4 Fantastic Fish Gold: Slot Overview

Fish slots, brah, there’s no shortage of them—floating around the online casino sea like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, growing bigger and bigger, and seemingly ready to swallow everything if nobody stops them. Alright, that’s a touch over-the-top, but the point stands: fish-themed slots are everywhere, and the trend isn’t slowing down. One developer that keeps returning to this crowd-pleasing niche is 4ThePlayer with its 4 Fantastic Fish series. Bringing things full circle, the studio has launched 4 Fantastic Fish Gold, a slot that revisits the original game while changing how players can technically land its headline prizes.

4 Fantastic Fish (2022) made a strong visual impression the first time, and the Gold edition is just as in-your-face. The biggest new attention-grabber is a bold “notice me” prize wheel that didn’t exist previously. It spins away, teasing four prize values that are also shown above the reels. Those values can increase when Coins drop onto symbols. Beyond that, the setting feels largely familiar—shafts of light cut across a vivid blue sky, while the water carries a purple tint; it’s like someone cranked the world’s contrast up to 11 with a dose of mind-bending chemicals.

Players who pay close attention to the numbers and enjoyed the first 4 Fantastic Fish might not love that the maximum RTP has dropped by a few points, now peaking at 94%. The stake range has also been trimmed a little, though 10 c to $/€60 will still suit plenty of budgets. Played on a 6×4 gaming grid, 4 Fantastic Fish Gold offers 4,096 ways to win, with winning symbols needing to land on consecutive reels, starting from the far-left reel and moving right.

Low-value symbols are Ten to Ace card royals, each sporting small hooks, before the higher-paying set appears—boxes, reels, crabs, birds, and anglers. A 6 OAK royal combination returns 1.5x-2.5x, while 6 matching premium symbols pay 3 to 10 times the bet. The boat acts as the wild, helping complete wins by substituting for all symbols except scatters. Wilds can land on every reel apart from the leftmost one.

4 Fantastic Fish Gold: Slot Features

In terms of gameplay, 4 Fantastic Fish Gold runs very similarly to the original, featuring Money Ways, a Respins Bonus, Giant Squids, and more—except that the biggest prizes are now obtainable via a Boosting Fortunes prize wheel.

Money Ways

Fish symbols can appear on any reel with a cash prize shown on them. When they form a winning way from left to right starting on the leftmost reel, the values displayed on those Fish symbols are paid out to the player.

Respin Bonus

Landing 3 or more Respin scatters triggers the Respin Bonus. Any reels that hit a scatter become open, while the remaining reels stay closed. Any Fish symbols that land on the triggering spin are locked to the reel if they’re on one of the open reels. As new Fish symbols land on open reels during the bonus, they lock in place and reset the respin counter to 3. If a Respin scatter lands on a closed reel, it opens that reel for the rest of the feature, and the respin count resets. Respin scatter cannot land on open reels. When the respins are used up, players receive the combined value of all Fish symbols locked on the reels. If an open reel becomes completely filled with locked Fish symbols, a Shark collects them, multiplies the total by x2 and holds it at the top position, freeing the other positions so new symbols can land.

Giant Squid Bonus

A Giant Squid can show up on any spin and rearrange Fish symbols. In the base game, it may create a win or make an existing one better. In the Respin Bonus, the Squid is able to shift Fish symbols from closed reels onto open reels.

Boosting Fortunes

The game includes four dynamic Fortune prizes. These are the 10x-100x Big, 25x-250x Super, 200x-1,000x Mega, and the 10,000x-15,000x Ultra, positioned above a reel. When a Coin lands on a symbol, it increases the value of the Fortune Prize above that reel. On any base game spin, if one or more Coins land, the Fortune Wheel can activate and spin to award a Fortune Prize.

Feature Buy

The feature buy menu includes two choices: a Respin Bonus trigger for 75x the bet or a spin that guarantees a Giant Squid for 30x the bet.

4 Fantastic Fish Gold: Slot Verdict

When it comes to fish slots competing with heavy hitters like the Fishin’ Frenzy or Big Bass Bonanza series, 4ThePlayer’s 4 Fantastic Fish line has held its own reasonably well. The series began in 2022 and has since seen multiple twists, including Egyptian, Viking, and GigaBlox editions, before 4 Fantastic Fish Gold loops back to the starting point. Why the return? It’s not entirely clear, and there isn’t a great deal here that truly sets it apart from the first 4 Fantastic Fish. With a bit of imagination, die-hard fans might enjoy the throwback feel, or Boosting Fortunes fans may like having a wheel as the route to the top prizes. Aside from that, there isn’t much that feels genuinely fresh.

The lower RTP doesn’t help matters, either, and if another major stat—its win potential—had been higher, then 4 Fantastic Fish Gold might have created more buzz. As it is, the theoretical maximum win of 15,070.6x is perfectly respectable, no complaints there, but it’s only a tiny step up from the 15,000x in the non-Gold release. Overall, it comes across more like shifting the furniture around than delivering a must-play, truly Gold-level upgrade. The exceptions may be players who can’t get enough fishy prize wheel action or who’d rather have reduced volatility.

That said, prize wheels are hardly rare, and the distinctive way 4 Fantastic Fish used to award its Big Game Jackpots (when the relevant jackpot symbol formed part of a ways win) has been removed. In its place sits a more standard jackpot approach, paired with a reduced RTP and not much else that would push a fish-slot fan to pick 4 Fantastic Fish Gold over the original.