Who actually pays out the fish values in Bass Hunter?
Only the Fisherman. When he lands, he collects every fish value on screen and adds it to the win. The Hunter, a pike that can appear when fish are showing and no Fisherman is, banks those values and starts respins, but the bank is paid only if a Fisherman lands before the respins stop. In the base game of our 750 paid spins the Hunter banked fish 6 times; 3 sequences ended with a Fisherman and paid, while the other three banked 18x, 77x and 73x and paid none of it.
Cash Fish, Jackpot Fish and a lure marked with question marks
Cash Fish carry one of seven values, from 2x up to 25x the bet. Gold bass with a name tag are Jackpot Fish: Mini at 50x, Minor at 100x, Major at 250x and Grand at 1,000x, the four amounts printed under the reels. A gold lure tagged "???" is the Mystery Fish, which turns into a cash or jackpot value only when a Hunter or a Fisherman is present.
Fish were everywhere in our log. A value showed on the first screen of 457 of our 750 paid spins, and Jackpot Fish on 40, 41 of them in all: 32 Minis, 6 Minors, 1 Major and 2 Grands. On their own the values paid nothing, because a fish value becomes money only when it is collected.
The Fisherman takes every value on screen, or finds nothing
The Fisherman, a bearded angler in a green bucket hat, collects all visible fish values, revealed Mystery Fish included, and adds them to the win. He doubles as a wild for everything but the Scatter, and in the Bonus Game his catch is multiplied by the meter.
He was much rarer than the fish. A Fisherman reached the first screen of 33 paid spins, and 18 times there was nothing to collect. Counting three that landed during respins, base-game Fishermen collected 18 times for €97.00, against €127.50 from ordinary line wins.
Our best base spin, number 269, needed both characters. Two 2x fish and a Mystery Fish were showing when a Hunter appeared; the Mystery Fish became 3x, the Hunter banked 7x, and on the respin a Fisherman landed on reel 5 beside a 15x fish and collected 2 + 7 + 15 + 2: 26x the bet.
A pike that banks the catch but cannot cash it
The Hunter Respin Feature starts when a Hunter, a pike with open jaws, appears while fish are showing and no Fisherman is. It banks every visible value and the reels respin, Scatters staying in place and line wins paying as usual. New fish add to the bank and keep the respins going; a respin without new fish ends the feature, and a Fisherman ends it by collecting the bank plus whatever fish are on screen.
That last clause decides everything. Of our 6 base-game sequences, 9 respins in all, 3 met a Fisherman. The other three ran out of new fish with 18x, 77x and 73x in the bank, two of them holding a 50x Mini, and their spins paid only the line wins beside them. In the natural free spins one Hunter sequence in four was collected, and the biggest bank of the session, 167x with a 100x Minor inside, came to nothing.
A meter for Fishermen, and free spins that paid most of our 750 spins
A bass leaping from an orange disc is the Scatter, and three, four or five of them open the Bonus Game: 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Fishermen there are counted on a meter under the reels: every fourth moves it a step, to x2, x3 and x5, multiplying later collections and adding 5 free spins each time.
On the demo server, 750 spins at €1.00 cost €750.00 and brought back €538.50: 71.8%, where the rules print 94.14%. A single short session cannot confirm or contradict that figure.
- 750paid spins at €1.00 in the demo
- 71.8%of the stakes paid back
- 137xbest round, free spins included
- 3free spins rounds triggered
Wins landed on 12.5% of spins, the median was 1x, and one dry run lasted 45 spins. All 3 Bonus Games came from three Scatters, and their 45 free spins paid €314.00, more than the €224.50 of the whole base game; 9 Fisherman collections brought €272.00 of it.
The first round, on spin 24, set the high point at €5,042.50, one Fisherman collecting eight fish worth 57x. The low of €4,715.00 came on spin 506, just before the longest round, which climbed to x5 with 12 Fishermen yet collected only €8.00 at x2, €9.00 at x3 and nothing at x5. Our best, from spin 614, lost a 167x bank on its first free spin and still made 137x, mostly from two later Fishermen, the last of them collecting a 50x Mini.
Two cards on the buy menu, an RTP printed two ways, and a verdict
The buy menu holds two cards, which it calls Bonus Game, at 80.00 on a 1.00 bet, and Hunter Spins (Hunter Respin Feature), at 250.00; the demo server prices them at 80x and 250x the stake.
Both control purchases of the Bonus Game came back below their price: €29.50 from 10 free spins and €60.50 from 20. In the second the meter reached x3, and a Hunter banked 316x, a 250x Major among the fish, before the respins ran dry with no Fisherman. We filmed a third purchase.
Recorded in its own demo session at the same stake, the round returned €27.00 for €80.00. Its free spin 7 paid €12.50, and the Hunter's €154.00 never reached the payout.
| Option | Price | At €1.00 | RTP of the buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Game | 80x | €80.00 | 94.30% |
| Hunter Spins (Hunter Respin Feature) | 250x | €250.00 | 94.50% |
The rules print the return as 94,14% and the demo server reports the same, while Thunderkick's game page gives 94.19%. The demo runs the version in its rules; casinos may offer another, and some markets turn the buy off. The BET+ toggle was off on every frame we took; the demo server gives it three modes, costing 1.5x, 3x or 10x per spin.
Only one game reviewed here lists a lower figure, Alice: Time Rift, which shares the 10 lines, the 5x3 grid and a respin feature, though its respins lock line wins rather than fish. Bass Hunter is one of 4 games here rated medium, and the only one built around collecting values.
Players who like watching a screen fill with numbers and waiting for the one symbol that cashes them will enjoy it. The price is a base game that pays on one spin in eight and a Hunter whose biggest banks may never be paid.
Alice: Time Rift demo review
3 Wildos demo review
Tutan Kha-boom demo reviewThe angler's questions, answered from the server's replies
Four points the rules state briefly, checked against what the demo server sent back.
Is a Jackpot Fish paid if no Fisherman turns up?
No. Jackpot Fish pay when collected, and only a Fisherman collects. In our base game they showed on 40 spins without paying once, and twice a Hunter banked a 50x Mini before the respins ended with no Fisherman. Our one jackpot came on the last free spin of round 614: a Mini inside a €77.00 collection.
What else does the Fisherman do besides collecting?
He is also the wild: the rules let him substitute for all symbols but the Scatter. In the Bonus Game he moves the meter whether or not there is anything to collect; in round 507 of our log 12 Fishermen landed and only 5 found fish.
Why did the Mystery Fish stay hidden so often?
It shows its value only when a Hunter or a Fisherman is on screen. A Mystery Fish sat on 59 of our first screens, and in the base game it turned over just 3 times, each time beside a Hunter, as 4x, 3x and 3x.
How quickly does the Fisherman meter fill in the free spins?
Slowly. Every fourth Fisherman moves it a step, to x2, x3 and then x5, each with 5 more free spins. Two of our three natural rounds saw two Fishermen and stayed at x1; round 507 reached x5 on its twentieth free spin, after its last collection.