Fishing Max

Fishing Max Review

Fishing Max slot offers a relaxing and refreshing break from the whole Big Bass Bonanza mania, and leans more toward the charming simplicity of the Fishin' Frenzy franchise. That being said, this is no copycat effort from Snowborn Games, as they have come up with an original multiplier feature that truly comes into its own in the bonus and super bonus rounds. However, before we get into the meat of this game, let’s first cover the basics.

You start by choosing your preferred bet level, which ranges from €0.20 to €30 per spin in the Fishing Max slot. This should work for the casual crowd this game is aimed at, but may not satisfy the most daredevil high rollers. The game plays out on a 5x3 grid with 20 paylines, and you win by landing 3 to 5 matching symbols across at least one payline, starting from the leftmost reel. The premium symbols, consisting of trophies, floats, tackle boxes, anchors, and hooks, all pay 5x your stake for 5 of a kind. The royal symbols award between 0.8x and 2.4x your stake for the same.

Wild symbols can land on any reel in all stages of the game, substituting for pay symbols to help complete or improve line wins. Landing 5 wilds on the same payline awards 99x your stake. You can land Multiplier Fish symbols in all stages, too, and these carry a multiplier value of up to x3. Landing a 5 of a kind win with Multiplier Fish pays 5x your stake, and their multipliers build the Fishing Feature multiplier if they appear on the triggering spin.

Fishing Max Slot Reels Screen

The Fishing Feature is all about Max reeling in cash fish prizes and multiplier fish of up to x100, and multiplier fish values are added to the win multiplier for a total win boost. The multiplier does not reset between Fishing Feature triggers in both the regular and the super bonus round, and the super feature has a sticky Max symbol that increases the Fishing Feature hit rate. Fishing Max is a medium volatile slot game with a max win of 7,187x your stake, a hit rate of 30.03%, and possible RTP settings of 96%, 94.5%, and 92.5%.

Fishing Max Features

Before we explore the features of this game in more detail, we would like to remind you that the Fishing Max free play demo is available at the top of this review page. Head up there to test the features for yourself, after reading about them below.

Fishing Feature

Landing the Max symbol on reel 5 and at least one Golden Reel symbol on reels 1 to 4 triggers the Fishing Feature. The Fishing Multiplier starts at x1 and may be upgraded if Multiplier Fish are present on the triggering spin. Fisherman Max starts to angle for fish from his boat, and the fish carry either a multiplier of x1 to x100 or a cash prize worth between 0.5x and 50x your stake.

Not all fish that swim by will get caught by Max, but those that do add their multiplier to the Fishing Multiplier or their prize value to the total win. The feature only ends when Max tries to hook a crab, which never works since the crab cuts the line with its claw. However, if you trigger the Fishing Feature with multiple Golden Reels, they play out one after another with the Fishing Multiplier carried over between features.

Super Scatter Meter

The Super Scatter Meter is located below the reels, and scatters landing on reels 1 and 3 fill up the meter over time. When the meter is full, the possibility of landing super scatters in the base game becomes unlocked for the current bet level. Both scatters and super scatters can appear only on reels 1, 3, and 5, triggering either the regular bonus round or the super bonus round, respectively. After each super bonus round, the Scatter Meter resets to 7 out of 20 collected scatters, meaning you need to collect 13 more to unlock super scatters once again.

Free Spins Bonus Round

Landing 3 regular scatters triggers the regular Bonus Round in Fishing Max slot, awarding 10 free spins. You can also win additional free spins during the feature, with 2 or 3 scatters awarding 2 or 5 free spins, respectively. In both the regular bonus round and the super bonus round, the Fishing Multiplier is carried over from one Fishing Feature to the next. This means that it never resets for as long as the bonus round lasts, and can keep growing for each Fishing Feature you trigger.

Super Free Spins Bonus Round

The Super Bonus Round requires that you first unlock super scatters by collecting 20 regular scatters in the base game. Then, you need to land 3 super scatter symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5 on the same base game spin to trigger the Super Bonus Round. You get 10 super free spins, and the only difference from the regular bonus round is that a full-reel Max symbol is sticky on reel 5 for the duration of the feature. This means that the Fishing Feature triggers each time you land at least one Golden Reel symbol on reels 1 to 4.

Fishing Max Slot Free Spins Win Screen

Bet Boost & Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players can purchase the Bonus Round for 75x the stake and the Super Bonus Round for 150x the stake. Keep in mind that bonus buys do not affect the Super Scatter Meter. The Bet Boost feature costs 50% extra per spin to keep on, with the benefit of doubling your Fishing Feature chances while also increasing the hit rates of both the bonus and super bonus rounds. Unfortunately, Snowborn Games does not reveal any stats about this, so it’s hard to tell exactly what you’re paying extra for.

Theme & Graphics

Fishing Max takes you on a cozy fishing expedition to what looks like a lake somewhere in the heartland of the US of A, or perhaps in Canada. With snow-capped mountains in the backdrop, bearded fisherman Max is angling from his boat with plenty of fish swimming by beneath the surface. The cartoon-style visuals combined with the easy-going soundtrack build a charming and relaxed atmosphere, and unlike many similar games, you actually get to see some real fishing action in the Fishing Max slot.

Fishing Max Free Play

Now that you understand how the game and all the features work, you can consider testing the free Fishing Max demo game located at the top of this review page. Of course, we also hope you take the time to read our verdict of this game below, and leave a comment telling us what your verdict is in the comments field. We love to hear what our readers think about the games we review. However, make sure to have a decent Fishing Max free play session first, so you have some experience to base your opinion on.

Pros and Cons of Fishing Max

Our Verdict

The fishing slot genre is about as crowded and competitive as it gets. It’s therefore impressive that Snowborn Games has managed to come up with something that stands out in a positive way. It’s even more impressive that they have done it without resorting to copycatting the Big Bass series, which so many developers tend to do these days. Fishing Max is a charmer of a game through and through, and finally, a fishing slot that actually contains some real angling action by the main character.

The game grid being placed down in the left corner instead of taking center stage may take some time getting used to, or at least it did for me. My eyes were constantly drawn to the jovial protagonist sitting in his boat drinking his Coke, and the fish swimming beneath it. This makes little sense if you go into this game without knowing how the features work, but all is forgiven when the Fishing Feature triggers. Needless to say, this is where the Fishing Max slot truly shines.

I also like that you can reel in multiplier fish that build the win multiplier, as this can significantly boost otherwise mediocre prizes. Max may be a great dude, but his ability to avoid higher-value fish is not to be underestimated. This gets annoyingly obvious after a while, as time and time again, the big fish swims by before he hooks a small prize instead. In addition to the multiplier accumulation, it also helps that you can trigger multiple Fishing Features where the multiplier does not reset between them.

The regular bonus round is very similar to the base game, but I did notice that the Fishing Feature seemed to trigger more frequently. The good news is that the multiplier keeps building per subsequent Fishing Feature, and with a sticky Max symbol in the Super version, you’ll benefit from even more triggers. It’s a bit lame that you need to unlock Super scatters again after each Super bonus, though, but far from a deal-breaker. If you’re angling for a relaxing session with the chance for a respectable haul, this one is definitely worth a cast.