Crabby’s Gold 2

Crabby's Gold 2: Slot Overview

Set sail on a voyage of online slot discovery, and it won't take long till a Jolly Roger or two has been sighted in the scope. About a year before this, developer Play'n GO's piraty slot Crabby's Gold appeared on the horizon, and its sequel Crabby's Gold 2 has just sailed into harbour. In a bigger boat, too, bristling with more cannons, it might be said, metaphorically, when referring to aspects of the game like math model and winning potential. As such, players looking for an even bigger pile of potential loot to plunder had best be hoisting their sails and all that to see how Crabby's Gold 2 handles.

Pirate slots generally fall along a spectrum of serious swashbuckler at one end and light-hearted comic romp on the other. Crabby's Gold 2 leans nearer to the latter, which might not feel all salty and dangerous, but is a nicely rendered pirate game all the same. It's one that Play'n GO seems to have taken extra time to get the details just so, constructing an excellent Hook/Monkey Island-style island in the background covered in stairways leading to secret places, an observatory, a giant skull, palm trees, and cannon; a real pirate getaway paradise. The sounds are jaunty, the visuals have a cartoon buccaneering charm, all of which belies a slot boasting eye-watering numbers.

Crabby's Gold 2 utilises 4,096 ways to win on its 6x4 gaming area. Play'n GO has increased the volatility, moving from the medium classification of the previous game to the current one's high, 10 out of 10 rating, while the highest RTP config comes in at 96.25%. Betting choices include a base stake of $/€0.10 to $/€50, and the optional GO Ultra, which increases the stake by 50%.

Pay symbols include five characters as the high pays, awarding 2x-5x the bet for 5 OAK, and J-A card ranks paying 1x the stake for a 5-of-a-kind hit. In the base game, standard wilds, Multiplier Wilds with x2-x5 values, Expanding Wild and Multiplier Expanding Wild with values of x1-x5 may land in the base game. All substitute the regular paying symbols.

Crabby's Gold 2: Slot Features

The set of features accompanying Crabby's Gold 2 are a Coin Collect, a Hold'n Spin, Doubloon or Nothing gambles, a Treasure Trail, and the GO Ultra.

Coin Collect

Coin Pouch symbols land on the leftmost and rightmost reels and collect the values from Coin symbols. If two Coin Pouch symbols land, the Coin values are collected twice. Coins can have values of 0.5x to 25x the bet. If Coins land without a Coin Pouch, they are collected in the Treasure Chest. When a Coin is collected, it can randomly trigger the Hold'n Spin feature.

Hold'n Spin

During the Hold'n Spin, Coins land with their back face showing. When the feature ends, Coins flip to reveal a reward of 1x to 30x the stake. A total of 3 respins are initially awarded. When new Coins land, they stick and reset the spin count. When the round ends, players can collect or gamble the winnings.

If Gamble is chosen at the end of the Hold'n Spin, the game enters the Doubloon or Nothing. In one spin, Double Coins and Wipe Coins can land. If more Double Coins land, the winnings are doubled. If more Wipe Coins land, the winnings from the Hold'n Spin are wiped out. The Gamble can be used up to 4 times.

Treasure Trail

The Treasure Trail above the reels is filled by collecting Compass symbols. Once completed, a special Wild Respin is awarded where special wilds are available:

• Expanding Sticky Wild and Multiplier Expanding Sticky Wild - x1, x2, x3, x5 with 3 respins.
• Expanding Walking Wild and Multiplier Expanding Walking Wild with respins - moves left with respins until off the reels or a maximum of 10 respins. The Multiplier version has a value of x1, x2, x3, x5.
• Mega 2x2 Wild.

GO Ultra

When GO Ultra is activated, Coin collections are doubled and Coin Pouches collect all Coin values twice. Also, during the Hold'n Spin, all winnings are doubled.

Crabby's Gold 2: Slot Verdict

An online slot sequel suggests the original release received a decent share of attention from the gambling public, in which case there could be a lot of keyboard seadogs, chomping at the bit to get their hand and hook all over Crabby's Gold 2. For players coming back for another round, Crabby's Gold 2 delivers parts they will recognise from the first game as well as some upgrades and changes. Volatility may be hard to detect at times, but mathematically, this is a more volatile machine than before, so that's something to take into account. It is a Coin collector game at heart in some ways, and if you're willing to add a surcharge to the stake, the GO Ultra betting option may increase the excitement generated by collecting Coins.

That's quite important, because without the GO Ultra, landing a full screen of 30x Coins in the Hold'n Spin equates to 720x the bet, which isn't a huge amount in a game boasting such astronomical winning potential. One of the most common features during the test session was the Treasure Trail, which triggered at fairly regular intervals as the ship sailed across the map meter. The 2x2 Wild was pretty useless, but Walking Wilds or Multiplier Wilds could be quite good. You will need them to be really good, like really, really good, to get anywhere near the same ballpark as Crabby's Gold 2's claimed 100,000x max win. It's a little tough actually picturing how that might occur IRL, but that's the number Crabby's Gold 2 advertises.

Whether either Crabby's Gold slots' winning potential was realistic or not, the big numbers clearly got attention the first time around, and are likely to do so again in the sequel. Putting them to the side, what's left is a pretty average Coin collection mechanic, and a possibly potent combination of wild symbols/multipliers/thousands of ways to win set up. Factor in the raffish buccaneering theme, and even if the gameplay is a bit so-so, you've got a playable slot for the right starry-eyed pirate.