Pirate Bonanza 2: Slot Overview
Old school cannons, the likes of which people used to fire at each other from galleon to galleon, were fairly simple weapons of war. Pop in a cannonball, light a fuse to ignite the gunpowder, and boom. Simple, but highly effective, and this summation could also be applied to Hacksaw Gaming partner Backseat Gaming‘s slot Pirate Bonanza. Released in 2024, it was a scatter pays game with a relatively straightforward yet highly effective multiplier feature, which could cause serious damage. Pirate Bonanza was a success for Backseat Gaming that caught enough gambler attention to encourage the studio to cook up an even bigger sequel, Pirate Bonanza 2.
To the salty seas we head with captain pirate guy, literally, aboard an olden timey ship all wood, rope, cannon, chest, and 6×5 gaming area. Like the original, Pirate Bonanza 2 isn’t a slot to play if you were hoping to discover a side of pirating never seen in an online slot before. In other words, it does look a bit generic. But, not to worry, gameplay is where it counts, and Pirate Bonanza 2 shines as brightly in this department as its predecessor ever did, arguably more.
Where Pirate Bonanza was a scatter pays slot, Pirate Bonanza 2 creates winning combinations when clusters of 5 or more matching symbols are connected vertically and/or horizontally. Winning symbols are removed from the reels after their payout has been added to the total win bar. Empty spaces are filled by symbols tumbling downwards, and if a new win is created, the tumble mechanic triggers again. When there are no more wins, the total win is awarded. Highly volatile, Pirate Bonanza 2 has a maximum RTP of 96.32%, and players are able to stake 10c to $/€100.
Five gems are Pirate Bonanza 2’s low pays, while a bottle, a map, a compass, and a hat make up the highs. Cluster wins of 5 OAK in size pay 0.1x-1x the bet, rising to 50x-200x when landing combinations of 15 of a kind or more. Wild symbols complete or improve winning combinations by substituting for any regular pay symbol.
Pirate Bonanza 2: Slot Features
For the most part, Pirate Bonanza 2’s operating manual follows the original closely, delivering Cannon feature multipliers, two bonus rounds, and feature buys. What’s new is a highly desirable R-Bomb symbol.
Cannon Feature
After a winning combination occurs, the winning positions are highlighted. If there is a Cannon symbol on the grid, it activates highlighted positions if there has been at least one win. When activated, the winning positions reveal Multiplier Bomb symbols and maybe the special R-Bomb. All Multiplier Bombs explode to reveal a multiplier, which is added to the total multiplier. Low value Bombs add x2-x5, medium value Bombs add x10-x25, while high value Bombs add x50-x100. Golden Multiplier Bombs have multipliers of x2 to x10.
After all Multiplier Bombs have been revealed, if an R-Bomb is visible, it collects all additive multipliers to the total win bar before replacing those positions with new Bombs. New bombs may be of any type. The R-Bomb is also replaced with a new Bomb, and only one R-Bomb can be on the grid at a time. Golden Multiplier Bombs are not replaced. When all Bombs are revealed, the Golden Multiplier Bombs reveal their multipliers, multiplying the total multiplier. At the end of the Cannon sequence, the total multiplier is used to multiply the value of the total tumble win.
Cannon Blast
10 Cannon Blast free spins are triggered by landing 3 scatters in the base game. In this bonus, there is a higher chance of landing the Cannon symbols and highlighted squares persist until being activated by the Cannon feature. Neither bonus round can be retriggered.
Bombs Away
10 Bombs Away free spins are triggered by landing 4 scatters in the main game. There is a higher chance of landing Cannon symbols in this bonus, and highlighted squares persist for the entire duration of the feature.
Feature Buy
Pirate Bonanza 2’s feature buy offers BonusHunt FeatureSpins, which cost 2x to make each spin 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus. Bombard FeatureSpins cost 50x and guarantee at least one winning combination and one Cannon symbol. In addition, Cannon Blast or Bombs Away may be triggered at a cost of 100x or 250x the bet, respectively.
Pirate Bonanza 2: Slot Verdict
Working alongside a studio of Hacksaw Gaming’s stature runs the risk of your slots appearing small and inconsequential, or it may push you to greater heights in the spirit of competition and an attempt to garner respect from the big daddy studio. The latter has generally turned out to be the case with Backseat Gaming, which might not have surpassed the master yet, but which often produces playable, high-quality slots that resonate with sizable numbers of gamblers. Pirate Bonanza, with its combination of scatter pays and multiplier-building Cannon feature, was one that did so. For the sequel, Pirate Bonanza 2 has switched to cluster pays as its win mechanic, but the spirit of the original lives on, with the added bonus of a potent new feature and masses of extra winning potential.
Indeed, it is now possible to win up to 20,000x the bet, double what was on offer previously. And to give players a chance of inching near that figure or even hitting it, Pirate Bonanza 2 supplies the new R-Bomb, which very helpfully clears away additive Bombs, accumulating their value before adding even more Bombs to the emptied spots. Even without the R-Bomb, it was possible to build chunky multiplier values in the past, so picturing an R-Bomb absolutely firing on all cylinders, racking up values, adding more Bombs, should get the mind boggling. The changes Backseat Gaming has made may in some ways seem small or subtle, but in practice, the new bits succeed in amplifying the action, while enticing fans of the first back for a look.
In short, unless you consider scatter pays the be-all and end-all, then everything that made Pirate Bonanza an explosive release is back in Pirate Bonanza 2. Not only that, Backseat Gaming had added further powder in the form of far greater winning potential and the new R-Bomb, making the sequel every bit (and more) as combustible as the original.
Write a comment