Hot Tuna: Slot Overview

Not to be mistaken for the surf-style clothing label or the Jefferson Airplane spin-off, Hot Tuna here refers to a fishing-themed slot from Pragmatic Play partner Reel Kingdom. Yes, it’s another RK fishing title—but could it be the start of a fresh fish-slot line that finally takes on the studio’s runaway Big Bass phenomenon? We’ll see. In the meantime, grab your rod if you’re joining the trip, and don’t forget your classic gold-and-red robes. Why? Because whether it’s to appeal to a different crowd, to step out of Big Bass’ shadow, or simply for fun, Hot Tuna mixes Asian-inspired cultural touches with ocean visuals to create something that feels “new”.

A smiling fisherman dressed in gold and red accompanies players on the journey, complete with his gold-and-red chest and a gold-and-red boat. Rather than sitting below the surface like in Big Bass Bonanza 1000, Hot Tuna is set above the waterline, with a wide, rolling sea visible through and around the reels, plus sharp island silhouettes on the horizon. There are other differences too, but one familiar trait remains: Hot Tuna shares its relatives’ upbeat, playful take on fishing—clean, cheerful, and conveniently missing the mess, smells, and nausea that can come with the real thing.

The reels use a 5×3 matrix, with 10 paylines paying left to right starting from the first reel. Out of the three RTP options available, the highly volatile model reaches a top return of 96.53%, with stakes ranging from $/€0.05 to $/€240 per spin. There’s also an ante bet option; enabling it doubles the wager to improve the odds of landing free spins.

Hot Tuna’s paying icons include 10-A card ranks styled with fishing line, fish (which also act as the money symbol), sea horses, boxes, sushi, and octopus lures. A 5-of-a-kind on the royals awards 10 times their bet, while 5 matching premium symbols return 20x to 200x the stake. Wilds replace all symbols except scatters, money, or Hot Tuna symbols, and—much like that other fish slot—they only show up during free spins.

Hot Tuna: Slot Features

As the base game doesn’t offer anything extra, we can jump straight to the bonus: landing 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. When two scatters appear in the base game, there is a chance a third is revealed via a respin feature or simply at random. The Hot Tuna symbol is exclusive to free spins. When it lands, it is collected, and an x10 multiplier is applied to the total of the money symbol values collected. If more than one Hot Tuna symbol is included in the same collection, their multipliers are added together.

In free spins, every wild symbol that lands awards an extra free spin and collects all visible money symbol values. Money symbols can be worth 2x to 2,500x the bet. If a money symbol lands without a wild, it is stored in a meter. Gathering 6 money symbols for each of the 7 steps on the meter retriggers the feature with +10 free spins, and a Hot Tuna symbol to randomly hit at every free spin. Each time the meter is completed, +10 free spins are granted, and an additional Hot Tuna symbol can randomly hit at every free spin. After the first retrigger, Hot Tuna symbols can also be collected in the meter. Lastly, when there are no wild or money symbols in view, at the end of a free spin, wild, money, and Hot Tuna symbols may appear in random positions. The Hot Tuna symbols can only appear if the feature has been retriggered at least once.

Feature Buy

Players can purchase the free spins feature for 100x the bet; when bought, 3, 4, or 5 scatters land to activate it.

Hot Tuna: Slot Verdict

If Reel Kingdom has a specialty, it’s building fish slots, and with Hot Tuna the studio has delivered a fairly standard entry. Reading through the rules, the game feels familiar almost immediately, which may be reassuring for cautious fishing-slot devotees, as the connections to Big Bass Bonanza become obvious. From the base-game “third scatter” possibility, to the fact that little truly kicks off until free spins arrive, to the overall collection approach—it’s very clear which title sits higher up Hot Tuna’s family tree, for better or worse.

That said, this isn’t a one-to-one copy of Big Bass Bonanza. Reel Kingdom has introduced a new progressive sequence tied to collecting money symbols during free spins. Overall, the collection mechanic was quite frustrating. It wasn’t easy to gather the number of money symbols required to secure the Hot Tuna symbol and retrigger the feature. In simple terms, you need to collect far more money symbols than wilds compared to a typical Big Bass game, so retriggers seem noticeably less common. The trade-off is that retriggers don’t gradually raise the multiplier from x2 to x3 to x10—instead, it leaps straight to x10, which could be a huge swing. In that sense, rather than playing it safe, Hot Tuna gambles on a system that could easily irritate some players. For example, if several bonus rounds pass without a single retrigger, it’s easy to imagine walking away feeling fed up.

Of course, the opposite can happen too if retriggers and Hot Tunas start appearing nonstop. Even then, the game’s win potential isn’t a headline feature, since payouts top out at 2,500x the stake. On the plus side, its max exposure probability is much more favourable than Big Bass Bonanza’s. Overall, Hot Tuna is a charming slot, and its theme is a welcome change of scenery. Still, despite the reworked free spins, it largely feels like familiar territory from Reel Kingdom.