Big Bad Wolf Live

Big Bad Wolf Live by Playtech Review

The Game in Short

Big Bad Wolf Live consists of three components, including a slot machine, a top-up game and a bonus game.

Slot Machine

The slot machine in Big Bad Wolf Live is based on a popular slot from Quickspin with the same name, released in 2013.  

• This is a 5-row, 3-reel slot with 25 paylines and 11 different symbols.
• Collect winnings by landing two or three identical symbols on a payline.
• On any win, a tumbling feature is activated.
• The tumbling feature removes winning symbols and replaces them with new ones.
• On every 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th tumbling, all red, green and blue pig symbols are turned into wilds.
• By landing three wolf symbols, the live bonus game is triggered.
• The live bonus game can also be instantly triggered by paying 40x your bet amount.
• The minimum sum for buying the bonus would be R200.

Top-Up Game

While waiting for the live bonus game to start, an optional top-up game can be played. You can also skip this and choose to watch the current bonus game take place.

• This is a 3-row, 3-reel slot machine with a single payline and two different symbols.
• Anything won here will be credited to your balance at the end of the live bonus game.
• The top-up game has no actual impact on the live bonus game.

Live Bonus Game

The live bonus game is split into two parts; a spinning grid with symbols and a spin on a wheel.

• The grid consists of 36 positions where a blue, green or red pig can randomly appear.
• Each pig has a win multiplier of x1 – x6.
• 5 spins will occur on the grid and all multipliers from the same-colored pig will add up.

As an example, the grid part of the bonus may conclude with the blue, green and red pig having a win multiplier of x6, x15 and x35 respectively.

• The wheel consists of 54 positions.
• These include the blue, green and red pig, as well as three wolf symbols.
• One spin takes place on the wheel and the winning result determines what you win.

For instance, the blue pig will earn you the win multiplier that was collected for this.

• The wolf symbol is the most valuable and will collect wins from all three pigs.
• The blue, green and red pig positions on the wheel can have a 1x, 2x or 3x multiplier.
• The wolf positions can have a 1x, 2x or 7x multiplier.

If the red pig was worth an initial 35x and the wheel stops on a red pig with a 3x multiplier, the total win would become tripled and result in 105x.

Payouts

The maximum win in Big Bad Wolf Live is 700x which can be won in the live bonus game. To clarify, this means 700 times the amount you choose to bet on the slot machine portion of the game. If you choose a stake of R200, the maximum win would be R15 000.

Here is the full payout range from the different components of Big Bad Wolf Live:

• Main slot: 0.12x – 20x per line depending on the winning symbol
• Top-up game: 2x – 50x
• Live bonus game: 5x – 700x

In order to get the maximum win from the live bonus game, you need to be lucky and hit high multipliers in the grid portion of the bonus. This must then be followed by the wheel stopping on the wolf position which has a 7x multiplier on it.

Odds

In the live bonus game, the different wheel positions and the odds of hitting each of them are as follows:

RTP

The RTP in Big Bad Wolf Live ranges from 95.05% – 97.35% and is different for the slot machine, bonus buy feature and top-up game. Here’s a breakdown:

• Slot machine: 95.05%
• Bonus buy: 95.35%
• Top-up game: 97.35%

While 97.35% is considered to be a good RTP, 95% is on the low side and a bit lower than what you would find with many other casino games these days.

Interestingly, the original Big Bad Wolf slot by Quickspin, which the slot portion of this game is very similar to, has a much higher RTP of 97.34%

Fun Factor 

When I first heard about the release of Big Bad Wolf Live, I was excited because I always loved the original Big Bad Wolf slot from Quickspin. Since Playtech normally creates top live dealer games, I figured that this one would be awesome. Especially when I saw that it had a money wheel. However, having played Big Bad Wolf Live I am quite disappointed.

First of all, I am not a fan of combining a slot with a live bonus game. If I’m browsing through live dealer games, then it is because I want to play something with a live game host. Not to spin on a slot by myself.

Now, I could use the bonus buy feature to instantly go to the bonus game on every game round. However, this would come with a lot of waiting as once a bonus round is over, a new one begins and you never have time to join for it. You must always wait it out and then join the next one. This is tedious.

I find the top-up game to be totally pointless. It adds nothing to the gambling experience or the live bonus. It is just there so that players can spend more money while waiting for the bonus to commence. To make matters worse, this is where the highest RTP in the game can be found.

The bonus game itself looks pretty amazing. Graphically, it is well-designed and I find it very inviting. The game hosts are also talkative. However, you can’t really have a conversation with them as you typically can in money wheels and game shows as players just join for a brief moment and then leave once the bonus game is over. 

I also find the bonus itself to be quite boring. It’s very basic with no innovation at all. I think there’s a concept that could be built upon, but as it is, it just lacks creativity and gets old really fast.

While I’m sad to say it, there are so many money wheels and game shows that can be played at gambling sites these days that I find no reason to ever play Big Bad Wolf Live.

Strategies

The one and only strategy in Big Bad Wolf Live is to play in a way that earns you the most money in the long run. This is spinning on the top-up game after triggering this via the bonus buy feature. That’s how you reach the highest RTP in the game.

It’s a pointless strategy though and certainly not one that I recommend as you would be focused on spending all of your time on a 3-reel slot machine. However, if you are to play Big Bad Wolf Live for its live bonus game, there is certainly no harm in including spins on the top-up game.