About this app
What is Owls?
Pragmatic Play and studio partner Reel Kingdom are extending their Big Bass franchise with Big Bass Splash Halloween 1000. It’s a Halloween-themed release scheduled for October 12, 2026.
The more telling point for slots readers isn’t the game itself. It’s what the game represents: the fourth Halloween-branded entry in a single series, which shows just how aggressively Pragmatic Play iterates on its most recognizable slot IP.
Rather than building a new title from the ground up, the release uses Big Bass Splash 1000 as its base. The franchise’s signature Money symbol collection mechanic stays intact while a seasonal skin gets swapped in.
How to play Owls
The news value here is less about the individual game than about what it signals. REEVO is continuing to lean on one of the most heavily worked themes in online slots. The studio is packaging a familiar setting alongside a mix of mechanics rather than a single standout engine.
Thunder Walker has a 5×5 reel layout with 50 paylines and a range of themed features. With a medium volatility profile, a reported RTP of 95.72% and a maximum win of 2,358x the bet, the game sits toward the more measured end of the market. This is not one of the high-ceiling, high-variance releases that dominate headlines.
That positioning matters. It points to a title built for broad operator placement and steady session play rather than a chase-the-max spectacle, which fits how volume-driven studios tend to structure their mid-tier output.
What is Owls?
The factor that led some operators to drop out of the licensing race could be the “uncertainty” created by regulations that “didn’t seem set in stone”, says Leckert.
“Some of them [investors] that were looking at Japan were looking at a big IR licence or nothing. With Tokyo and Yokohama being out of the mix, maybe some weren’t as interested anymore and decided to sit back, and wait and see how regulation and licensing shake out.”
One concern for operators is “the short duration of licences and renewal of licences”, notes Leckert. For operators, the casino business licence is renewable every three years, while the IR development-plan authorisation runs for 10 years, in contrast to the 18-year IR licence term in the Philippines, for instance.
