Reel Big Fish

Reel Big Fish: Slot Overview

Before launching into Reel Big Fish from LeoVegas owned Blue Guru Games, we got to thinking, what is the real biggest fish ever caught? After some online clicking, we stumbled upon the International Game Fishing Association's top five list, which was topped by the catch of a 1,208 kg great white shark in 1959 by Australian fruit farmer Alfred Dean. It might make a non-angler wonder, how is a fish that size pulled on board a boat? Or do they just attach it to the side of the craft and drag it in? The mystery will have to wait while we bait up and try out Blue Guru Game's take on the fishing genre in a slot with money symbol collects, free spins, and bonus buys.

Reel Big Fish is played on a see-through 5x3 reelset that floats just below the water line. From this vantage point, players can spot fish as they float past in the lower part of the screen or observe a boat and the surrounding land masses in the upper part. The waves have been animated, bobbing the boat up and down while bubbles intermittently float to the surface from the sea bed, the movement giving the game a bit of life. Nothing out of the ordinary, but you certainly know you're playing a fishing slot.

Baiting up for Reel Big Fish means picking a stake of 20 p/c to $/€200 per spin on a tablet, mobile or desktop device. A medium volatile game, Reel Big Fish has four RTP models, with 96.51% being the highest value, dropping to 94, 92, or 90 versions, depending on the market. Hit frequency is high, with just under 1 in 2 spins resulting in a win, occurring when matching symbol land from the left-hand side across one of the 20 fixed paylines.

Fishing hook styled 10-A card royals start the paytable off, worth 1.5 to 3 times the stake for a five-of-a-kind hit. Wins rise to 3.75-50x the bet when landing five of the petrol cans, floaty light things, maps, or scuba gear. Assisting players to connect matching symbols is the wild symbol, which substitutes for all symbols except scatters or fish symbols.

Reel Big Fish: Slot Features

This being a fishing-themed slot, there is a money symbol feature, similar to the one Fishin' Frenzy made popular many moons ago. In Reel Big Fish, this can occur in the base game and in free spins. In the base game, fish symbols are worth 1-5 times the stake. Fish symbols pay out their cash prize for each wild symbol that is in view on the reels at the same time.

Fill The Boat Free Rounds

The captain symbol is the scatter, and landing 3, 4, or 5 of them awards 8, 12, or 20 free spins, respectively. In free spins, meters appear above each of the five reels showing the current level from 0 to 3. Triggering scatters increase the reel level they land on by +1. When fish land on a reel, they pay a prize according to the reel level, as long as the level is greater than 0. The three levels of fish are - the silver fish which pays 1-50x, the greenish one pays 2-100x, and the reddy fish pays 4-200x the bet. Landing a scatter symbol during the bonus round adds +1 to the respective reel level and awards one additional free spin. Should a Golden Scatter hit, the reel level is maxed out, and an extra spin is awarded.

Feature Buy

Depress the bonus buy button if it is there to select from three feature buy options. Option 1 is a three scatter free spins trigger for 70x the bet (RTP 96.48%), Option 2 is a four scatter free spins trigger for 130x the bet (RTP 97.02%), or Option 3 provides a five scatter free spins trigger for 275x the bet (RTP 96.07%).

Reel Big Fish: Slot Verdict

Blue Guru Games got off to an ok start not long back with The Nemean Lion but, like a caught fish on deck, has floundered a bit since then. The studio hasn't even come up with a backstory for Reel Big Fish, which is strange because storytelling is one of Blue Guru Games' calling cards. If you were waiting for an online slot version of Hemmingway's Pulitzer Prize winner, 'The Old Man and the Sea', you'll be disappointed. Instead of retelling a classic tale of humankind and nature, pride and persistence, players get a pretty straightforward fishing game.

That means collecting fish money symbols in the base game when wilds also happen to be in view at the same time. This gets shaken up in free spins since in the bonus round; you don't need the wild symbol to collect fish symbols anymore. Whenever fish symbols land (as long as the reel level is not zero), players are awarded whatever value they have. Fish slot enthusiasts may appreciate this way of delivering fish wins. The new system doesn't appear to lead to hugely bragable results, though, as it comes with a rather standard max win figure of 5,000x. Fishing games aren't exactly renowned for being massive paying slots, with the exception of releases like Golden Catch or 4 Fantastic Fish, but still.

However, it's a fishing game, so players who just can't get enough briny sea on the reels might feel the need to cast off and see what they can haul in from Reel Big Fish. It doesn't add a lot to the fish slot genre that wasn't already available, though Blue Guru Games have made a few tweaks around the edges with the format, which might interest connoisseurs. For us, after casting off in Reel Big Fish a few times and coming back to dry land, there was little to no compulsion to head out again.