Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch: Slot Overview

If you somehow still haven’t had your fill of fishing-themed slots, Play’n GO has another one to add to the pile. It’s called Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch, and it follows on from the 2022 title Boat Bonanza. So, if the idea of watching trawlers rock on the waves, casting nets to scoop up cash symbols, with the possibility of building a progressive multiplier up to x25 in free spins sounds like your kind of thing, hop aboard and check it out.

On the presentation side, there isn’t a huge gap between the two games. Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch is set out at sea, with symbols spinning on a transparent grid against a deep-blue ocean backdrop filled with bubbles, seaweed, fish, and similar details. A small strip of seaside town—with a Ferris wheel—sits near the top of the screen, while the two key fishing boats float below on the shimmering water. A jaunty, salty sea shanty-style track plays along, and overall the vibe is very much in line with the original.

From a numbers perspective, a few things have been tweaked. One notable change is volatility, which has been toned down to medium, carrying a 5 out of 10 rating. RTP is offered in five versions depending on the market, with a default of 96.2% but falling as low as 84.2% in certain cases, so it’s worth keeping an eye on. Betting options run from 10 p/c to $/€50 per spin, and gameplay takes place on a 5-reel, 4-row setup featuring 12 paylines.

Looking at the paytable, Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch includes 9 standard paying symbols plus a handful of special ones. Low-value symbols are the 9-A card ranks, while the higher pays come from an anchor, a spear gun, a can of worms, and a seagull. A 5-of-a-kind line with low pays returns 10 times the bet, while 5 matching premium symbols pay 50 to 200 times the bet. There is no wild symbol on Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch’s reels, though there are a couple of other special symbols to get through next.

Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch: Slot Features

As you’d expect from a fishing slot, most of Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch’s mechanics are built around reeling in fish money symbols. This happens in both the base game and free spins, and it’s complemented by the Colossal Catch feature.

Catch Feature

Catch symbols appear carrying values of 1x to 50x the bet. These fish symbols can also contribute to line wins, paying up to 40x the bet for a 5 OAK line. Above the reels, 2 fishing boats zip back and forth. A boat is active when it’s brightly lit, and inactive when it’s greyed out. When active, boats collect the value of any Catch symbols that land below them.

Colossal Catch

If both boats stop above the same reel, the Colossal Catch is activated. When this happens, the feature collects all Catch symbols on all reels.

Free Spins

The trawler-style boat symbol acts as Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch’s scatter. Hitting at least 3 scatters grants 10 free spins. On top of that, landing 4 scatters awards an extra 20x the bet, while 5 scatters add 100x the bet. During free spins, both boats are active on each spin. A new symbol also appears in the free spins round: the Swordfish symbol. When a boat collects a Swordfish symbol, progress on the Colossal Catch Multiplier bar increases by +1 step:

• Collecting 3 Swordfish symbols awards an x2 multiplier and +8 free spins.
• Collecting 3 more Swordfish awards an x5 multiplier and +6 free spins.
• Another 3 collected Swordfish awards an x10 multiplier and +4 free spins.
• Finally, collecting another 3 final Swordfish awards the maximum x25 multiplier plus 2 extra free spins.

Players can reach a total of 30 free spins.  To avoid any confusion, the Colossal Catch Multiplier only affects Catch symbols that are collected when Colossal Catch is triggered.

Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch: Slot Verdict

It wasn’t easy to feel particularly wowed by Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch. The earlier game, Boat Bonanza, was decent enough. In terms of mechanics, it sits close to Big Time Gaming’s Golden Catch, while also carrying that straightforward, retro-leaning feel found in Big Bass Bonanza and Fishin’ Frenzy. It didn’t exactly seem like a title crying out for a sequel, but given the popularity of the theme, it’s not shocking that Play’n GO went back for another cast. The odd part is that Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch feels like a step down from the original in several areas. And it’s not only the softer volatility, though that may matter to some hardened armchair anglers. The max win has dropped from 5,000x to 3,000x, the respins feature has been removed, the top Catch symbol value has been cut heavily, and the overall package comes across as a needless rework of what was already there.

With that out of the system, there are still a few upsides worth mentioning, and players who aren’t exhausted by the endless stream of fishing slots—especially those wanting something less intense—might get along fine with Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch. It delivers the bright, upbeat, friendly feel that often goes hand-in-hand with the genre. Watching the boats scoop up fish is thematically on point and can be fun, particularly when both boats line up on the same reel to set off Colossal Catch. Though, to be fair, the previous game already offered that. What it didn’t include was the Big Bass Bonanza-style collection bar mechanic, where you can build up to a Colossal Catch Multiplier of x25. It’s fine, and it does at least open the door to solid returns when Colossal Catch comes into play.

And that’s basically the story. Compared with Boat Bonanza, some elements are different and some are familiar, but overall Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch doesn’t do enough to justify its existence and ends up feeling a bit unnecessary. Play’n GO clearly understands the online gambling market, but Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch comes off as yet another sign of the studio drifting toward mediocrity.