Shark Boss

Shark Boss: Slot Overview

You don't need us to tell you there are a lot of fishing slots on the market, bobbing about the place, constantly being topped up by eager casino game makers. A lot. In order to stand out, a studio needs to think up a new idea or concept never seen before, which is tough, given the abundance of these kinds of games. Developer Red Tiger has come up with an idea, so obvious in hindsight, you wonder why it hasn't been popularised before. In its fishing slot, Shark Boss, the roles have been reversed, so instead of beardy anglers pulling fish out of the water, a big, burly shark catches fishermen instead, awarding their money values for a change.

Since this is a fishing game, players are jetted out onto open water to experience what it has to offer. The first thing that stands out is that the actual main character shark in the game can be found up on a boat instead of a normal, human fisherman, reeling out a line in order to catch prey. After this jolt, the rest of Shark Boss' visuals are pretty standard fish slot fare, such as blue sea, blue sky, fish, seaweed, nice warm day, making up a pleasant view for players to warm into before a bout of, hopefully, potentially, productive money symbol gathering can take place.

Totally see through, Shark Boss' play area is a 5x3, 20 payline grid, delivering line wins and money symbol collection action. It is action of the medium-high volatile variety, with an RTP of 96.11% when betting $/€0.10 to $/€40 per base game spin.

Shark Boss has eleven regular paying symbols, which are 10-A royals, fishing rods, life jackets, boxes, and three Fisherman character symbols. Hitting lines of 5 matching royals pays 5x-7.5x, while the remaining symbols are worth 10x to 50x for 5 OAK. Shark Boss does not have a dedicated wild symbol, not even a Fisherman collector wild in free spins.

Shark Boss: Slot Features

Bait on this hook includes the Shark collector, Fisherman money symbols, Golden Trophy, a Lady symbol, free spins, and feature buys.

Shark

The Shark in the boat above the grid randomly throws a fishing line with a beer on it in front of the reels while they spin. All Fishermen which land on that spin are caught after line wins, and their values are awarded. If Fishermen land on the next spin, they are caught, and the fishing line stays for the next spin, and on it goes. When a spin does not land Fishermen, the fishing line is pulled out of the water.

Fishermen

The three Fishermen symbols substitute each other for line wins. They also have prize values. The Young Fisherman is worth 1x-3x, the Elder Fisherman 5x-10x, and the Old Fisherman 15x-25x the bet. Fisherman prizes get collected when the Shark's fishing line is down in the water.

Golden Trophy

The Shark may randomly throw a fishing line with a Golden Trophy on it. More Fishermen are added to the reels. The Shark takes back the line at the end of the spin.

Lady

The Lady symbol is collected by the Shark when the fishing line is in the water. Each time this occurs, the Shark Multiplier is increased, and all of the collected symbols on this spin and the next spins are multiplied by it while the fishing line is down. The multiplier may increase up to x20 and does not apply to line wins.

Free Spins

Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters triggers 8, 12, or 20 free spins, respectively. If there is a Shark Multiplier on the triggering spin, it is carried over. For free spins, the Shark's fishing line is constantly kept down. The round has 3 levels, which are unlocked by catching Fishermen. If 12 Fishermen are caught at the initial first level, +8 free spins are awarded, and for the rest of the round, only the Elder and Old Fisherman may land. If 12 more Fishermen are caught at the second level, +8 free spins are awarded, and only the Old Fisherman lands for the rest of the round. If 26 Fishermen are caught at level 3 (50 in total), players are awarded Shark Boss' max win. Any Lady caught during the round increases the Shark Multiplier for the rest of the feature. Scatters do not land during free spins.

Feature Buy

Shark Boss dangles two feature buys. One is the Golden Trophy for 20x, while the other is a free spins trigger costing 80x the stake.

Shark Boss: Slot Verdict

When it comes to fishing slots, Shark Boss is an interesting collection of old and new. The most obvious new part is the role reversal Red Tiger has undertaken, in order to make Shark Boss stand out and get noticed. This is no mean feat in a genre that overflows with slots, many of them ending up being completely forgettable as they fight for air and attention amongst a never-ending deluge of angling options. Red Tiger's decision to reverse the traditional angler roles by putting a shark in charge while hapless humans are the catch gives Shark Boss a personality and something novel to look at. All while providing fish slot fanatics with the chance to do what these slots like to do, which is, catch money symbols, no matter what form those symbols may take, and who is doing the catching.

When the role reversal novelty wears off, what's left is a fairly decent money symbol collection out on the water game. It's one that allows collection to occur in all phases of play (as well as the Shark Multiplier), not just in free spins, which is nice, though the bonus round desirability is increased by its progressive elements. That is, levelling up to increase the chance of landing better value Fisherman symbols, and the other by making the Shark Multiplier persistent until the bonus ends. The multiplier is important, too, because Fisherman values, even the Old Fisherman values, aren't the biggest, so hopefully those Lady symbols will be landing.

While there is a whiff of Big Bass Bonanza to the proceedings, Red Tiger has done enough to make Shark Boss stand on its own two feet, or legs, or whatever. Max win is a hefty 10,000x, and making it winnable by collecting 50 Fisherman symbols in free spins adds a motivating twist. All in all, Shark Boss is a playable fish slot that reels in gameplay which is both familiar and tweaked, flipping the script through its hunter becomes the hunted subversion.