Bonus Island

Bonus Island Slot Review

Turquoise water, a stone arch hung with green, a reel frame of dark planks bolted into the cliffside: this is one of the prettier beaches a pirate has ever been stranded on. The strange thing about Bonus Island is that the reels barely matter. Almost nothing of consequence happens on the board itself, and the whole game routes through a meter that fills one cascade at a time.

That design choice is bolder than the hand-drawn artwork suggests, because it means ignoring six Captains paying 10x the bet and watching a counter instead. Inspired, the studio behind Centurion Megaways and Reel King Megaways, has built this one on a 6×5 grid paying across adjacent reels, running at 95.78% RTP. The real money lives further along the chain than the reels themselves.

Mystery Coins and the Cascade Meter

How Wins Form

Wins form the straightforward way: match three to six symbols across adjacent reels starting from the leftmost, and the win is multiplied by the current bet. Six-of-a-kind is where the money is on the reels themselves, and the tiers steepen the higher the symbol climbs.

The symbols split between pirate kit and royals. At the top sits the Pirate Captain himself, then the Anchor, with the Cannon and Sword sharing a tier and the Hook and Telescope just below. The four royals bring up the rear.

The full paytable, in multiples of the total bet:

• Pirate Captain: 2x for three, 3x for four, 5x for five, 10x for six
• Anchor: 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x for three to six
• Cannon: 0.3x, 0.4x, 0.8x, 2x for three to six
• Sword: 0.3x, 0.4x, 0.8x, 2x for three to six
• Pirate Hook: 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.8x, 1x for three to six
• Telescope: 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.6x, 1x for three to six
• A and K: 0.1x, 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.6x for three to six
• Q and J: 0.1x, 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.4x for three to six

What that table tells you is that the reels alone won’t carry a session. Six Captains pay 10x the bet, and everything below that is pocket change measured in fractions. Even the second-best symbol only reaches 5x at a full line.

The Coin Feature

The rest of the base game has one idea, and it’s a good one. Dark mystery tiles land in view and transform, each one becoming either a pay symbol or a coin. When coins are awarded, the coin feature begins.

Each coin spins on the reel position its mystery occupied, stops, and pays its cash value. Then the coins cascade away, and each coin that goes adds one position to the cascade meter.

That meter is the whole engine of the game, and it fills in only one way: coins cascading off the board, one position at a time. There’s no scatter to wait on and no symbol to collect. The coins themselves are the route in.

The coin feature is what bridges the gap between the thin paytable and the features. Every coin that lands and cascades is both a small guaranteed payout and a step up the meter towards the feature that matters.

Base wins and coin wins feed the same progression, so a spin that pays almost nothing on the face of it can still move the game forward. That’s a neat trick for a game whose reel pays are this modest.

The Bonus Island Feature

Triggering the Feature

Four or more cascades in a single game round triggers the feature, and each cascade fills one position on the bonus cascade meter. The tier you reach depends on how far the chain runs, and the three tiers are a straight escalation:

• BONUS – four consecutive cascades, opening a map of 20 selectable values, a mixture of cash awards and free spins
• MEGA – five consecutive cascades, opening a map of 20 enhanced selectable values, again mixing cash and free spins
• EPIC! – six or more consecutive cascades, opening a smaller map of 10 selectable values, every one of them free spins

The Map and Its Tiers

The map format makes each tier a picking game. You choose from the displayed values, and what you take is what you get: instant cash, free spins, or a blend of the two depending on the tier.

The BONUS and MEGA maps dangle the cash alongside the spins, while EPIC! strips the cash out entirely and goes all-in on spin count from a tighter selection. Each step up the ladder is a real upgrade, not a cosmetic one. MEGA offers the same 20 picks as BONUS but with enhanced values behind them, and EPIC! trades half the map away in exchange for guarantees: ten picks, ten free spins awards, nothing else on the board.

The Meter on Screen

The EPIC!, MEGA and BONUS labels sit on the left of the screen throughout play, tracking the meter as it climbs. It’s a clear piece of design: the game wants you watching the cascade count, not the reels, because the reels are mostly a delivery mechanism for coins and cascades.

The meter also gives every spin a job. A round that starts badly can still turn if mystery tiles land late and convert to coins, because each one nudges the count closer to four.

Nothing on the reels themselves carries that kind of forward pull. A paytable that pays fractions can’t do it; a meter one cascade from BONUS can. It’s the difference between a spin and a stake in what comes next.

The count matters in another way too: cascades have to run consecutively within a single round, which puts the whole ask on one chain of coins holding together long enough to reach four, five or six in sequence.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

Playing Bonus Island feels less like spinning reels and more like digging on the beach for buried treasure: long stretches of shifting sand, then something glinting. The reason to choose it over prettier pirate games is that one meter, always visible, always one cascade closer to mattering.

Its strength is the escalation, which is honest in a way few tiers are. EPIC! genuinely pays for the longest chains, because ten picks of pure free spins is a bigger prize than 20 mixed values, not a badge with the same loot behind it.

Its weakness is the wait. The reels underneath are thin, four cascades is a lot to ask of one round, and the coin payouts that bridge the gap are small by design. Anyone after frequent action should sail past; anyone who likes a slow build with a visible target has found their island.

Bonus Island FAQs

• What is the RTP of Bonus Island?

  Bonus Island runs at an RTP of 95.78%.
• How do you trigger the Bonus Island feature?

  The feature triggers when you achieve four or more cascades in a single game round. Each cascade fills one position on the bonus cascade meter, and the meter determines which tier you reach.
• What is the difference between the BONUS, MEGA and EPIC! tiers?

  Four consecutive cascades awards the BONUS bonus with 20 selectable values mixing cash and free spins. Five cascades awards MEGA with 20 enhanced selectable values, and six or more awards EPIC! with 10 selectable values that are all free spins.
• What do the mystery symbols do in Bonus Island?

  Mystery tiles transform when they land in view, becoming pay symbols or coins. If coins are awarded, each one spins on its position, stops, and pays its cash value, then cascades away and adds one position to the cascade meter.
• Does Bonus Island have free spins?

  Yes. The BONUS and MEGA maps mix cash awards with free spins, and the EPIC! map offers free spins exclusively across its 10 selectable values.
• Does the cascade meter carry over between spins?

  No. Cascades have to run consecutively within a single game round to trigger the feature, so the meter resets between rounds and progress can’t be banked across spins.
• What is the grid size of Bonus Island?

  Bonus Island plays on a 6×5 grid, with wins formed by matching three to six symbols across adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel.
• Who makes Bonus Island?

  Bonus Island is made by Inspired, the studio also known for titles such as Centurion Megaways and Reel King Megaways.
• When was Bonus Island released?

  Bonus Island’s release date is 2 December 2020.