4 Fantastic Fish

4 Fantastic Fish: Slot Overview

It must be the season or something because fish is definitely on the menu right about now. Popularized by Pragmatic Play's Bass Bonanza series, an impressive number of them have been hauled in as of late, and here's another one to heap on the pile. This one comes courtesy of 4ThePlayer, and with a name like 4 Fantastic Fish, it should, via a technicality at least, push it to the top of any A-Z list of aquatically themed slots. The gameplay doesn't let the side down either with features such as respins, Giant Squids, jackpots, and Cash Ways.

Like sunlight twinkling off water, creating a carpet of diamonds, you might want some sort of ocular protection in place before 4 Fantastic Fish blazes on screen. The studio has been on a bright slot trip the last few releases, and 4 Fantastic Fish keeps the visuals burning. Taking centre stage is a 6x4, 4,096 ways game panel, surrounded by light rays, coral, and ocean water as far as the eye can see. The studio has taken to the happy angling, Finding Nemo vibe with a gusto that's easy to get caught up in.

The big game fishing is available on any device, including Big Reel Portrait Mode for mobile users, and takes bets of 10p to $/€80 per spin. As for the math model, it's highly volatile and comes in two forms – a 96% version and a lower 94% one. In this game, you can expect a hit frequency of 23.41% or slightly less than one spin in four theoretically resulting a win, occurring when three or more matching symbols land left to right, starting from the first reel onwards, or at least two or more when made up of premiums.

These premium symbols include classic angling iconography such as tackle boxes,

rods, crabs, seagulls, and fishermen. Payments max out at 10x the bet when landing a full six symbol way of said fishermen. Next on the list are low pay 10-A royals decorated with little fishing hook pics. On this trip, the fishing boat tile is wild, substituting for all regular pay symbols to help complete ways.

4 Fantastic Fish: Slot Features

Moving onto features now, where 4 Fantastic Fish comes with sea-based extras such as Cash Ways, Giant Squids, jackpots, and respins.

Cash Ways and Big Game Jackpots

Keep an eye out for the Fish symbols, appearing on all reels and displaying a cash prize – bigger fish offer bigger prizes, ranging in value from 0.2 to 100x the bet. When a winning combination of fish symbols hits, the Cash Ways feature is triggered, and the sum of their prize values is awarded. Moreover, the Giant Squid can activate on any spin, and

when it does, it rearranges fish symbols to guarantee or improve a win.

Appearing on reel 6 are four specific fish symbols displaying jackpots. If these symbols are part of a fish win, their values are awarded. The four possibilities are the Big, Super, Mega, and Ultra, worth 100x, 500x, 2,000x, and 10,000x the bet, respectively.

Respin Bonus

Entering this bonus round occurs when at least 3 Marlin scatter symbols are in view. Each reel which held a triggering scatter is active during the bonus; the others are not. However, it is possible a Marlin scatter lands on a locked reel during the feature and unlocks it. Giant Squids can also appear to move fish symbols from locked to unlocked reels.

Now, 3 respins are awarded, and when new fish symbols land, they lock in place as well as reset the spin count. When a reel is filled with fish symbols, a shark swims up to eat them. Prize money eaten by sharks is multiplied by 2 and awarded. The eaten reel is then free to land new symbols.

Bonus Buy

Players with access to bonus buy features can pay 60x the bet to buy their way straight into the respin bonus.

4 Fantastic Fish: Slot Verdict

At the time of writing, for whatever reason, fish could not be hotter, and there is no shortage of offshore or onshore fishing themed slots to satisfy a craving. With so much selection, 4ThePLayer could have been excused for not bothering to make a contribution but instead turn their attention to a game category that isn't bursting at the seams. Inspiration is a funny one, though. Perhaps the team were deep in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and took such lines as a challenge; 'Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.' Whatever drove the team on, the resulting slot, 4 Fantastic Fish, has turned out to be a substantial aquatic release.

There are shades of Fishin' Frenzy thanks to prize-bearing fish symbols, but 4ThePlayer has taken the idea in a different direction. There is no need to land collector symbols to collect prize money, just as long as those cheerful-looking fish line up into a winning combination. The helpful Squid is on hand, too, rearranging things to assist players when the mood strikes. Respins are where the larger hauls of fish symbol prizes are likely to be dragged aboard, but the good thing about jackpot symbols is they can land any time, so technically, big wins can be collected in the base game, as well. To sweeten the pot a little further, potential in 4 Fantastic Fish actually reaches 15,000x the bet, pushing it well beyond the likes of Fishin' Frenzy & Co. or the Big Bass franchise, which is also doing well for itself. Though it is somewhat outplayed by BTG's piscine contender Golden Catch Megaways.

So is 4 Fantastic Fish a case of all aboard? Pretty much yes, if fishing themed slots are your thing. 4ThePlayer has cleverly linked the game to classics of the genre while also steaming past them into relatively new waters. There's a fun atmosphere, plenty of features, and sizeable rewards for the patient (and lucky) reel bound angler.