When you think about tiki masks, exotic fruits, volcanos, and monkeys, does your mind go straight to gorgeous tropical islands? Well, ours tend to be directed to Microgaming’s, Big Kahuna pokie machine.
This Hawaiian-themed, simplistic casino game has the traditional 5×3 set up with 9 paylines and various bonuses and special features to help you move towards lucrative prizes.
If this sounds like the destination of your dreams, wait to place your wagers until after you check out this in-depth review.
| Type of Pokie | Non-progressive |
| Software Designer | Microgaming |
| Date Released | 2004 |
| RTP | 96.16% |
| Max Bet | 22.50 |
| Max Payout | 180,000 |
| Paylines | 9 |
| Reels | 5 |
| Features | Scatters, Wilds, Bonus rounds, bonus features |
Big Kahuna by Microgaming
Australia has been blessed with an amazing array of online slots to keep their game play exciting and full of endless possibilities. One of these great titles is Big Kahuna.
In this island themed non-progressive pokie, you won’t find anything overly exciting about the base game. It has the common set up of 5 reels with 3 symbols each. There are only 9 paylines for punters to test their lucks with, making it a fairly standard set up.
You can wager up to 22.50 per spin with the chance of hitting the max payout of 180,000. Now this all sounds great. However, the more intriguing part doesn’t show up until you reach the bonus rounds with the special feature proving various ways to improve your gameplay and earn more prizes.
Of course, each symbol on the reels are worth various amounts with special symbols and wilds providing punters with the highest paying opportunities.
Lower paying symbols
- Watermelons
- Oranges
- Pineapples
- Kiwis
- Jackfruit
- Oranges
Higher paying symbols
- Masked dancer
- Komodo dragon
- The games logo (the Wild)
- The volcano and Tiki Mask (Special Symbols)
- Monkey – Scatter symbol
Big Kahuna’s Bonuses and Features
Before we dig to deep into the impressive line of bonuses, we do want to point out that this game sadly, does not offer a free spin round. While we can’t hold it against them too much, thanks to other great opportunities that present themselves along the way, we do want to put on record it was a bit disappointing.
Now, with that out of the way, lets discuss the jackpots and bonuses this game does offer.
- Orange Volcano Round. This is a fun adventure we didn’t expect to see. When a punter lands three volcanoes or more on a single active payline, they trigger the bonus round. Here players need to pick a piece of fruit from many and toss it into a volcano, which will then present a cash prize value. This number varies depending on how many volcanoes the punters trigger to get here in the first place.
- Mask Bonus. Similar to the volcano bonus round, punters activate the mask round by landing at least three masks on any active payline. Once this happens, they choose from various masks which are assigned different prizes. Punters keep picking up masks until the word “collect” is selected.
- Scatter symbol. The scatter symbol is represented by a monkey. You want to keep a close eye out for him because wherever he lands, the payout is amplified.
Although these bonus rounds are pretty simplistic, they are invigorating, making your heart race as you try and decide which symbol to choose, hoping for a big pay day.
Big Kahuna’s Graphics and Design
This isn’t Microgaming’s first “island-inspired” pokie. In fact, we have reviewed other pokies with similar themes and pictures. While we do like the light-hearted, easy-going layout and simple graphic and audio set up, it could be a bit more entertaining.
The reels are aligned with various fruits, dancing islanders wearing less than impressive tiki masks, exotic animals, and other various Hawaiian like décor. Unfortunately, it isn’t overly interesting and to be more blunt, it is a little boring.
With that said, the way the game flows and the easy to navigate platform makes up for the design’s short comings.
Where to Play Big Kahuna by Microgaming
Anyone can play Big Kahuna, no matter which type of technology you prefer. It is readily available online and doesn’t require any downloads, making it easier to access and faster to get started.
It doesn’t matter if you like to play your pokie from the comfort of your own home, while lounging around with your laptop, or sitting with a cup of coffee typing away on a desktop; or your more of an on-the-go pokie player who prefers to take their games with them from a mobile device.
This pokie works just the same, whether on a small smartphone screen or a bigger PC.
What We Like and Don’t Like
This game comes with many great aspects with some of them being a pleasant surprise, well others are less than desirable while playing for money through a professional online casino.
What we were stoked about:
- Wild symbols and bonus features stack up prizes quickly.
- Easy to use interface and platform on mobile devices and PC’s.
- Decent cash prizes offered by the volcano bonus.
- Large 8000x Jackpot
- Minimum wager to spin the reels is 0.05.
What we weren’t very happy about:
- The theme wasn’t very exciting and a little boring.
- There is a lot of room for improvement with the sound effects.
- Punters are not offered a chance to win free spins.
All in all, the big Kahuna pokies pros and cons canceled each other out, making this a game worth trying.
Our Final Thoughts on the Big Kahuna Pokie
Punters of all experience levels should consider trying out the Big Kahuna pokie machine designed by the professional team over at Microgaming. While the graphics and audio are lacking, the theme is fun and the prizes can guide you to winning a large jackpot worth 8,000x your original stakes.
The opportunities offered through this casino game, makes it more than okay in our book and would recommend the pokie to anyone looking to have fun and line their pockets with a bit of cash while doing it.
- Bush Telegraph Review - 29.02.2024
- Break da Bank Review - 17.12.2023
- Black Diamond Pokie - 16.12.2023
