The Big Bopper Slot Machine

Released by Realtime Gaming in 2016, The Big Bopper is a 6 reel, All Ways Pays slot that gives you 729 ways to win on any spin. This game is based on Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., a.k.a. The BigBopper, who was a legendary musician, songwriter, and radio personality.

Richardson worked at a radio station in Beaumont, Texas, where he broke the record for longest on air broadcast 5 days, 2 hours and recorded the first ever music video.

After adopting the stage name The Big Bopper, Richardson wrote hit songs for George Jones and Johnny Preston. He also recorded his biggest hit, “Chantilly Lace,” in 1958.

Unfortunately, The Big Bopper’s life came to a tragic end, when, at the age of 28, he died in a plane crash along with fellow artists Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Despite his brief career, The Big Bopper is still celebrated today, including in this Realtime game.

Does The Big Bopper slots live up to the legend?

You can find out below as we cover this game’s atmosphere, pay table, graphics, bonuses, betting options, and compare it to other rock ‘n’ roll slots.

The background of The Big Bopper shows a stage with a red curtain drawn, and chairs lining both sides of the room. It looks like a modern movie theater, but this is the type of stage that many1950s musicians performed on.

You can also see objects that were popular in the 50’s, such as soda bottles, a polka dot purse, red lipstick, and a leather jacket. These objects and the background do a good job of placing youin the early rock ‘n’ roll era.

You hear the beat to Chantilly Lace playing throughout the game. Realtime even managed to tie The Big Bopper’s singing into your bonus round results, which we’ll discuss later.

Images of The Big Bopper on the phone are sprinkled throughout the game because he used a telephone during his performances of Chantilly Lace. You’ll also hear a telephone ring after every spin,once again referring to Chantilly Lace.

As for animations, the most common one involves The Big Bopper playing his guitar in black and white footage when an expanding wild forms a win. The only other animation happens when 3 or more BO P P E R letters trigger a re spin, causing the letters to spin around on a record player.

Considering that this is a relatively new slots game, we think that Realtime could’ve included another animation or two.

As mentioned before, this is an All Ways Pay game, meaning it pays from left to right and right to left. This contrasts most slots, which only pay left to right. Thanks to the All Ways Payfeature, and the six reels, you have 729 ways to win on any spin.

The following symbols and payouts are offered in this game:

• The Big Bopper Wild

  This expanding wild shows a classic shot of the Bopper on the phone while performing Chantilly Lace. He appears on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5, and substitutes for all other symbols except theletter scatters. The famed musician also triples any payout that he appears in.

• B O P P E R Scatter

  Each of these six letters is a scatter symbol, and they appear in order on each of the six reels. The letters multiply your total bet by 1x for 3 symbols, 2x for 4 symbols, 3x for 5 symbols,and 6 symbols trigger the bonus.

• Lightning Bolt

  The lightning bolt record pays 20,000 credits for 6 symbols, 300 for 5, 100 for 3, and 50 for 3. This symbol is only available in the White Lightnin’ bonus feature.

• Gold Record

  The gold record, with an autographed pictured of the Bopper, pays 10,000 credits for 6 symbols, 150 for 5, 50 for 4, and 25 for 3.

• Jukebox

  Common in many diners in the 50’s, the jukebox pays 500 credits for 6 symbols, 100 for 5, 30 for 4, and 12 for 3.

• Microphone

  The microphone pays 250 credits for 6 symbols, 75 for 5, 25 for 4, and 8 for 3.

• Record and Record Player

  The record and record player can form winning combinations together. They pay 200 credits for 6 symbols, 50 for 5, 15 for 4, and 7 for 3.

• Guitar and Radio

  The guitar and radio combine to pay 150 credits for 6 symbols, 40 for 5, 12 for 4, and 5 for 3.

• Telephone and Music Note

  These symbols combine to pay 125 credits for 6 symbols, 35 for 5, 10 for 4, and 3 for 3.

Rather than going for a vintage look like they did with Three Stooges Brideless Groom, Realtime made The Big Bopper’s symbols glossier. Despite the glossy look, these symbols still put you in the50s mindset.

While all of the symbols look good, the most detail can be seen in the telephone, gold record, record player, and Bopper expanding wild.

We also like how all of the symbols in this game are original, with no generic or pointless letters/numbers. The letters that are used spell B O P P E R, and they have specific purposes intriggering the bonus and multiplying your payouts.

The Big Bopper’s main bonus feature revolves around the scatter letters, which trigger one of two different bonuses. You can also look forward to re spins, which are explained below along withthe bonuses:

You trigger the feature when the letters spell B O P P E R across all six reels. Part of the fun is that you don’t know what feature you’ve earned until pressing the Spin button.

If this feature is triggered, The Big Bopper appears in the middle of the screen with a star spangled background. He sings Chantilly Lace, and you win a guaranteed prize worth 20x your triggeringbet.

If Bopper continues singing, you’re be awarded extra prizes of 50x, 100x, or 250x your triggering wager.

Realtime offers no specifications for what determines how long Bopper sings. But we bet $0.30 per spin and won over $15.00 during the feature.

Besides the big prize, it’s nice to see The Big Bopper perform in the middle of the game. But this gets redundant after triggering the feature several times because he sings the same song overand over.

As you trigger the Big Bopper Instant Win more and more, you eventually earn free spins with a multiplier.

The Bopper sings Chantilly Lace, and if he sings long enough, you receive up to 45 free spins with a 10x multiplier.

If this featured is triggered through the BOPPER letters, White Lightnin’ plays and you get free spins. These free spins continue until The Big Bopper quits singing.

