Big Juan: Slot Overview
Load up your pistols, y'all, with a bit of imagination,
Pragmatic Play partner Wild Streak Gaming is 7️⃣ transporting players to Mexico for a spot
of gambling. Wild Streak is a studio that certainly likes respin bonus features, 7️⃣ and
yes, one appears in Big Juan as its centrepiece. Fair dues, though, it behaves a bit
differently than these 7️⃣ bonus games usually do. Here, players respin in the hopes of
landing four jackpot prizes, none of which are earth-shatteringly 7️⃣ exciting.
Studios
that go the Mexican route basically have free reign to go as bright and noisy as they
like. This 7️⃣ Wild Streak has done, yet Big Juan feels like a budget knockoff rather than
a respectful piece of cultural appropriation. 7️⃣ Okay, it's not Mexican as such but
compare Big Juan to ELK's tastefully designed Wild Toro 2 - the latter 7️⃣ is light years
away from this rambunctious fiesta. Big Juan is lively, however, and maybe some players
enjoy losing themselves 7️⃣ in the chaos. Juan does plenty of pistol shooting when he's not
strumming furiously on his guitarrón Mexicano, and the 7️⃣ soundtrack has spirit, yet
everything ends up being a tad tourist shop gaudy as much as anything else.
The game is
7️⃣ split between two phases – a base game and a respin bonus round. The base game is
played on 5-reel, 7️⃣ 4-row matrix providing 40 fixed paylines to hit winning combinations
across. This shrinks to a smaller area when the bonus 7️⃣ triggers, as we'll see. Highly
volatile, Big Juan's math model produces a default theoretical return value of 96.7%
when playing 7️⃣ normally, strangely dropping to 96.53% when buying the bonus for some
reason. Bet range is vast, though it could have 7️⃣ been more accommodating fore players
looking to stretch a bankroll, starting at 40 p/c per spin, rising toR$/€200 at the
7️⃣ upper end.
At least three identical symbols on a payline from the left side of the grid
are needed to form 7️⃣ a winning combination. This can be done with five low pay 10-A
symbols or higher-paying guitars, hot sauce bottles, chihuahuas, 7️⃣ señoritas, or Big Juan
señors. Values for a five of a kind premium combination are 2.5 to 6.25 times the
7️⃣ stake. Look out for the wild chilli symbols which are worth double the top high pay
symbol and land anywhere 7️⃣ to substitute all other paying symbols.
Big Juan: Slot
Features
Two features appear in Big Juan. These are the Wild Switch in 7️⃣ the base game
and the triggered Respins bonus round.
Wild Switch Feature
In the base game, whenever
at least 6 of the 7️⃣ same pay symbols hit on reels 2, 3, or 4, they all transform into
chilli wild symbols.
Respins Feature
Landing 3, 4, 7️⃣ or 5 pinata scatter symbols awards
10, 12, or 15 respins respectively. For the respin feature, the game is played 7️⃣ on a 3x3
sized grid, with a special 4th reel which has just one position. On the main grid, a
7️⃣ sticky bag of coins symbol sits in the middle position, while other positions may land
money symbols, extra spins symbols, 7️⃣ or one of the four jackpot symbols.
On the 4th
reel, if a Win symbol hits, the value of all money 7️⃣ symbols in view and the bag of coins
symbol is awarded. If any jackpot symbols are in view, they are 7️⃣ collected on their
respective jackpot meter. Collect enough jackpot symbols, and the prize is awarded. The
four jackpots are the 7️⃣ Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand, which are worth 12.5x, 50x, 250x,
or 2,500x the total bet.
The other symbol that may 7️⃣ land on the 4th reel is the Boost
symbol. When this one hits, the values of any money symbols in 7️⃣ view are added to the
bag of coins symbol. This value remains in place until the end of the round.
Buy
7️⃣ Bonus
Players who would like to skip the base game and go straight to respins can do so
by buying the 7️⃣ feature. The cost is 100x the total bet for 4 or 5 bonus symbols to
trigger it.
Big Juan: Slot Verdict
It 7️⃣ didn't take long for Big Juan's initial explosion
of sights and sounds to wear off and reveal an average game 7️⃣ lurking beneath. To be
fair, even the sights weren't up to much from the get-go. Wild Streak has a tendency 7️⃣ to
create old looking games; whether this is on purpose or not isn't clear. Whatever the
case, Big Juan has 7️⃣ an instantly dated appearance. What saves Big Juan, for a while at
least, is the relentless Mariachi Band, singing away 7️⃣ and letting rip with other
entertaining miscellaneous sound effects. To be fair, one of the reasons studios
possibly pick this 7️⃣ theme is that a party atmosphere comes built-in, so half the job's
done.
Too bad Wild Streak couldn't capitalise on the 7️⃣ party aspect, though and after a
while, even the positivity induced by the music evaporated as tedium set in. The 7️⃣ Wild
Switch feature isn't bad, a similar thing having been used before in Temujin Treasures.
It occasionally triggered to build 7️⃣ a decent win. In fact, the Wild Streak feature often
tended to outdo the Respins Feature when it came to 7️⃣ payout levels.
Wild Streak Gaming
is certainly a strong proponent of respin features, starring in a big number of their
games. 7️⃣ If you're into these sorts of things and crave something a bit new, Big Juan
might warrant a look. Its 7️⃣ alternative set of rules means it performs differently than
respin games usually do. Coin wins keep the bonus going while 7️⃣ collecting tokens to
trigger one a jackpot provides a mission. The jackpots aren't huge, but winning the
grand might evoke 7️⃣ the desire to fire off a pop gun or two. At full stretch, winning
potential in Big Juan is limited 7️⃣ to 2,600x the bet, possibly reflecting the high max
bet.
In the end, once our foot stopped tapping to the beat, 7️⃣ the game turned out to be
more Big Yawn than Big Juan. The unusual respin bonus might tempt fans of 7️⃣ the format
who have seen it all. Other than that, there are more accomplished slots to get a
Mariachi fix.
