Boat Bonanza Down Under: Slot Overview

Alright folks, before we get into the review, do us a favour: run a quick online image search for Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ and zoom in on the figure’s face. That’s pretty much the expression we pull whenever yet another fishing slot lands on the review pile these days. We’re kidding… mostly. Either way, here’s another angling-themed release for the collection: Boat Bonanza Down Under from Swedish developer Play’n GO, which is the third entry in the studio’s Boat Bonanza series.

With the “Down Under” tag, the action is set somewhere around the vast landscapes of Australia. Wherever it is, it’s bright and sunny above crystal-blue water, with bubbles and sea life drifting around. Visually, it shares plenty with the other Boat Bonanza games, though it does try to separate itself a little. The boats above the grid are gone, replaced by a fisherman snoozing on a flotation device. Different… sort of.

The symbols land on a see-through grid made up of 5 reels with 4 positions on each reel, and the game runs on 12 paylines. Play’n GO rates the math model at 7 out of 10 for volatility, while the top RTP configuration comes in at 96.25%. Setting your stake is done by choosing a bet from 10 c to $/€50 per spin.

Standard pay symbols matter a bit less in a fish/money-symbol slot, but for completeness they’re 10-A card ranks, goggles, flip flops, a tentacle in a can, and a bird on a floaty. Landing 5 royals returns 10x the stake, while 5 premium symbols pay 50 to 200 times the stake. The fish money symbols can also form line wins, paying up to 40x the bet for 5 of them, and each one carries its own value of 1x to 50x. Boat Bonanza Down Under doesn’t have a wild.

Boat Bonanza Down Under: Slot Features

In a title like this, reeling in fish is basically mandatory, and that’s handled via the Catch Feature, alongside a pick bonus with plenty of potential selections and free spins.

Catch Feature

A dozing fisherman hangs out above the reels, moving position on spins or remaining where he is. When the fisherman wakes up 1 of 3 things may occur:

• Vertical Fish – collects all prizes beneath the fisherman.
• Surf n Catch – the fisherman collects all prizes on the reels. A multiplier equal to the number of reels which had Catch prizes on them is applied to the total before being awarded.
• Under Reel Collection – a mystery prize Catch is pulled from beneath the reels. These prizes can be cash, a kangaroo sign dud symbol, or, in free spins, only a special scatter that progresses players on the free spins trail.

The Vertical Fish and the Under Reel features can trigger at the same time.

Free Spins

Landing 3+ scatters grants 10 free spins. In free spins, a 12-position trail is added. Collecting scatters moves you along the trail, including via the special scatter produced by the Under Reel Collection feature. For every 2 steps on the trail, players are awarded another pick or additional free spins. Positions 2, 6, and 10 offer picks, while positions 4, 8, and 12 retrigger free spins – +10 each time. Win multipliers at each retrigger level are x2, x3, and x10. Scatters are only collected when they appear on the same reel as the fisherman through Surf n Catch or Under Reel Collection. Upon reaching position 12, no further free spins are added, and the maximum number of free spins is 50. Feature multipliers apply to Catch wins only, not to line wins.

Pick Bonus

When free spins begin, players get a pick bonus that applies 1 of 8 modifiers to the feature. Additional trail progress can award extra picks. Each modifier comes in 2 variations, regular and upgraded. The free spins regular modifiers are: 5 extra free spins, more Catch triggers, more Surf n Catch triggers, more Catch symbols, the lowest paying symbol is removed, at least 1 Catch symbol on each free spin (no win guarantee), Catch Multiplier increased to x2, or 1 random Catch symbol is sticky for 1 spin.

The upgraded modifiers are: 10 extra free spins, more Catch triggers at x2 multiplier, more Surf n Catch triggers at x2 multiplier, more Catch symbols and 2 lowest paying Catch symbols are removed, 3 lowest paying symbols removed, at least 3 Catch symbol on each free spin (no win guarantee), Catch Multiplier increased to x5, or 2 random catch symbol sticky for 1 spin. A maximum of 4 modifiers can be active in free spins, and only 1 type of each specific modifier can run at once—so you can’t have both the regular and upgraded version of the same modifier together.

Boat Bonanza Down Under: Slot Verdict

Is it fair to describe Boat Bonanza Down Under as Big Bass Bonanza colliding with the Golden Fish Tank spin-off? It’s one way to put it, at least, since players who set sail here get lots of routes to scoop up prizes, stack modifiers, and keep things moving. Not that the online casino waters are short on this style of slot—there are loads of them swimming around already. Still, Boat Bonanza Down Under does stand apart from many of the pack, so credit where it’s due: it’s another option for anyone chasing that fish-slot fix.

Getting the fisherman to wake up in the base game so he can drag in rewards is perfectly fine, but the real action kicks off in Boat Bonanza Down Under’s free spins, where the “fish finder” starts lighting up. Of course, as with actual fishing, seeing activity doesn’t mean everything will jump straight onto the hook. But when things do click, the different mechanics can combine into something that feels cohesive and potentially fun.

Because so much of Boat Bonanza Down Under’s best stuff is packed into the free spins round, it’s a shame the bonus can’t be purchased, especially since the base game felt a bit sluggish. The fisherman seemed very committed to napping, so he didn’t collect all that often, and line wins weren’t doing much heavy lifting either. Then again, the first free spins trigger delivered a rude-wake-up return of just 1x the bet. Even so, Boat Bonanza Down Under can hit 6,000x under the right conditions, so dedicated fishing-slot fans may still want to cast a line.