Casino Bonuses
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 5 |
| Paylines | Scatter Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 125 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 21,100x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.60% |
| Our Rating | 7.3 |
Latest Slots
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Game Overview
I hadn’t come across the word Oishii before starting to write this review – it doesn’t quite sound English though, does it? Of course, there’s a good reason for that – it isn’t English! In fact, Oishii is a Japanese word that roughly translates as ‘delicious’ or ‘tasty’, so it is typically used concerning food. An Oishii Bonanza, then, is Pragmatic Play’s idea of a full-on feast – the main course, if you will, before having a Sweet Bonanza. Funnily enough, Oishii Bonanza shares a whole bucket load of similarities with Sweet Bonanza – the same scatter-pays payout mechanic, an identical RTP of 96.60%, and best of all, a maximum jackpot of ‘over 21,000x the total bet’. Good grief!
The feature sets employed in both games are also identical, at least as far as I could tell during the time that I was writing this review. There could be some minor differences here and there, but I think it’s reasonably safe to assume that this is a straight-up clone of a previous Pragmatic Play game (albeit an excellent one). Scatter pay games do not use regular pay lines or pay ways, which means you’ll only need to catch eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the screen to score yourself a win. I’m a huge fan of this payout mechanic, and it’s even better when paired with cascading reels, as is the case here, as it means you can win several times from the initial symbol drop and then several more when new symbols fall in to replace those that are removed! The reels contain a bunch of special multiplier symbols to help boost your winnings even further, but you’ll need to make your way to the free spins bonus for a shot at hitting the game’s top jackpot of over 21,100x the total bet.
All this talk of Oishii food is making me hungry – why don’t you give our free demo slot of Oishii Bonanza a few spins while I go out and grab lunch? It’s available to play below!
Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
The ‘Bonanza’ series of slots by Pragmatic Play is developing into something of a franchise these days – we’ve had Pyramid Bonanza, a Sweet Bonanza, and even an Aztec Bonanza, so Oishii Bonanza is certainly in good company. Not all of these games are direct clones of one another, but the differences between some of them are so slight as to be essentially unnoticeable to all but the most devoted slot fanatics. Re-using a popular slot engine is a common practice within the industry, but it can feel a little bit lazy at times – if you’re a fan of Sweet Bonanza, the only reason to switch to playing this game instead is for a change of scenery. And if you didn’t like Sweet Bonanza, you definitely won’t like this game either – when you put it that way, it does make games such as this feel a tad pointless, in my view.
Pointless or not, there’s no denying that Oishii Bonanza is a fun – and excellent paying – little slot machine. Let’s start with the high-paying symbols, which I’m not even going to attempt to describe too much as they are simply far too random! There are four animal-inspired icons in this category, the most valuable of which will pay you 50x the total bet for a maximum win of 12 or more symbols anywhere on the playfield. The remaining three cat-inspired sushi symbols (see, I told you I shouldn’t even try and describe them, didn’t I!) return top prizes of 25x, 15x, and 12x, respectively. As for the low pays, Pragmatic Play has cut me a break with those – the Apples pay 10x for a 12+ symbol combination, followed by 8x for the Plums, 5x for the Watermelons, 4x for the Grapes, and 2x for the Bananas. See, how simple was that? Oh, and just one more thing – hitting all six possible scatter symbols will top up your balance with an additional 100x of the current stake, which is always nice to see!
If you choose to play the game with the bonus bet option disabled, the minimum/maximum permitted bets work out at €0.20 and €100.00 per spin, respectively. Turning the bonus bet on will increase these limits to €0.25 and €125.00 per spin and will also double your odds of triggering the free spins naturally.
Base Game & Modifiers
Like Sweet Bonanza before it, this game utilises a six-column, five-row reel set, creating thirty unique symbol positions. You’ll need a minimum of eight matching symbols anywhere on the screen to hit a win, meaning you can theoretically win up to three times from the initial symbol drop – plus any additional wins from subsequent cascades.
Tumble Feature
This is the term that Pragmatic Play likes to use to refer to cascading reels, rolling reels, avalanches, or whatever term you prefer – it all means the same thing. The tumbling feature means that winning combinations will be paid after every spin before the included symbols explode and disappear from the reels. This allows new symbols to fall into the resulting empty positions, creating further opportunities for additional wins. This process can continue indefinitely until no more winning combinations result from a tumble.
Oishii Bonanza Slot Bonus Features
The large playfield used in this game means you’ll need at least four scatter symbols to trigger the bonus round rather than the more typical three. Regardless of the number of triggering symbols, you will still only receive an initial ten free spins; fortunately, there is at least a cash premium of up to 100x the total bet if your triggering combination includes more than four scatters.
Free Spins
The free spins feature includes additional multiplier symbols which are not present on the reels during the base game. These symbols take on a random value of either 2x, 3x, 5x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 15x, 18x, 20x, 25x, 30x, 35x, 50x, or 100x, and are not removed from the reels during tumbling sequences. At the end of each free spin, the value of all visible multiplier symbols will be added together before being applied to the current win. If three or more scatter symbols land on the reels during this feature, another five free spins will be added to your remaining total.
Bonus Buy
If you aren’t having much luck triggering the free spins organically, a bonus buy facility is available for 100x the normal price per spin. That’s a bargain in my eyes, but be careful of using it too much, especially at larger bet sizes! It’s incredible how quickly these bonus buy facilities can deplete even the largest bankrolls on a bad day.
Pros
- The scatter-pay mechanic is easy to understand, great fun, and high paying.
- Multipliers in the bonus round can lead to some stunningly huge payouts.
- A monstrous jackpot of over 21,100x the total bet!
Cons
- It’s nothing more than a clone – a clone of a great game, but a clone all the same.
- Difficult to hit anything special outside of the free spins feature.
Oishii Bonanza Slot Review Final Thoughts
If you’ve already grown tired of Sweet Bonanza, there’s little here to pull you back for more. Nevertheless, the huge jackpot, excellent presentation, and fantastic bonus round included in Oishii Bonanza should ensure that this game will find a whole new set of fans who never bothered with Sweet Bonanza for whatever reason. Don’t miss this one!
Good
- Game Types:
- Cascading Reels
- High Volatility Slots
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