Golden Catch Megaways

Golden Catch Megaways Overview

Sail out into the open seas to find the catch of your life in this new game from Big Time Gaming. That's right; this designer is back with another fishing-themed game. However, Golden catch Megaways promises more than the typical angling trip. Mechanically, this is a six-reel game with as many as 117,649 ways to win. Golden catch Megaways comes with an RTP of 96.53% and a maximum win of 31,430x the stake. You can play this game on mobile, tablet, or desktop.

There are five features overall for this game. These start with the reaction bonus. This feature is triggered every time that a win is triggered. When it is, all winning symbols are removed from the reels and replaced by a new set. One golden fish will also fall when you trigger a reaction. This could be picked up by a boat with an attached multiplier, scoring you a big win. This is what is known as the Golden fish feature. Finally, this game also has a free spins game, a win exchange feature, and a bonus buy option. All features will be explained in more detail later on in the review.

Theme and Symbols

Golden catch Megaways, as you had probably noticed, has a fishing/ marine feature. According to multiple sources, the bay that is portrayed in this game is Whitby, located in Yorkshire, England. This is no coincidence, as the CEO of Big Time Gaming – the producer of this game, grew up there. If you look to the top left-hand side of the screen, you'll see a headland, sat on top of which is Whitby Abbey, a set of gothic ruins that dates back as far as the 13th century. Closer to the sea's edge is the famous striped lighthouse.

The background, as mentioned, is the British waters of Whitby Bay, an iconic place in British maritime history. The environment consists mainly of the sea, which it has to be said isn't exactly teeming with life. However, there is a shipwreck sunken on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. This is not an uncommon sight along this part of the coast, as there are many shipwrecks to be found from across the ages. This is thanks mostly to the jagged coastline and the notoriously changeable weather.
The playing board for this game is a set of translucent bubbles sitting in a Megaways formation.

The symbols for this game are split into low-paying, high-paying, and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A in playing card royals. The most valuable of these is the A which pays out at 0.5x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the more valuable icons are the various fishing lures in green, blue, red, and purple. The purple one is the most valuable, worth 50x the stake for the top combination. The specials finally include the golden anchor wild, the bronze, silver, and gold catch fish. In addition, there are the blue, green, red, and golden boats and the golden catch coin scatter. The function of these will all be explained in the feature section.

Game Play

Golden catch Megaways is played on a 6-reel Megaways board. This means that the number of symbols per reel changes with every spin between two and seven. The more symbols that fall onto the reels, the more available pay lines there are. The maximum that can be available is 117,649.

To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.

The betting range for Golden catch Megaways is 20p to £15 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the high range. The return to player percentage for Golden catch Megaways is 96.53%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 31,430x your stake.

Features

The first feature in this game is the reactions feature. This is triggered every time that a player finds a win. The winning symbols are then removed from the reels and replaced by a fresh set from above. This gives players more chances of winning from the same spin. The dynamic will only stop when a new set of symbols does not form a win. When the new set falls in, one of these symbols will be a catch fish in either bronze, silver or gold. This is important for the next feature.
The next bonus is the gold fish feature. This is triggered when a catch fish is on the reels (courtesy of the reactions feature) when one or more boats appear above the reels set. The catch fish is then collected by the boat or boats (paying out once per boat). These catch prizes range up to 500x the stake. These boats can also come with a multiplier that boosts the catch fish win size.
Next is the free spins game. This is triggered when players land three or more of the golden catch coin scatters on the reels simultaneously.

You get ten free spins for three scatters and then an extra two for every scatter landed over that threshold. The likelihood of boats appearing increases during the free spins, helping you to in more catch fish prizes. Boats also increase their multiplier values as the feature progresses. You can top up your free spins by landing more sets of three scatters on the reels.
The win exchange feature is the penultimate bonus in this game. This is triggered when you land 100x the stake or more. At this point, the game will give you the option of either keeping your win or trading more than your win's worth for access to the free spins round. However, if you land between 25x and 100x your win, you can gamble to win access to free spins in a wheel spin game with red and green segments. Land on the green, and you'll enter the feature; land on red, though and your win and access to the feature will be lost.

Finally, this game also offers a bonus buy feature that allows you to purchase entry to the free spins game. However, this is not available in the UK.

Conclusion

Almost as fun as walking on Whitby beach with ice cream, this game promises a lot of exciting gaming experiences. The catch fish element is probably the most rewarding, with actual boats coming to collect them. Win potential wise, all statistics look favourable apart from the volatility, which is rated at very high, meaning features are difficult to predict. All in all, though, Golden catch Megaways has plenty to offer.