Fish ‘Em Up: Slot Overview

Grab your rods, because this time it’s Games Global partner Snowborn Games taking us offshore for a spot of deep-sea spinning. The game is Fish ‘Em Up, and it looks very similar to Pile ‘Em Up and, by extension, the Irish reskin Tippy Tavern. That said, Snowborn Games has decided to tweak the mechanics here, bringing in fresh elements and reworking a few familiar ones. Wrap it all in a cheerful fishing theme and it should suit plenty of at-home slot anglers; time to set sail.

On the cheerful front, Fish ‘Em Up is about as upbeat as fishing slots tend to be, which is saying something given how often this genre leans into a happy-go-lucky tone. The visuals are bright and sunny, with the display divided into above-water and underwater scenes. On the surface there’s a friendly fisherman drifting along in his boat, while below you’ll spot a crab perched on the Bonus chest and some seaweed off to the side. And much like Big Bass Bonanza—the unavoidable comparison point for modern fishing slots—Fish ‘Em Up uses a lively soundtrack to deliver that relaxed, easygoing atmosphere the theme is known for.

Snowborn Games has built Fish ‘Em Up on a 5-reels, 3-rows layout with 20 fixed paylines. The reels are transparent, making it easier to see the background—mostly murky water, admittedly—but the overall presentation is crisp and fits modern design trends. With a minimum bet of 20 p/c and a maximum of $/€50 per spin, Fish ‘Em Up is playable across devices, from tablet and mobile to desktop. It’s highly volatile, with a top RTP value of 96.11% (lower models are available), and at that setting players can expect a theoretical hit frequency of 27.16%.

Standard payline wins land when matching symbols connect along a payline from the left side of the grid. A 5-of-a-kind line of the J thorough A card symbols returns 1 to 3.75 times the bet, while five floats, green lures, purple lures, or reels pay 13 to 15 times the bet. Fish ‘Em Up’s wild symbol also shows up on all 5 reels. Wilds substitute for any regular paying symbols, and a 5 OAK wild combination awards 100 times the bet.

Fish ‘Em Up: Slot Features

No fishing slot feels complete without a few fish appearing somewhere on the reels, and in Fish ‘Em Up they act as cash-value symbols. Alongside Catch Wins, there’s a Cash Booster, free spins, and a hold ‘n win Bonus featuring jackpot-style prizes.

Catch Wins

Fish symbols land with values of 0.2 to 50 times the bet. When they appear and a Collect symbol also lands on reel 5, the total value of all fish symbols currently visible is paid out.

Catch Booster

The Catch Booster is a multiplier that begins at x1 and can climb to x10. Each time a 1UP symbol lands, the multiplier is increased by +1. After the Catch Booster multiplier has been used on a fish symbol win, it drops back to x1 in the base game.

Free Spins

Boat scatters can land on reels 1, 3, and 5, and landing 3 of them pays 1.5x the bet plus 10 free spins. The 1UP symbol still boosts the Catch Booster multiplier as it does in the base game, but here, upon reaching x4, x7, or x10, +5 additional free spins are awarded each time. On top of that, during free spins the multiplier doesn’t reset, and the Catch Booster is stored for each bet level. Free spins can trigger naturally, or they can be purchased from the feature shop for 70 times the stake.

Bonus

Shell overlay symbols that land on fish symbols can trigger the Bonus feature. It begins with 3 bonus spins on an empty grid. Landing fish or prize symbols resets the spin count back to 3. Prize symbols are the Mini, Midi, Maxi, or Mega, and when they land, they are collected. Collecting 3 of the same prize awards their value of 30x, 100x, 500x, or 5,000x the bet for the Mini Midi, Maxi, or Mega, respectively. Alternatively, the Maxi is awarded if all positions on the grid are filled. Fish remain sticky, whereas prize symbols do not. The feature ends when there are no bonus spins remaining, or when every position is filled.

Fish ‘Em Up: Slot Verdict

In some respects, you have to feel for fish. One moment you’re drifting around the ocean, the next something hooks your mouth and you’re hauled into a world where you can’t even breathe. Thankfully, Fish ‘Em Up is nowhere near that grim. Instead, Snowborn Games puts its 1UP idea to good use, and given how often it’s been reused, it clearly gets a positive response. It played nicely in Pile ‘Em Up and its Irish-themed counterpart, and it also suits a fishing setup surprisingly well. Fish ‘Em Up isn’t necessarily a can’t-miss release, but as a more involved Fishin’ Frenzy-style alternative that tries to take a swing at Pragmatic Plays Big Bass giant, it holds its own.

Real-life fishing probably demands plenty of waiting before anything bites and you can start reeling in. Fish ‘Em Up is less about patience, as Collect symbols showed up fairly often to gather those sought-after fish cash symbols. Not usually for anything outrageous, but stack enough 1UP symbols to push the Catch Booster multiplier higher and the outcome could be decent. It’s also a plus that the Catch Booster is active in the base game, though it’s far more appealing in free spins since it carries over there. One notable change is that the multiplier doesn’t appear in the Bonus feature, where it’s replaced by the four special prize values. That makes the Bonus feel more like a classic hold ‘n win than the earlier approach, and it has, interestingly, led to a lower maximum win of 5,000 times the bet.

As for max win potential, Fish ‘Em Up doesn’t match games like Golden Catch or 4 Fantastic Fish, just to be clear, and it also falls short of the previous two 1UP titles. Still, it’s a perfectly respectable figure for an online fishing slot, and a solid trophy target while you soak up Fish ‘Em Up’s upbeat, feel-good gameplay.