying symbols. The red club, purple heart, green spade and blue diamond all pay the same. You’ll receive 0.4x with five on a payline, plus 0.2x and 0.1x for matching four and three.
Four Asian creatures make up the higher-paying symbols. These are a bird, monkey, warthog and a happy-looking panda. The latter is the highest-paying, with 150x offered for five on a line. In addition, you’ll secure a return of 0.5x with just two of these.
Wild
The game’s wild pays the same as the panda. As such, you'll receive 150x, 10x, 2x and 0.5x for matching between five and two. In addition, this gold-colored icon bearing the word “WILD” also substitutes for other regular symbols.
Scatters
There are two distinct scatters. Both feature a yin-yang symbol, but the regular scatter also bears the word “BONUS”. These may appear during the base game, free spins and Golden Bamboo feature, but only on reels two to four.
In addition, a similar-looking Gamble Scatter exists. This can appear on the fourth reel whenever regular scatters land on reels two and three. If it does, it spins through four different outcomes, choosing one at random:
- 4 to 9 free spins;
- 7 to 9 spins with two low-paying symbols converted to Mystery Bamboo;
- 8 to 10 spins with four low-paying symbols converted;
- A blank space, meaning no feature is triggered.
Mystery Bamboo
These green bamboo-filled symbols can land on any reel, at any time. If one appears, it randomly transforms into a regular paying symbol, a wild or a Golden Bamboo symbol.
Golden Bamboo
Whenever a Golden Bamboo symbol is revealed, this feature begins. Every space containing such a symbol spins through five potential options, revealing one of the following:
- Instant prize. A base bet multiplier ranging from 1x to 5,000x.
- Collector symbol. Instant prizes and collector symbols are gathered together, remaining in place throughout the feature.
- Multiplier symbol. All collector symbols and instant prizes are enhanced by 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x.
- Scatter symbol. Collect these in conjunction with Gamble Scatters to trigger free spins.
- Gamble Scatter. As previously explained, these cycle through several possible free spins options.
Gamble Feature
After triggering one of the two lower-value bonuses, you’ll have the option to spin a wheel. This presents an opportunity to improve the bonus to a more lucrative level.
It’s completely voluntary and you can simply play your bonus as normal if you wish. However, if you'd like to gamble, spinning the wheel could either result in a better bonus, or you’ll lose everything.
Free Spins
The free spins bonus plays out according to whatever you earned from the Gamble Scatter and optional Gamble Feature.
To the right of the grid, you’ll notice four Conversion Symbols. Every scatter acquired during the feature will be collected here. After four scatters, the first specified symbol converts to Mystery Bamboo, plus a 2x multiplier is awarded and you’ll earn four additional free spins.
For every four subsequent scatters, the multiplier increases to 3x, 5x and 10x, with an extra three and two free spins awarded.
Bonus Buy
You can buy your way into the feature in one of four ways:
- 99x: Receive seven to nine spins with no converted symbols;
- 179x: Receive seven to nine spins with two converted symbols;
- 608x: Receive eight to ten spins with four converted symbols;
- 300x: One of the three options is randomly chosen.
How to Play Big Bamboo Online
Tap the upward arrow beneath the reels to select your preferred stake before hitting the circular arrows to spin. Configure as many as 100 autoplays by clicking the triangular “play” button.
To secure a payout, match symbols on any of the game’s 50 paylines from left to right. Depending on the symbol, you will need either two or three of a kind.
Try the Big Bamboo Demo for Free before playing for real money
This game is loaded with features and isn’t as easy to pick up as many online slots. As such, we strongly recommend trying our Big Bamboo demo game before risking any cash. Playing free slots is a great way to learn the rules and make worry-free mistakes ahead of real money play.
Big Bamboo Review – Our Final Verdict
There’s a lot going on in Big Bamboo and it took a little while for us to wrap our heads around the various features. Once we did, we found this slot extremely frustrating. After more than 500 spins, we still hadn’t organically triggered the free spins, nor had we seen the Golden Bamboo feature.
What’s more, given how hard it is to access the bonus game, the Gamble Scatter can be absolutely soul destroying. You drop two regular scatters in, the Gamble Scatter arrives, then it randomly selects no win, leaving you back at square one. Sick.
If our experience is replicated across the board, we can’t imagine people will return to Big Bamboo in a hurry. And that would be a shame, as it’s beautifully designed with a lovely soundtrack and lots of features that seem like they should work on paper.
Similar Slot Games
Enjoy our free Big Bamboo demo and review? Be sure to check out these similar games.
- Rich Panda: Genesis Gaming presents a highly-volatile Asian-themed slot with an impressive RTP of 97.25% and a 5x4 reel grid.
- Fruit Zen: This 2015 BetSoft release combines a similarly peaceful Far Eastern theme with a classic fruit machine. Expect a solid RTP of 95.96%.
- Fat Panda: A medium-volatility slot by Pragmatic Play with a 96.07% RTP, this 5x3 game also stars a panda.
