The Big Bopper Slots
RTG aren’t widely known for official licensed slots, but with other manufacturers doing so well with these titles I suppose it was only a matter of time before they jumped on the bandwagon, literally in this slots case. The Big Bopper slot is a classic 1950’s rock and roll themed tribute slot to the man himself, JP Richardson Jr, the artist known for Chantilly Lace and who was tragically taken right at the start of his career in a fatal plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. It was this crash which was immortalised by Don Maclean in the song American pie, as he referred to it as the day the music died.
Whilst the theme may seem a little sombre, trust us the game isn’t, this is a celebration of everything the Big Bopper stood for, classic 1950’s rock and roll culture. The game includes authentic black and white video footage and songs from the Bopper. Gameplay hasn’t been neglected either, this latest slot release features an instant win bonus and no less than two free spins rounds to keep your feet tapping and the reels rocking!
Theme
The 1950’s theme screams right out from the reels, in neon lights! The reel backdrop is an old fashioned movie theatre with the reels framed by heavy curtains, you will also find classic icons of the time such as a fonz-like leather jacket, glass cola bottles, acoustic guitars and aviator shades. We won’t overly discuss the music, given the theme it is obviously heavy on recordings of the late great artist himself.
The win icons are music themed to the period, musical notes cleverly replace A-10 playing card symbols as the low value icons, and there is a Wurlitzer jukebox, an old transistor radio and printed 12” vinyl records in addition to the stacked symbol of the Big Bopper himself which is animated and bursts into video when on a win line.
Gameplay & Features
This is an all ways pay game, min and max bet have yet to be announced but we expect good range, sadly it doesn’t appear that RTG are going to grant the game a progressive jackpot but they are making up for that with a bonus feature and two sets of spins. Each of these rounds can be triggered at random when three Bopper icons appear on the reels.
With the Big Bopper instant win feature, so long as the Bopper sings – the player wins! We aren’t sure what RTG means by this but we assume from the pre-release information that this will be an increasing multiplier, rising to a possible max 250x the line bet until the Bopper finishes crooning Chantilly Lace to the adoring crowd.
This continuity theme with the star singing follows in the Chantilly Lace free spins round, where further spins are added until he ceases singing, the max available is 45 with a x10 win multiplier available, this could potentially be a very high pay-out slot.
Last but not least is the White Lightning free spins where so long as the music plays on, so do the spins, a grouped symbol is available in this round to add some high potential wins.
Summary
The Big Bopper seems like a very solid addition to RTG’s range of video slot titles, the branch out from their normal work may be a breath of fresh air if the visuals, audio and features on this slot are to mark the start of a new area of work for them. All in all, whether you are a fan or not, this game has plenty of potential playability.
