Big Five slot machine: characteristics
The slot's background shows a splendid natural landscape, with a sky tinted blue and violet and a fresh waterfall flowing beyond the reels. The background animations and soundtrack created with natural sounds and various animal calls ensure peaceful and pleasant gaming sessions. The icons show the five great beasts starring in the game, while the minor symbols represent poker royals and numbers 9 and 10. Extremely pleasing from an audiovisual perspective, Novomatic's Big Five presents interesting features in terms of gameplay as well, distinguishing itself in this regard from many other slots by the same producer, which are certainly less complex.
Big Five Paytable
The 5x3 screen offers 25 fixed paylines, on which winning combinations can form starting from 3 matching icons. The bet value ranges from a minimum of €0.25 to a maximum of €50, and the highest wins are those offered by the 5 Jackpots. The symbols present on the reels offer the following payout types:
- Lion pays up to 12x;
- Elephant pays up to 8x;
- Rhinoceros pays up to 8x;
- Buffalo pays up to 4x;
- Leopard pays up to 4x;
- A and K pay up to 3x;
- Q, J and 10 pay up to 2.40x.
Big Five slot bonus features
Wild and Scatter: it's a golden symbol depicting a kind of tribal face. It substitutes all base symbols, except for the Scatter. The Scatter represents a geographical map and if it lands 4 to 9 times on the game grid, it offers between 10 and 20 Free Spins. The Scatter can only appear on the central reels.
Jackpot: every spin on Big Five allows you to win Jackpots associated with the 5 animals starring in the game. The Jackpots are fixed and are indicated on the left side of the game screen. To win the Jackpot, you need to fill the entire grid with the corresponding icon. The Jackpots correspond to a fixed payout, to which must be added the progressive contribution paid during the entire gaming session. Specifically:
- Lion Jackpot pays 300x;
- Elephant Jackpot pays 200x;
- Rhino Jackpot pays 200x;
- Buffalo Jackpot pays 100x;
- Leopard Jackpot pays 100x.
Reel Respin Feature: whenever the first reel is occupied by a column of matching symbols depicting one of the 5 starring animals, the Respin feature begins. During the new free spins, the icons corresponding to the animal that activated the bonus remain in position, as well as any Wild tiles. For each additional identical icon that stops on the screen, you get a new respin, therefore the feature ends when no more symbols corresponding to the animal that activated them, or additional Wild tiles, land. At the end of the feature, all winning lines are paid.
Slots similar to Novomatic's Big Five
Among the most interesting alternatives to Big Five, we mention:
- Cats by IGT
- Silverback Gold by NetEnt
- The King by iSoftBet
Pros and cons of the Big Five slot
Big Five is an interesting slot from various perspectives, first and foremost the possibility of winning up to 5 different Jackpots with every spin of the reels. The activation of the Reel Respin significantly optimizes winning possibilities, and the number of Free Spins is quite generous, considering industry standards. Novomatic seems to have wanted to shake up their tradition while maintaining the quality and engagement offered by the gameplay.