Fish and Bird Demo
Fish and Bird Slot Review
Every morning, a wise old Fisherman rows his boat over the endless sea with nothing but the wind in his dishevelled beard and hope in his creaky bones, using his ageing eyesight to look out for the rarest birds and fish – and if luck should strike, maybe a mermaid or two.
ELK Studios‘ latest release, Fish and Bird, tells the story of a hopeless and rather unlucky Fisherman who has devoted his entire life to searching for the rarest of fish and birds. While he’s not getting any younger, the Fisherman decides to live out his remaining years doing what he now loathes, in hopes that luck will eventually be on his side.
While an unusual choice of title, Fish and Bird looks thematically like a page from a children’s storybook. At least if things go sour in the iGaming industry for ELK Studios, there’s a children’s novelist opportunity with their name on it. All jokes aside, Fish and Bird is ELK’s very own rendition of the Fishing slots theme, where players can cast their nets on more than just rewarding fish.
After the multiple releases of Reel Kingdom’s Big Bass Bonanza series, software developers have concluded that if you can’t beat them, you may as well join them. While not many slots have topped the Big Bass franchise, titles such as 4 Fantastic Fish and Fish ‘n’ Nudge have remained popular runner-ups, among others, but where will Fish and Bird take their place?
With a fixed RTP of 94% and a medium (6/10) volatility rating, Fish and Bird casts a wide net of rewarding opportunities, to the tune of 10,000x your bet – will you stick around as long as the Fisherman and reap the rewards? Let’s find out.
Base Game & Features
Fish and Bird is the latest fishing slot release from ELK Studios, consisting of 4 reels, 4 rows, and 256 ways to win. Wins occupy the reels when 3-4 matching symbols land on adjacent reels, starting from reel 1.
The highest-paying symbol falls to the Red Fish, which awards payouts of 1x and 2x your bet. The 7 remaining symbols, consisting of fish and jellyfish, award fixed payouts between 0.1x and 1.5x your bet, where applicable.
Additionally, each paytable symbol, excluding Wilds, can appear in sizes 1×1, 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4. Big symbols act as the number of position instances they cover on the reels. For example, a 2×2 symbol accounts for 4 instances, and so on.
Lastly, Wild symbols in the form of yellow fish can appear on all reels, substituting for all symbols except Scatters. When a Wild symbol appears on the reels, it can spread in two directions. Horizontal Wilds cover all positions on the row, whilst vertical Wilds cover the reel positions.
Collector
The Fisherman that appears above the main reel set acts as the Collector during game sessions, responsible for collecting Fish and/or Bird Prizes, as well as Scatters from above and below his current position.
Alternatively, the Super Collector is responsible for collecting Bird Prizes directly above it, as well as any Fish Prizes available across the reels. When a Fish Prize is collected, its displayed value is awarded, multiplied by the current Global Multiplier.
However, when a Bird Prize is captured from above the reels, its value is added to the current Global Multiplier. During the Bonus Game, whenever a Collector/Super Collector gathers a Fish Prize, an additional Free Spin is awarded, causing the Collector/Super Collector symbol to move one position to the left.
At the start of a new spin, the Global Multiplier is reset to its original state.
Diver
During a random spin, if a Fish Prize or Scatter symbol is available on the reels, without a Collector symbol present, there is a chance for a Diver to come into effect, dropping onto the reels and collecting Fish Prizes, Scatters, & Bird Prizes along its column.
X-iter
Players outside the UK jurisdiction can purchase a number of X-iter options as follows:
- Bonus Hunt: More than triples your chance of triggering the Free Spins mode for 2.5x your bet per spin
- Spreading Wild: Guarantees to award Spreading Wilds onto a reel for 10x your bet
- Big Fish: Guarantees to reveal big fish in the next drop for 25x your bet
- Bonus: Instantly triggers the Bonus Game for 50x your bet
- Super Bonus: Instantly triggers the Super Bonus Game for 250x your bet
All of the above X-iter options are subject to a theoretical RTP of 94%.
Fish and Bird has a max win potential of 10,000x your bet. If a single game round exceeds this, the current mode ends, and the player returns to the base game with the qualifying amount.
Fish and Bird Bonus Game
Triggering the Free Spins mode requires a Scatter symbol to be collected from the reels by a Fisherman Collect symbol.
Once active, a single Collector symbol is guaranteed to move across its reel, towards the leftmost position. Once out of sight, a new Collector symbol may surface, starting on the rightmost position of its respective reel. The session ends when a Collector symbol reaches the leftmost position and fails to reappear on the rightmost position.
The Super Bonus Game is activated when a Fisherman Collect symbol reels in a Super Scatter. During this mode, only Super Collector symbols can appear above the main reel set.
Our Honest Verdict
After finding ourselves at the centre of yet another Fishing slot release, we were intrigued to find ELK Studios behind the wheel of Fish and Bird. Although they’ve come pretty close in the past through their Oxygen sequel, ELK Studios have not once fed into the ongoing trend of Fishing slots…until now.
We’ve come to appreciate that any slot derived from the creators of the Nitropolis series is going to spark a certain amount of innovation and creativity. While Fish and Bird is not their best work to date, it does possess many of ELK’s staple features and characteristics that make it pretty special, and more importantly, it adapts with multiple differences to make it stand out from the bulk of Fishing slots.
Unlike the Big Bass Bonanza collection, Fish and Bird allows players the opportunity to reel in Cash Prizes from the get-go, rather than saving it for Free Spins. This game essentially skips the boring part of fishing, where you’re sitting in the middle of the sea for sometimes hours, waiting for something to bite. Albeit, the game is not too dissimilar to Big Time Gaming’s Golden Catch Megaways.
Another interesting detail here is that it’s not only Fish that are being pulled from their natural habitat. It seems that Elk Studios really does have a thing for Birds, whether that’s a good or bad thing, we’re not entirely sure, but this fascination has led to Pirots and Tropicool.
Fish and Bird is quite attractive thanks to its array of X-iter features, which have long since been a highlight of ELK Studios titles, but sadly, not all of the options are accessible to UK players. Without the use of X-iter features, Fish and Bird is a noticeably less appealing game, but no means a dead fish.
Strangely, the Super Bonus seems a lot more achievable when compared to previous ELK titles, which may or may not speak to the potential of this game. That being said, it’s nice sometimes when a Super Bonus isn’t borderline unobtainable.
All in all, Fish and Bird is another great instalment slot from ELK Studios. It’s slightly out of character and goes against the grain of their usual style; however, it has many interesting elements.
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
