Pirate Bonanza launched in July 2024 as a collaborative project between Backseat Gaming and Hacksaw Gaming.
It’s a rather unique game for a “pay any” tumbler, as its base game features cannons that can blow up marked cells with explosive multipliers. Stats-wise, Pirate Bonanza is a high-volatility slot with an impressive RTP of 96.31%.
The Pirate Captain sits at the right side of the playing field, waiting for you to hit cannons or scatters so that he can load the artillery and unleash a volley of bomb multipliers, free spins, or both.
The diversity of Bonus Buy options, Hacksaw Gaming’s signature, is one of my favorite features in Pirate Bonanza. From boosting the hit frequency of scatters and cannons to outright buying a ticket into the bonus round, four purchasable bonuses can give you a headstart in Pirate Bonanza.
Although the game doesn’t have dedicated jackpots, you can win up to 10,000x of your bet, or up to a whopping SC 1 million per round.
You can play Pirate Bonanza at SweepsKings for free, or real cash prizes at Stake.us or Runestake. If you’d like to learn more, my review covers all of its core features in deeper detail. Before we jump into the specs, let’s glance at Pirate Bonanza’s biggest draws and flaws.
Pros
A huge top win of 10,000x
Versatile wagering range spanning from SC 0.10 to SC 100
Four unique Bonus Buy options
Innovative bonus mechanisms that can be triggered in the base and bonus rounds
High RTP of 96.31%
Cons
No jackpots
Ultra-simplistic interface
Best Sweepstakes Casinos to Play Pirate Bonanza in the US
The “Pirates” theme is a crowded space. Thematically (and visually) Pirate Bonanza hits the same vein as Pragmatic Play’s Pirate Gold, Pirate Golden Age, and Pirate’s Hub, as well as Platipus’s Pirate’s Legacy. What’s different in this slot is that we don’t see the crew, ghost fleets, sunken vessels, pirate coves filled with plunder, or anything similar. The Pirate Captain is a one-man army, loading his ship’s cannons, blasting the locks on treasure chests, navigating murky waters, and drinking rum in what little spare time he gets.
Although the lore of Pirate Bonanza might not be as rich, its gameplay elements are well-polished. The playing field stretches across 6 reels and 5 rows and is among the best Backseat Gaming payers with an RTP of 96.31%; since the game utilizes the “pay any” structure, it doesn’t need (nor has) any paylines.
You win whenever at least 8 matching symbols appear anywhere on the table. The reels will “cascade” whenever you win and mark the positions of winning symbols with a golden hue; if you draw a cannon on the re-spin, the Captain will send bombs with multipliers to skyrocket the round’s prize.
An upbeat sea shanty will be playing in the background when you launch Pirate Bonanza. I love it as it’s brimming with epic, positive vibes. However, I’m a bit disappointed by the gentle “hissing” sounds bombs make when drawn. I expected big explosions to announce the upcoming “Big Win”, and this was somewhat immersion-breaking.
Pirate Bonanza Slot Information
As you can see above, symbols in Pirate Bonanza pay anywhere as long as at least 8 of the same kind appear on the playing field. With this specific spin, I first got 14 symbols and then triggered a cascade with 9 new symbols, thus receiving another re-spin.
You can set your bet level as low as SC 0.10 or as high as SC 100 when playing Pirate Bonanza at sweepstakes casinos; change your wager level by tapping the big “+/-” sign.
The UI is a bit simplistic, so this button can be easy to miss. It’s located next to the Captain, and it is invisible while the reels are spinning. When you’re ready to start, just tap the circular arrow to kick off your first spin.
Nine paying symbols are featured in Pirate Bonanza. I love that Backseat Gaming used jewels instead of the dull card symbols for its minor symbols while the major ones comprise classic pirate gear – a bottle of rum, a treasure map, a compass, and a stylish pirate cap.
Keeping things simple, Backseat decided to make all minor symbols carry the same values, ranging from 0.10x for 8-of-a-kind up to 50x for strings of 19 or more matching symbols. Bottles and Maps share the same prize levels from 0.50x to 200x while Compasses and Hats are worth twice as much, from 1x to 400x.
