Marlin Masters

Marlin Masters: Slot Overview

Proving its perennial irresistibility, the fishing slot genre has reeled in another developer in the form of none other than Hacksaw Gaming. The studio has largely resisted the pull of this popular slot variety, but the bait clearly proved to be good to say no to, and as a result, fish fans now have another angling slot to select. Titled Marlin Masters, it follows close to the two titans of the water, Fishin' Frenzy and Big Bass Bonanza, delivering fish symbol cash collection and a progression-powered free spins feature.

Going into Marlin Masters without being forewarned, it might be hard to guess who the game's maker might be based on appearance only. It doesn't have a classic Hacksaw Gaming look, being neither super sweet (Canny the Can, etc) nor super terrifying (Hand of Anubis, etc). Instead, Marlin Masters visually inhabits a general middle-ground area and is paired with arguably general middle-ground features. At a guess, Hacksaw Gaming is pitching Marlin Masters to a mainstream audience, though players outside this scope could still find fishy moments of fun here.

Sitting precariously on the edge of a boat is Marlin Masters' 5x4 gaming grid, lashed with 14 paylines for evaluation purposes. Winning combination values aren't huge, however, so the focus is really on catching Marlin cash symbols. Stakes, bait, whatever, go from 10 c to $/€100 per game round, and players who like to put their foot on the gas get five bonus buys to choose from. Volatility also bobs about in the midground with a medium rating, while the RTP has a ceiling value of 96.24% when regularly betting.

Four fishies are Marlin Masters' high pay symbols, awarding 5x to 7.5x for a 5-matching fish hit. Beneath them in value are a bunch of 10-A card royals, awarding players 2x the bet for a 5 OAK hit. Surprisingly, the Fisherman symbol is not wild in Marlin Masters, but the anchor symbol is. It substitutes any regular pay symbol. Wilds hit on all reels and pay 10x for 5 OAK.

Marlin Masters: Slot Features

If you've played a fishing slot before, then Marlin Masters' feature section will be like going back and reading a familiar book. It's got Lootlines, Cash Them All! where fish money symbols are awarded, as well as three bonus games - Reel It In, Off The Hook, and Plenty Of Fish In The Sea, plus bonus buys.

Lootlines and Cash Them All!

Marlin symbols are pay symbols that display cash values. Cash values range from 1x the bet up to 1,000x. Marlin symbols are collected if 3 or more of them land in a winning payline combination, 4 Fantastic Fish style. In addition, if there is at least one Fisherman symbol in view, each Fisherman symbol also collects the values of the Marlin symbols. The Fisherman symbol can land with a multiplier value of x1 to x20, which affects the value of the Marlin symbols it collects.

Reel It In

Reel It In with 10 free spins is activated when landing 3 FS scatter symbols in the base game. A Marlin Progress Bar comes with this feature. Each time a Fisherman lands, whether it collects cash or not, it progresses the Marlin Progress Bar by +1 step. After every 4 Fisherman symbols have landed, play advances to the next level:

• Upgrade 1 triggers 10 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x2.
• Upgrade 2 triggers 10 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x4.
• Upgrade 3 triggers 10 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x10.

Off The Hook

This feature and 15 free spins are awarded when landing 4 FS scatters in the base game. Off The Hook is similar to Reel It In, except Fisherman symbols are guaranteed to have a multiplier of at least x2 from the start, and the levels are enhanced.

• Upgrade 1 triggers 15 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x4.
• Upgrade 2 triggers 15 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x10.
• Upgrade 3 triggers 15 extra free spins and guarantees all following Fisherman symbols land with a multiplier of at least x15.

Plenty Of Fish In The Sea

Hitting 5 FS scatters in the base game triggers this bonus with 10 free spins. In this feature, all Marlin symbols are guaranteed to have values of at least x5. At least one Marlin and one Fisherman are guaranteed to land on every spin.

Bonus Buys

From the bonus buy, players can activate BonusHunt FeatureSpins for 3x the bet to make each spin 5 times more likely to trigger a bonus game. For 50x the bet, each spin is guaranteed to land at least two Marlins and one Fisherman. As for the bonus games, Reel It In entrance costs 65x, while Off The Hook costs 200x to activate.

Marlin Masters: Slot Verdict

It is hard to shake the feeling of having seen a lot of this before, but that is a common reaction after reviewing a lot of fishing slots. Marlin Masters has the classic 'land a Fisherman symbol to collect fish money symbols' event going on, which is absolutely endemic in the genre. It makes sense cos, you know, fishermen and women go to sea to catch actual fish in real life, so the activity translates well to a slot. This betting form is unbelievably popular and has been for a good long while. Partly because of gambler appetite, no doubt, partly due to the enthusiasm of casino game designers to keep slinging this sort of stuff out.

Hacksaw Gaming caught the bug, and its contribution hardly qualifies as a wildly original idea, but there are adjustments in here which might catch the eye of angling fans. One is that Fisherman symbols appear in all phases of play, not just free spins, and can hold a multiplier at any time. Having more than one bonus round isn't common either, and this gives lucky, patient players something to look forward to or bonus buyers options - pick the regular free spins round or chance it by picking the more expensive enhanced round. When compared to Big Bass Bonanza, which is virtually impossible not to do, Marlin Masters did seem stingier with the Fisherman symbols during free spins. This is on an eyeball level rather than official stat level, but getting Fisherman symbols to hit and thereby level up proved a greater challenge than a Big Bass game, though others may experience the opposite effect, of course.

On the bright side, since Fisherman symbols can land bearing a multi at any time, it only takes one good spin either in the base or bonus game to smash out a solid haul. And at 7,500x, possible in all game modes, Marlin Masters comes with a max win that holds up quite well against its direct competitors. All told, Marlin Masters is kind of a weird game considering who made it, but it's a fine enough addition to the fishing slot pile.