Big Juan Review
The most successful release so far from Pragmatic Play partner, Wild Streak Gaming, is the steampunk title Amazing Money Machine. Big Juan, on the other hand, takes you right into the middle of a very lively Mexican fiesta. The upbeat vibe and cartoonish style might please certain players, while others will probably feel suffocated by the in-your-face manic atmosphere.
The reels are filled with Mexican clichés like hot sauce, chihuahuas with sombreros, senoritas and the big-smile senor Juan as the top-tier pay symbols. The Wild Switch feature is somewhat innovative, and it basically turns pay symbols wild when you land at least 6 anywhere. The Respins bonus round is the big attraction, and it comes with a few twists that make it stick out a bit from similar games.
Big Juan Slot - Reels Screen
Big Juan Slot Features
The Chili Wild steps in for all regular pay symbols to help complete winning combos, and it’s also the highest value symbol in the game. It awards 12.50x your stake for 5 on a payline, while the premium symbols pay between 2.5 and 6.25 x your stake for the same. If you land 6+ matching pay symbols on reels 2 to 4, they all turn into Chili Wilds. This is called the Wild Switch feature, and it’s available in the base game only.
You trigger the Respins feature when you land 3, 4 or 5 pinata scatters anywhere in view, and this awards 10, 12 or 15 free respins, respectively. The feature plays out on a 3x3 grid with a 4th reel with only one position bolted on at the right-hand side. A bag of coins symbol is sticky in the central position of the 3x3 grid, and you will land cash symbols, extra spin symbols and jackpot symbols in the remaining main grid positions.
You need to land a Win Symbol in the 4th reel to collect cash symbols however, and each jackpot comes with a meter. You’ll need the Win Symbol to collect jackpot symbols in the respective meters as well, and they are worth the following:
The Grand Jackpot (5 collected symbols) pays 2,500x your stake .
. The Major Jackpot (5 collected symbols) pays 250x your stake .
. The Minor Jackpot (4 collected symbols) pays 50x your stake .
. The Mini Jackpot (3 collected symbols) pays 12.5x your stake.
A Boost Symbol can sometimes land on the 4th reel as well, and this adds all present cash symbol values to the sticky money bag in the middle. The value keeps building on this symbol until the end of the feature, and it’s collected every time you land a Win Symbol on the 4th reel.
Finally, non-UK players, and anyone living in an eligible jurisdiction, can take advantage of the Bonus Buy feature. This will set you back 100x your stake however, and it guarantees 4 or 5 scatters on the spin that follows. Keep in mind that the RTP is lowered to 96.53 % if you go for this option.
The 200 Spins Big Juan Slot Experience
Nothing very exciting went down in the base game, and we purchase the Respins round at 0:45 into the 5:34-minute highlights video. This landed us 5 pinata scatters on the spin that followed, which gave us a solid 15 respins. You can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
Review Summary
Playing Big Juan feels a bit like coming late and sober to a party filled with Ritalin-popping ADHD Mexicans trying desperately to keep up a happy facade. The manic vibe is in your face at all stages of the game, topped by creepy-smiley emoticons giving you thumbs up and telling you how “awesome” you are after any semi-significant win. It’s a bit too much for our taste, in other words.
The Wild Switch feature can come in handy at times, and top up your balance while you wait to trigger the Respins feature. The somewhat innovative Boost system can lead to okay payouts, but you’ll need the bigger jackpots to truly make a dent. Getting close to the Major Jackpot didn’t seem too hard, but that doesn’t really matter unless you actually win it. Overall, a mediocre release with an unpleasantly “hyper” atmosphere.
Pros Wild Switch base game feature
Respins w/ jackpots up to 2,500x
Overall 2,600x potential Cons Overly manic vibe that we found unpleasant
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Wild Chapo - is a highly volatile mexican-themed installment from Relax Gaming, and it comes with 5x3 reels with 15 betlines. You can look forward to expanding wilds, 2x2 mega wilds and sticky wild respins, and the bonus round builds up to a nail-biting final spin where payouts up to 10,000x can be landed.
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