Bonus Scatters don’t pay. Their only purpose is to take you to the bonus round. Depending on how many scatters you’ve collected in a single tumbling sequence, you can start “Load The Cannons” with 4 scatters, netting you 10 classic free spins, or “Fire At Will” with 5 scatters with an improved hit frequency for cannon symbols.
Pirate Bonanza Slot Features
All features of Pirate Bonanza fit perfectly into the Pirate theme. You’ll see bombs with different multipliers whenever you score a win with at least one cannon on board. Scatters can take you to the bonus game with 10 free spins (plus modifiers, if you enter with 5 scatters).
Wild symbols aren’t featured since connectors are unnecessary – the game will count your wins regardless of symbol adjacency.
Apart from that, Pirate Bonanza features 4 Bonus Buy Options, including two “Featurespins” bet boosts, “Load the Cannons”, and “Fire At Will”. We’ll review them all, so let’s start from the top.
Every time you score a win, you’ll notice that the cells with winning symbols will glow with a gold hue. By itself, this mechanism has no effect. However, if you land at least one cannon symbol during the cascading sequence, the Captain will load the artillery and start firing bombs at marked positions.
Pirates aren’t known for being too organized. The Captain will pick up random pieces to shoot, drawing from a pool of four bomb types:
Low-value Bombs: Basic bombs with a silver skull in the middle. They can reveal multipliers between x2 and x5.
Medium-value Bombs: Bombs with top, bottom, and skull plated in gold. Their multiplier values include x10, x15, x20, and x25.
High-value Bombs: All-yellow with a brown skull. They’re worth the most and can reveal x50, x75, or x100 multipliers.
These are “standard” munitions with additive multipliers, meaning that the displayed values will be summed and then applied to current round wins. There’s another bomb called the Golden Multiplier Bomb, which features “multiplicative” values of x2, x3, x5, or x10. If you draw this bomb, all others will pop off first, and then the final score will be multiplied by the Golden Bomb’s value.
You’ll need to draw at least 4 scatters to trigger the basic bonus round. Backseat Gaming calls this feature “Load the Cannons”; it awards 10 free spins and improves the hit frequency of cannon symbols.
If you enter the bonus game with 5 scatters, you’ll trigger the “Fire At Will” feature instead. It’s an upgrade of “Load the Cannons”, offering the same benefits while making marked cells persistent until the end of the feature.
Debatably the best feature of Pirate Bonanza is the flexibility derived from four Bonus Buy options, including:
Bonushunt Featurespins: Once activated, your wagers will cost thrice as much, but the hit frequency of scatter symbols will improve by 5x.
Broadside Featurespins: Pay 50x of your current bet to guarantee that at least one cannon will appear on the table.
Load the Cannons: Trigger the standard bonus round by paying 100x of your stake and guaranteeing that at least 4 scatters will be drawn on your next spin.
Fire At Will: Enter the improved bonus round with 5 scatters, but you’ll have to pay 250x of your bet.
Game Specs: RTP & Volatility
Pirate Bonanza scored 4/5 on our volatility test. This means that it doesn’t pay too often, but when it does, it pays exceptionally well.
The conditions to trigger free spins, bonus hit frequency, and the combination of winning methods (including cascading reels & the pay-any system) are just some of the factors we looked for when ascertaining the game’s variance and risk.
According to Hacksaw Gaming, this slot has an impressive RTP score of 96.31%, which is consistent even if Featurespins Bonus Buy features are used. The RTP is slightly higher if the basic “Load the Cannons” feature is purchased (96.35%) and slightly lower if “Fire At Will” is purchased (96.30%).
The developers of Pirate Bonanza stated that they tested the theoretical return-to-player by simulating over 10 billion rounds.
200 Spins Test of Pirate Bonanza
I began testing Pirate Bonanza by wagering SC 1 for the first 20 spins. Frequent cascades and a few canons helped me keep my balance in the black.
