Cash Crab Slot Review
Kelp sways up the edges of the screen and silver bubbles drift through sunlit blue water, framing a reel window that looks set into glass. Into that cheerful seabed, Amatic has dropped one of the plainest formats in slots, 10 fixed lines on a 5×3 grid, and made it worth sitting through: Cash Crab returns 97.11%, a figure most modern releases don’t get near.
The reason it holds attention is the bonus round, where every crab that lands harvests cash from the notes symbols while the spin count keeps growing. It sits in familiar company alongside Fortune Joker 20 and Mr Magic, with Double Joker 20 nearby in the Amatic catalogue. Whether that generosity runs deeper than the artwork is what the reels have to answer.
The Reels and the Paytable
Cash Crab is a classic line-payer. Wins form left to right on adjacent reels across 10 fixed lines, and only the highest combination counts on each line played. Wins from different lines add together, and scatter wins sit on top of the line wins rather than replacing them.
There’s no wild symbol in this game, so every combination has to land the honest way. Symbols arrive stacked, which is where the bigger base game wins come from: a full stack of turtles across the first few reels can build quickly. Stack coverage is the only variance the base game has to offer before the scatter turns up.
Payouts follow a strict set of conditions. A prize is paid only when the exact number of matching symbols of a kind lands, and every value scales with the current bet level, adjusting automatically whenever the stake changes. The one exception to the line system is the notes: any combination of notes symbols counts as a win, not just matched sets from the leftmost reel.
One symbol behaves differently again. The crab is a scatter, paying on any position rather than on lines, and it carries the game’s joint-best pays alongside its bonus duties. All values below are multiples of the total bet.
- Turtle – 0.5x for two, 5x for three, 20x for four, 200x for five
- Starfish – 3x for three, 12.5x for four, 75x for five
- Jellyfish / Shell – 2x for three, 7.5x for four, 40x for five
- Notes (cash) – 1x for three, 5x for four, 20x for five
- J / Q / K / A / 10 – 0.5x for three, 2x for four, 7.5x for five
- Crab (scatter) – 2x for three, 10x for four, 200x for five
The shape of that ladder tells you how the base game plays. The turtle is the only symbol that pays for two of a kind, and the gap between its top and second-tier prizes is the widest in the game. Everything from the starfish down needs three matches minimum, and the royals keep the small wins ticking over between the rarer stacked arrivals.
The notes symbols pull double duty. In the base game they’re simply the second-lowest paying tier. During the bonus they carry the cash values that the crab collects, which makes them far more interesting than their line pays suggest.
Line wins themselves are a multiple of the line bet, while scatter wins are a multiple of the total bet. Only the highest scatter combination is paid, so five crabs award their full 200x rather than a stack of smaller scatter prizes. The two win types are calculated separately and then added.
BONUSSPINS and the CRAB CASHWIN
Three, four or five crab scatter symbols anywhere on the reels award 10, 15 or 25 BONUSSPINS respectively. The scatter pay lands as well, so a triggering spin always pays something before the round begins, and the more scatters in the trigger, the longer the round you start with.
Once inside, the game changes character. Every crab that appears on any position is collected into a crab counter that runs until the bonus ends. Each collected crab gathers the cash values attached to notes symbols showing on the reels, through the CRAB CASHWIN feature.
So the notes that paid a modest 1x for three in the base game become the currency of the bonus round, harvested rather than lined up. The more notes on screen when a crab lands, the bigger the collection. It gives every spin of the round something to watch beyond the paylines, and the paylines themselves keep working throughout: line wins and scatter wins still pay inside the bonus, with the collected cash added on top.
The counter does more than bank cash. With every fourth crab collected, another 10 BONUSSPINS are unlocked, and these come attached to a rising multiplier that starts at x2. Multiplier markers climb through x2, x3 and x5 above the reels as the round extends, and the spin counter ticks visibly from spin to spin so there’s no mystery about how long the round has left.
The shape of a long round is therefore easy to picture. It runs like this:
- Land 3, 4 or 5 crabs to win 10, 15 or 25 BONUSSPINS
- Every crab appearing during the round is collected into the crab counter
- Each collected crab picks up the CASHWIN values on the notes symbols
- Every fourth crab unlocks 10 more BONUSSPINS
- Each unlock carries a rising multiplier, beginning at x2
- The counter and the collections run until the final spin plays out
A long bonus with plenty of crabs stacks progressively richer collections on top of a growing spin count, so a good round keeps compounding rather than winding down. Scatters buy entry, crabs collect cash, and enough crabs buy time and multipliers. That’s the whole feature set, and it’s a coherent one.
Cash Crab names no maximum win, for the round or the game. What limits a round is the spin count itself, and the every-fourth-crab unlock is the only thing that extends it.
In play, the working parts are all visible at once: the bonus spin counter above the reels, the multiplier markers alongside it, and the running win total building underneath. A collection of 550 from a single CRAB CASHWIN moment is the kind of figure a crab-heavy spin produces, and the accumulating total can climb steeply across a run of extended spins.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.7/10
Cash Crab plays like a classic fruit machine sunk onto a reef: line up symbols from the left, count your lines, wait for the scatters. What makes the waiting worth it is the maths, because a return this generous on a ten-line game is rare air, and every spin of it is honest.
The bonus round carries the game. Collected crabs gather cash, and every fourth one buys another ten spins at a rising multiplier, so a good round compounds instead of tapering out. That’s the strength. The weakness sits either side of it: with no wilds and a paytable that falls away steeply below the turtle, the stretches between scatters can be bare, and stacked symbols either arrive or they don’t.
This one suits anybody who likes old-fashioned line-payers built on friendly maths and a single well-made feature, and it will leave anyone chasing spectacle cold. The water here is warm, bright and unusually well priced.
Cash Crab FAQs
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How do you trigger the BONUSSPIN feature in Cash Crab?
Landing 3, 4 or 5 crab scatter symbols on any position awards 10, 15 or 25 BONUSSPINS respectively. -
What does the CRAB CASHWIN feature do?
During BONUSSPINS, every crab symbol that lands on any position collects the cash values attached to notes symbols showing on the reels. The collected cash is added to your winnings. -
Can free spins be retriggered in Cash Crab?
Yes. With every fourth crab symbol collected during the bonus, 10 additional BONUSSPINS are unlocked with a rising multiplier that starts at x2. -
What is the highest paying symbol in Cash Crab?
The turtle is the top line symbol, paying 200x the total bet for five of a kind. The crab scatter matches that 200x for five and pays on any position. -
Is there a wild symbol in Cash Crab?
No. Cash Crab doesn’t include a wild symbol, so every line win has to be formed by matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left. -
How are line wins and scatter wins combined in Cash Crab?
Line wins pay as a multiple of the line bet and wins from different lines are added together, while scatter wins are a multiple of the total bet. Only the highest combination is paid on each line, only the highest scatter combination counts, and the two win types are added together. -
Do the notes symbols do anything special?
Yes. In the base game they’re a paying symbol tier, and during BONUSSPINS they carry the CASHWIN values that crab symbols collect. -
When is Cash Crab released?
Cash Crab’s release date is 25 May 2023.
