Fishin’ and Crabbin’

Fishin’ and Crabbin’ Slot Review

Sunlight ripples down through a tropical shallow, and two cheerful locals hover above the reels to greet you: a grinning green-and-blue fish blowing bubbles and a beaming red crab waving its claws. Fishin’ and Crabbin’ is Iron Dog Studio‘s cartoon take on the fishing theme, and it’s a brighter, sillier one than most. The game runs on a 5×4 grid with 10 winlines paying left to right, at 95.03% RTP, inside a bamboo frame with brass corners and a slack rope looped along the bottom rail.

What makes it worth a look is the split personality in its bonus pot. There’s one round for fish and one for crabs, each running on the same hold-and-win rules, and a pair of 50x buys to reach either on demand.

Base Game & Features

The reels carry card symbols from ace down to jack alongside the fish and crab symbols, and wins form on 10 fixed winlines running left to right. It’s a straightforward layout with no hidden mechanics in the base spin. What gives the game its character is how the fish and crab symbols are treated, because they don’t behave like ordinary picture symbols.

Wild Symbols

Wilds can appear on all five reels and substitute for every non-special symbol. If a run of wilds is broken by a special symbol, the win is paid according to the paytable for the combination that actually landed. A wild can’t stand in for the pots, so the bonus can’t be triggered second-hand through a substitute.

Mixed Fish and Crab Combinations

The fish and crab symbols each come in three weights, and the weights mix freely:

• Any combination of single, double or triple fish symbols counts as a three-of-a-kind win
• Any combination of single, double or triple crab symbols counts as a three-of-a-kind win
• A mixed fish combination pays at the value of the lowest-value fish in the mix
• A mixed crab combination pays at the value of the lowest-value crab in the mix

That’s the whole trick of the base game, and it’s a neat one. The stacked variants mean the fish and crab symbols can team up with themselves rather than needing exact matches. A line of a triple and a single still pays something.

The lower-value rule matters more than it first appears. Because a mixed combination always settles at the cheapest symbol included, a line stacked with triples doesn’t pay triple money unless every fish in it is a triple.

The same weighting follows you into the bonus round, where upgrading a position from single to triple is the whole point of landing on top of your own symbols. In the base game that weighting is a limitation. In the round that pays best, it’s the goal.

Fishin’ and Crabbin’ Bonus Features

The main event is a hold-and-win round, and it arrives in two flavours. The Fish or Crab Pot symbols shower their contents onto the board to trigger it, and whichever pot lands decides which flavour you get. Only the matching symbol type appears during the round:

• Crab Pot: showers single, double and triple crab symbols onto the board
• Fish Pot: showers single, double and triple fish symbols onto the board

The round starts with three respins, and every feature symbol that lands sticks in place for the rest of the round. Land a new one and the respin counter resets to three. Nothing lands, and the counter ticks down by one.

When a matching symbol lands on a position that’s already occupied, it upgrades to the next level: single becomes double, double becomes triple, and triple is the ceiling. A board position can therefore climb twice in a single round, and the most efficient path to a full-value grid runs through repeated hits on the same spot.

The round ends in one of two ways: the counter reaches zero, or the board fills completely with max-level symbols. At that point every combination on the board pays out according to the paytable, so a grid full of triples is the ceiling the round is built around.

Bonus Buy

Both versions of the round can be bought directly from the side menu:

• Fishin’ round, fish symbols only: 50x stake
• Crabbin’ round, crab symbols only: 50x stake

Changing your stake in the buy menu changes the price with it, so the 50x figure holds at any stake level. The multipliers shown in the paytable apply to the base stake rather than the amount paid, which is worth remembering when reading the bigger numbers on screen.

Operators can also cap the maximum cost of a buy, so the ceiling may differ from one casino to another. Neither buy carries a premium over the other, which leaves the choice purely between fish and crabs. Both rounds run on identical rules with different symbol sets, so the pick is cosmetic rather than strategic.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7/10

Fishin’ and Crabbin’ is a cheerful, undemanding slot that does one thing properly. The mixed-symbol rule gives the base game more texture than a plain 10-line grid usually has, because every fish and crab on the reels is potentially part of a paying combination rather than dead weight on a mismatched line.

The bonus round is the obvious draw, and the upgrade mechanic is what makes it tick: filling the board isn’t just about coverage, it’s about stacking the same positions to triple level and watching the value climb. Its biggest weakness is what it doesn’t tell you. There’s no maximum win figure for this one, which leaves the round’s ceiling to imagination rather than arithmetic, and the 95.03% RTP sits below the current average too.

It suits players who enjoy hold-and-win rounds and don’t need a five-figure ceiling advertised to enjoy chasing one. The fish and the crab make pleasant company, the upgrades give the respins a genuine sense of progress, and sometimes that’s the whole catch.

Fishin’ and Crabbin’ FAQs

• What is the RTP of Fishin’ and Crabbin’?

  The RTP is 95.03%. This is the total expected return, so it’s the figure to compare against other slots when weighing the game up.
• How many paylines does Fishin’ and Crabbin’ have?

  The game has 10 winlines that run from left to right across the reels.
• What is the grid size of Fishin’ and Crabbin’?

  Fishin’ and Crabbin’ plays on a 5×4 grid, giving five reels and four rows.
• How does the Hold & Win feature trigger?

  The feature triggers when the Fish or Crab Pot symbols shower symbols onto the board. The Crab Pot leads to a crab-only round and the Fish Pot to a fish-only round, each starting with three respins.
• What happens when matching symbols land on the same position in the bonus?

  Matching symbols landing on an occupied position upgrade to the next level: single becomes double, double becomes triple. Triple is the maximum, and the feature ends when respins run out or the board fills with max-level symbols.
• Can you buy the bonus on Fishin’ and Crabbin’?

  Yes. The Bonus Buy menu offers the Fishin’ Hold & Win feature and the Crabbin’ Hold & Win feature, each costing 50x stake. The price scales with your stake, and operators can configure the maximum cost.
• When is Fishin’ and Crabbin’ released?

  Fishin’ and Crabbin’s release date is 16 September 2026.
• Who makes Fishin’ and Crabbin’?

  Fishin’ and Crabbin’ is made by Iron Dog Studio.