Big Gains

Big Gains Slot Review

A stage of deep blue crystal, ringed in gold marquee bulbs, with a spotlight climbing from the floor towards a crown-topped diamond. Red Tiger have built Big Gains backwards from its bonus round: nearly everything the base game does is scaffolding for one set-piece, and the slot doesn’t hide it. The line wins are the warm-up act. The collect is the show.

It runs on a 6×4 grid with 4,096 ways to win, an RTP of 95.67%, and a calculated maximum multiplier of 39,375x the stake. That’s a ceiling well above the studio’s Vault Cracker and Cash Explorer, two games that also hand their best moments to a single set-piece. Bets run from 0.10 to 50 per spin, and the hit rate is 56.88%.

The Base Game

Wins pay across 4,096 ways, so matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left are all it takes; there are no paylines to trace and no direction to check. Only the highest combination per way counts.

A hit rate of 56.88% means the base game pays something on more spins than not, though most of those wins will be small. The wild stands on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 and substitutes for every paying symbol. It may arrive carrying a x2, x3 or x5 multiplier that applies to any win it helps form.

Where more than one multiplier sits in the same win they multiply each other. A pair of x5 wilds in one line pays 25 times over. It’s the only route to a base game win worth remembering.

The paytable is short: five paying symbols and nothing else. Six of the top symbol pays 100x the stake, and the values fall away quickly from there.

• 7’s (red): 2x, 5x, 10x and 100x for three to six of a kind
• Green Cash Stack: 1.5x, 2.5x, 5x and 20x
• Gold Bell: 0.8x, 1x, 2x and 5x
• Horseshoe: 0.5x, 0.7x, 1x and 2x
• Coins: 0.4x, 0.6x, 0.8x and 1x

Those are modest numbers for a grid this size, and it doesn’t take much reading to see where the money is meant to come from. The cash and prize symbols that share the reels with the paytable are collected rather than lined up, and they’re the ones worth watching.

The line wins exist mostly to keep the meter ticking between collects. What they won’t do is deliver a memorable hit on their own.

Between the two screens above and below this one sits most of what the base game has to show: a win forming across the ways, and a wild stepping in to multiply it. Neither is where the slot’s real money lives, but both keep the reels moving while you wait for it.

The Collectors

Collectors may land on reel 1 and reel 6 only. A single one arriving alongside any CASH or BONUS PRIZE symbols on the grid simply sweeps them up and awards the value shown on each. It’s a small, satisfying moment, and it’s also the warm-up act.

Land one on each of those reels in the same spin and the game changes gear entirely. Both Collectors convert into CASH symbols worth 3x each, every CASH and BONUS PRIZE symbol on the reels is held where it sits, and the Hold and Respin bonus begins.

Cash and Bonus Prizes

CASH symbols hold a stake multiplier, and the possible values are:

• 0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 5x, 7x or 10x the stake

A CASH symbol’s value is paid out when a Collector lands on the first or sixth reel alongside it, or when the Hold and Respin round ends with it still held in place. The BONUS PRIZE symbols are the ladder, and they’re fixed multipliers rather than pots that grow:

• MINI: 15x
• MINOR: 50x
• MAJOR: 250x
• MEGA: 2,500x

A BONUS PRIZE is paid when its symbol is collected by a single Collector, or when the Hold and Respin round ends with it still on the grid. The ladder sits in the game’s header the whole session. That placement tells you how the designers see the MEGA: not as an occasional flourish but as the reason the whole structure exists.

The Hold and Respin Bonus

The bonus starts with three free spins, played on the same 6×4 grid with everything already held in place. Only three things can land during the round: CASH symbols, BONUS PRIZE symbols, or nothing at all. No paying symbols, no wilds.

Every new CASH or BONUS PRIZE symbol that lands sticks and resets the spin counter back to three. So the round is really a question of streaks: each landing buys three more chances, and each empty spin spends one.

The round only ends when three consecutive respins pass without a new symbol, or when the entire grid fills. At that point every held value on the reels, the full ladder included, is collected and paid. There’s no cap on the resets, so a run of steady landings can keep things alive far beyond the opening three spins.

Filling all 24 positions is what the 39,375x figure is built on. The structure at least makes it legible: every tile that sticks is a visible step on the way, and a full grid of premium tiles and prizes is the only route to the top of it.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

Playing Big Gains is a lot of standing in the wings. The spins come fast, the small wins tick over on better than half of them, and you’re really there for one entrance: the double Collector that brings the spotlight up on the bonus round. That entrance is what you bought the ticket for.

That round is the strength, and it’s a real one: every landing resets the counter, so a single bonus can outlast its three spins many times over, and the MEGA’s 2,500x keeps the top of the ladder genuinely worth wanting. The weakness is everything around it. The base game can’t carry a session, and with five symbols topping out at 100x, the gaps between set-pieces are thin company.

It suits players who like a collect-and-build bonus and don’t mind a base game that’s only marking time. Anyone who wants the reels themselves to do the entertaining will run out of patience under the marquee lights. For the patient, the show underneath is worth the wait.

Big Gains FAQs

• What is the RTP of Big Gains?

  The RTP is 95.67%.
• What is the maximum win on Big Gains?

  The calculated maximum multiplier of the game is 39,375x the stake.
• How do you trigger the Hold and Respin bonus in Big Gains?

  You need Collector symbols to land on both reel 1 and reel 6 in the same spin. They turn into CASH symbols worth 3x each, all CASH and BONUS PRIZE symbols are held, and the bonus round begins with three free spins.
• Can the Hold and Respin bonus retrigger?

  Yes, in effect. Every new CASH or BONUS PRIZE symbol that lands during the round resets the remaining spins back to three, so the bonus can keep running well beyond its initial three spins. It only ends after three respins with no new symbols, or when the grid fills completely.
• What do the Collector symbols do in Big Gains?

  They may land on reels 1 and 6 only. One Collector landing with CASH or BONUS PRIZE symbols awards the prizes displayed on them. Two landing together convert into CASH symbols and trigger the Hold and Respin bonus.
• What are the Bonus Prize values in Big Gains?

  There are four fixed Bonus Prizes: MINI at 15x, MINOR at 50x, MAJOR at 250x and MEGA at 2,500x the stake. They’re paid when collected by a Collector symbol or at the end of the Hold and Respin bonus.
• What do the wild multipliers do in Big Gains?

  Wilds appear on the middle four reels and can carry a x2, x3 or x5 multiplier on any win they help complete. Where more than one multiplier wild takes part in the same win, the multipliers multiply each other.
• Who makes Big Gains?

  Big Gains is a Red Tiger slot, with bets running from 0.10 to 50 per spin.