Since I was making very little progress, I decided to increase my wager to SC 5. A series of unfortunate spins had me spend almost SC 100, but a lucky cannon shot helped my balance bounce back up.
By the time I was 70 spins deep, I noticed that I was steadily losing sweeps. So I decided to try the first Featurespins bonus, hoping I’d enter the bonus round. My wager level was still SC 5, but due to the Buy Bonus, the stake’s total cost was SC 15 per spin.
As advertised, Bonus symbols began appearing far more frequently. I typically saw at least 2 on every spin. It took around SC 300, but I finally managed to enter the “Fire At Will” bonus game with 5 scatters.
Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn’t on my side, and I managed to win back only SC 125 while spending more than twice as much to get there. Disheartened that the bonus round paid so little, I bought the “Load The Cannons” bonus for SC 500 to test the “basic” bonus round.
This is where the “Golden Multiplier Bomb” paid my entire stake almost by itself, giving me SC 460 in a single spin.
The remaining spins weren’t too impactful, and I ultimately won SC 469.50. Again, I won less than I paid, but this time I got very close to bagging a profit.
Starting on my 100th spin, I raised the stake to SC 10 and recommenced the test. On the following 50 spins, I got 2 cannons and a few minor wins. Ultimately, I lost around SC 680 since the session started, so I raised the stake to SC 30, hoping that the final 50 spins would turn the tables.
After 30 spins, I noticed that empty hands hurt far more than they used to while even the smallest wins I’d typically overlook now had an impact. On spin 180, I managed to trigger 4 consecutive cascades, painting almost the entire screen golden, and a cannon appeared. My luck finally changed, and I won a whopping SC 2,196 with low-quality bombs.
I barely won anything with the last 20 spins, but I was excited that I not only returned my wagers but also won SC 705 in raw profit.
Our Experts Verdict and Ratings
Pirate Bonanza feels a bit rough around the edges in the UI department, but it looks, plays, and feels like a fresh game. The innovative “cell marking” feature paired with multiple kinds of bomb multipliers helps it stand out from other Pirate-themed slots.
It works great on mobile, rocks an above-average RTP, and is decently easy to jump into, even if you’re a beginner. Pirate Bonanza is best when played at high stakes, and I warmly encourage you to try it if you’re a high roller.
With that in mind, let me convey what our experts at SweepsKings think about this Backseat Gaming slot.
Pirate Bonanza
Rankings
Our Thoughts
Theme
70%
The theme is very common, but the music is good. It would be much better if bomb multipliers had more immersive sound effects.
Gameplay
80%
A beginner-friendly pay-anywhere system with flexible betting levels. The interface is super-simplistic, though.
Metrics
85%
High return-to-player and an excellent max win of 10,000x are among its strongest points. It’s a highly volatile game and as such might not be perfect for everyone.
Bonus Features
80%
Innovative bonus features with a solid hit frequency. Four bonus buy options are available, although some are fairly expensive.
Mobile Compatibility
90%
The minimalistic UI lends itself perfectly to mobile gameplay. The graphics and animations are equally impressive.
Pirate Bonanza boasts two free spins minigames, including the “Load the Cannons” (accessible by drawing 4 scatters) and “Fire At Will” (accessible by drawing 5 scatters).
Jon has been playing slots for 20+ years, he’s seen all of the trends from classic fruit machines to Megaways to tumbling reels to Hold & Win. Jon has spent extensive time working in the slot industry and uses his expert knowledge to produce engaging and highly informative reviews. He is also a sweepstakes casino bonus guru, and if you follow his tips, you’ll have more free sweeps coins than you’ll know what to do with!
Jon has been playing slots for 20+ years, he’s seen all of the trends from classic fruit machines to Megaways to tumbling reels to Hold & Win. Jon has spent extensive time working in the slot industry and uses his expert knowledge to produce engaging and highly informative reviews. He is also a sweepstakes casino bonus guru, and if you follow his tips, you’ll have more free sweeps coins than you’ll know what to do with!
