Thanks for the information and stats there dunover, but nothing you've said has changed my opinion of the slot. (I've had another session tonight, dual-slotting with Bonanza and Danger High Voltage, hopefully I'll get that edited together and uploaded before the end of the long weekend, but the TLDR is that I still think Bonanza is a really poor slot in terms of gameplay and player experience.)
I do agree that I called it wrong on the base game in the video, and that it does in fact churn a lot of the RTP and can keep you in the game for an extended period of time playing stakes that are sensible relative to your bankroll. (Although I did revise my opinion on that even in the course of the video, in fairness.)
Average feature frequency of 460 spins is truly awful, and as we all know with averages, that means a lot of players are going to be seeing 1000-2000 spins or more with dead patches of no feature, and a feature that is most likely going to return poorly when it finally drops in. I note you cite an 'average' of just under 100x, I'd be interested to see the distribution of returns across the range to come to that average, because those multiple mega-wins on the table must be knackering things lower down, I think the 'average' flatters things somewhat TBH.
Why is the feature frequency so low? I stand by my assertion in the video that the variance within the feature is stupidly high and feature frequency has to be so low because it's the only way the slot can hit TRTP whilst servicing those multiple monster hits on the paytable.
For the record I have no problem whatsoever with high variance slots, and indeed I quite like to have a tussle with them from time to time, but Bonanza to me is a dreadful example of how to implement one.
I don't doubt these slots are doing very good business in the here and now, but as I note in the video, people only have a finite amount of money to spend and a finite amount of patience, they'll only chase a big hit for so long - is this kind of slot design sustainable? I guess we'll find out in due course.
Anyway, good to be chatting again with you again (and other folks here as well!) - I'm always happy to engage in an intelligent heated debate, as dear old Mrs Merton used to say.
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