Fish populations might be under pressure right now, but if real-life fishing happened as often as it does in casinos, we’d have emptied the oceans ages ago. And then what? No more fish ’n’ chip shops, sushi would lose a lot of its appeal without all that salmon, and divers would have far less to admire while floating about underwater. It’d be a gloomier place without our sea-dwelling friends. Anyway, back to the point: fishing slots. Here’s another entry for the already hefty pile from casino game maker Yggdrasil Gaming. It’s called Nice Catch DoubleMax (solid title, by the way) and it combines the familiar fisherman-collects-cash setup with the studio’s proprietary DoubleMax multiplier system.

If part of fishing’s charm is soaking up the scenery, Nice Catch DoubleMax leans into that with a rustic outdoor backdrop for players to test their luck. This time, you’re set up on a beach: pale blue water, welcoming sand, and the kind of weather that looks comfortably warm. Probably a touch above that low-to-mid-20-degree climate you get in shopping malls. The view is inviting enough that it’s hard to choose between baiting the hook and casting out, or ditching the clothes for swimwear and heading in for a splash. Either way, Yggdrasil Gaming has delivered a pleasant, if slightly plain, setting for some laid-back, armchair angling.

Getting started in Nice Catch DoubleMax means setting a wager of 20 p/c to $/€20 per spin, choosing whether to switch on the optional Golden Bet, or even jumping straight to the bonus buy. Overall, the default RTP is said to remain the same at 96.1%, while the game’s volatility is rated high. On top of that, Nice Catch DoubleMax can be played on any device.

With a see-through look that helps keep the scenery in view, Nice Catch DoubleMax uses a grid of 5 reels and 3 rows, topped by a strip showing rising multiplier values. Standard wins land when three or more matching symbols appear on consecutive reels from the left, using a 243-ways to-win system. Land five of the lower-paying card suit symbols and you’ll get 0.5-0.6x the bet, while five swordfish, shoes, soda bottles, or retro flip phones pay 1-8x the bet.

Nice Catch DoubleMax: Slot Features

It wouldn’t really qualify as a fishing slot without a few fish turning up. When fish appear in the game, they carry cash values. If fish land at the same time as a fisherman symbol on reel five, those values are collected and awarded.

DoubleMax

When fish prizes are paid out from left to right, they trigger the DoubleMax multiplier. The multiplier increases from x2 through x4, x8, x16, x32, x64, x128, to x256. The multiplier applies to all wins on the spin.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols in the base game awards 8, 11, or 14 free spins, respectively. Before the feature begins, a gamble option may be available that can potentially boost the initial free spins total. The big advantage in free spins is that the DoubleMax multiplier does not reset until the round finishes. Scatter symbols are taken off the reels for the duration, but hitting a fisherman symbol grants an additional free spin and instantly doubles the multiplier prizes for the rest of the feature.

Bonus Buy

If you’d rather purchase access to free spins, there are two choices. Spending 100x the bet will randomly drop 3 to 5 scatter symbols, while 500x the bet ensures 5 scatter symbols will land.

Nice Catch DoubleMax: Slot Verdict

Even though it offers a convincing virtual sunny day by the shore, Nice Catch DoubleMax wasn’t the kind of game that had us desperate to return like an office-bound angler staring out at perfect weather. Fishing slots are hugely popular, though, so there will no doubt be plenty of keyboard anglers ready to try Nice Catch DoubleMax’s particular mix. The fish collection mechanic adds something that earlier DoubleMax slots didn’t include, but overall it felt more restricted than some of the titles that came before it, rather than the big, wave-splitting catch it could have been.

DoubleMax is definitely a major attraction, but it’s also been used just as effectively—if not more so—in other games. Raptor DoubleMax still stands out as the benchmark, as the first and arguably best entry in the series so far. Florageddon! is another worthwhile option that reshapes the climbing multiplier in a different way, while Bang Bang Games’ Pharaoh’s Gaze DoubleMax lets the mechanic run in a more traditional slot theme. Then again, fishing slots are about as classic as it gets, so Nice Catch DoubleMax may suit traditionalists more than the more experimental DoubleMax releases. Here, the capped multiplier seems to have reduced the upside, with max win coming in at 23,972x the bet, which is less than half of what some of its siblings can deliver

If you enjoy fishing slots where a dependable fisherman gathers money symbols for you, Nice Catch DoubleMax should offer enough to justify a closer look. The added doubling multiplier should help on that front. The opposite is true as well—if you’re already tired of these catch-of-the-day games, there’s probably not much here that will change your mind.