Fishin’ Frenzy: The Big Splash Slot Review
Frankie the fisherman has found the perfect spot full of even more valuable fish, and it’s here at Blueprint Gaming’s latest release, Fishin’ Frenzy The Big Splash!
Blueprint Gaming’s Fishin’ Frenzy series has quite a reputation and can be considered the very best Fishing-themed slots on the market. With Frankie, the very experienced fisherman, in your corner once again, there’s no telling what kind of riches you will walk away with.
Frankie the fisherman has some new tricks up his sleeve when it comes to reeling in the biggest and most valuable fish in the sea, with an exciting Pick a Fish feature that upgrades the Free Spins round in ways you can’t imagine.
Will Fishin’ Frenzy: The Big Splash be the positive change the series needed? Let’s play on and find out!
Base Game and Features
Fishin’ Frenzy: The Big Splash is a 5-reel slot with 10 fixed pay lines. Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols (or 2 or more of the highest-paying symbol) land from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The minimum bet available here is £.€0.10 per spin and the maximum bet available is £.€20 per spin, with plenty of other options in between the two. This game has a theoretical RTP of 95.00% and a max win cap of 4,000x.
In terms of symbols, the highest-paying regular symbol here is the Pelican, followed by the Fishing Rod, Life Ring, Tacklebox, and any 3 Fish symbols. Low-paying symbols are standard Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten. Wilds appear only in Free Spins, substituting for all High and Low-paying symbols.
Fishin’ Frenzy titles have been known for their lack of features in the base game, and the same applies here. Although there are no features, the Free Spins round, as seen in previous titles, quickly makes up for this with an exciting Pick a Fish feature and Fisherman Trail. More on this below!
Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, or 5 Scatters across the reels triggers the Free Spins round, awarding 10, 15, and 20 Free Spins, respectively.
Before the Free Spins round can begin, you will be met with a Pick a Fish feature. Pick 1 Fish to activate one of the following Upgrades.
- Tacklebox – Triggers a Cash Tag on the Tacklebox symbol, which will be collected by the Fisherman symbol.
- Life Ring – Triggers a Cash Tag on the Life Ring symbol, which will be collected by the Fisherman symbol.
- Fishing Rod – Triggers a Cash Tag on the Fishing Rod symbol, which will be collected by the Fisherman symbol.
- Pelican – Triggers a Cash Tag on the Pelican symbols, which will be collected by the Fisherman symbol.
- + Fish – Extra Fish symbols are added to the reels.
- + Fisherman – Extra Fisherman symbols are added to the reels.
- + Collect – All Cash values will be collected multiple times.
- Respin – All non-Cash and Fisherman symbols will respin. The reels will continue to spin until the win is longer improved.
- + Games – Awards additional Free Spins.
During Free Spins, each time a Fisherman symbol lands in view, it will collect all Cash values from any present Fish symbols. In addition to this, each Fisherman symbol will be collected and stored on a special Fisherman Trail above the reel set.
Collecting so many Fisherman symbols will increase your position on the Fisherman Trail by +1, awarding additional Free Spins and Upgrades.
- 2 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +1 Upgrade from the Pick a Fish feature.
- 4 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +10 Free Spins and a x2 Multiplier for any Cash values the Fisherman symbol collects.
- 6 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +1 Upgrade from the Pick a Fish feature.
- 8 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +10 Free Spins and a x3 Multiplier for any Cash values the Fisherman symbol collects.
- 10 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +1 Upgrade from the Pick a Fish feature.
- 12 Fisherman Symbols – Awards +10 Free Spins and a x10 Multiplier for any Cash values the Fisherman symbol collects.
Bonus Buy
Those outside the UK will benefit from a Bonus Buy option. Blueprint Gaming has granted players access to the Free Spins round for a total cost of 100x your current bet. (RTP 95.00%)
Our Verdict
The Fishin’ Frenzy series is probably the longest-standing Fishing series in the existence of slots and one that has grown increasingly popular since the first Fishin’ Frenzy slot was released all that time ago.
Fishin’ Frenzy slots have come in all forms, shapes, and sizes in the past, we’ve seen a Megaways version, Big Catch, Even Bigger Catch, and Power 4 Slots, just to name a few, and it’s always interesting to see where Blueprint Gaming will take Frankie the fisherman in the next release, but is it time to put the series to bed?
Fishing-themed slots are quite high on the list of most common themes, right next to Egyptians and the Wild West, and you would have to be quite the fishing fanatic or just a lover of the series to keep spending your hard-earned money on them.
The base game in Fishin’ Frenzy The Big Splash is still as dry as a desert, but the Free Spins round has a little something extra going on in the form of a Pick a Fish feature.
Giving your Free Spins round a boost in the form of an Upgrade will definitely score points with players, and collecting enough Fisherman symbols to gain more retriggers, Multipliers, and Picks is a nice touch, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before in one of the many Big Bass Bonanza titles. The real question is which provider did it better?
What would have really complemented Fishin’ Frenzy The Big Splash all the more is an impressive max win cap, but Blueprint Gaming has capped this at 4,000x. The max win cap is pretty standard when compared to the competition, but a much higher max win cap would have given this game more of an edge.