During this feature, the White Lightnin’ symbol replaces the letters, giving you a chance at the top payout of 20,000 credits.

When you get 3 to 5 letters going from right to left or left to right, you trigger a re spin. The triggering reels are held in place while all other reels re spin.

You get an additional re spin if any new letters appear onscreen. Re spins continue until you either spell out BOPPER, or no additional letters appear.

Even though The Big Bopper offers 729 possible ways to win, it works more like a 30 pay line slot. This game features fixed bets that start at $0.30 minimum and increase to $7.50.

This betting range won’t perfectly satisfy low or high rollers because some will see $0.30 as too high, and others won’t like being restricted to $7.50. But if you’re a low roller who doesn’tlike the $0.30 minimum, at least you have 729 pay lines.

The Big Bopper is one of several slots that have been based on famous musicians/bands over the last few years. You can see how this game compares to other rock slots below:

Elvis rose to prominence just before The Big Bopper in the mid-1950’s, and he’s arguably the biggest influence on rock ‘n’ roll ever.

WMS developed a land based slot machine called Elvis The King Lives that’s since been adapted to online casinos.

What immediately sticks out about this game is its 11 reel, 80 pay line setup, which gives you more chances at big wins. The only problem is that this setup isn’t aesthetically pleasing, and ittakes up most of the screen.

Moving to the positives, Elvis The King Lives is loaded with hit songs like Big Hunk O’ Love, Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, Teddy Bear, and Viva Las Vegas. The game cycles through these differentsongs as you spin the reels and trigger the bonus round.

Speaking of the bonus, you trigger this by getting 3 or more Elvis scatters anywhere on the reels or by filling the 2×2 grid with the same symbol.

This takes you to a second screen, where you choose music related rectangles to earn credit prizes and/or extra free spins. You then go back to the main screen where you get at least 5 freespins.

When compared to The Big Bopper, Elvis is light on bonus features and high quality graphics. But Elvis also has the interesting 11 reel setup combined with more songs than Bopper.

Like The Big Bopper, Jimi Hendrix had a very short career that was cut short by an untimely death.

Hendrix rose to prominence thanks to hits like “Crosstown Traffic,” “Foxy Lady,” “Little Wing,” and “Purple Haze” – all of which you can hear through this game.

Another perk to Jimi Hendrix is the animations, which show the legend playing his guitar during winning combinations.

You’ll also see psychedelic graphics and illustrations that perfectly reflect the 1960’s counter culture movement that Jimi was part of. The symbols reflect this too since you’ll see flowers andpeace signs across the reels.

Some of this game’s features include Crosstown Traffic spins, guitar re spins, and a pick’em round. The Crosstown spins are the most interesting feature because Hendrix’s guitar fills up entirereels with wild symbols.

Combining good graphics, plenty of music, and adequate features, Jimi Hendrix has everything you could ask for from a musical slot. The Big Bopper slots has better features, but not nearly enoughmusic to compete with Jimi Hendrix.

KISS is another WMS game with an interesting reel setup because it offers 5 reels and 100 pay lines. The pay lines are split into two sets of reels, with a 5×4 grid on the left side, and a 5×12grid on the right side.

We like how this game opens with an introduction video that shows KISS performing among screaming fans.

This is just the beginning because features include exploding wild symbols, and Gene Simmons blowing fire to create more wilds. You also hear some of the group’s hit songs like “Detroit RockCity,” “Rock and Roll All Nite,” and “Shout It Out Loud.”

The lone bonus feature happens when the KISS icon lands 3 or more times anywhere on the reels. This gives you 8 free spins with a 2x bet multiplier for 3 symbols, 12 free spins with a 5x betmultiplier for 4 symbols, or 20 free spins with a 20x multiplier for 5 symbols.

One thing to appreciate about KISS slot is that it’s high energy and offers real footage of the band. We also like how this game always keeps you guessing on winning pay lines thanks to frequentexpanding wild symbols.

The downside is that this game only offers one bonus feature, which is where The Big Bopper gains an edge over KISS.

Another NetEnt rock game, Guns N’ Roses focuses on the legendary band that sang “Chinese Democracy,” “November Rain,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and “Paradise City.”

Like Jimi Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses slots does a great job of relating the graphics and features to the band. One such feature is Appetite for Destruction Wild, which forms a cross shaped wildsymbol on reels 2, 3, and 4.

The Multi Award Bonus Reel sees a record with prizes on it spin around. When it stops, you win the prize that the cartridge points to.

This game also shows concert footage from Guns N’ Roses whenever you get a big win. You won’t receive any extra reward after the band plays, but it’s entertaining.

One more perk is that you can use the Set List to choose what songs you want to listen to during the game. This feature alone puts Guns N’ Roses slots on a level above The Big Bopper.

Despite only experiencing commercial success for a couple years, The Big Bopper made a big impact on rock ‘n’ roll through Chantilly Lace, and #1 hits that he wrote for George Jones WhiteLightnin’ and Johnny Preston Running Bear.

The only problem is that Bopper’s career didn’t last long enough to produce multiple hits like Elvis, Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses, and KISS did.

This leads to Chantilly Lace being overplayed throughout the game, with only the occasional sound of Jones’ White Lightnin’ during a rare bonus round.

On the plus side, The Big Bopper offers good bonus features, including the Big Bopper Instant Win, Chantilly Lace Free Spins, White Lightnin’ Free Spins, and re spins. The re spins happenfrequently and give you a better chance at triggering one of the bonuses.

We also like how the background, symbols, and music combine to create a 50’s atmosphere. Taking the atmosphere and bonuses into account, The Big Bopper is worth trying if you’re into rock ‘n’roll slots.