The premise in Fishing with Buddies could prove to be very exciting, as it allows you to play in multiplayer mode, against other real players that are using the same slot machine. You get to enter a competition of sorts, where your luck is pitted against that of your friends or of complete strangers. You pick your avatar, a bear that is fishing, and you enter the game, which allows you to see how the competitors are doing as well. The fishing theme alone can be fun if approached correctly, but the part about playing with other real humans makes it even better.
You get 5 reels and a total of 20 lines in Fishing with Buddies. Created by the developers from Playtech, the game has the multiplayer mode as one of its biggest advantages, plus the scatter symbol, wilds and its payouts that can go up to $250.
Features of Fishing with Buddies
The multiplayer mode is one of the main attractions, but there are also bonus games inside, plus wilds and scatter symbols.
The multiplayer mode gives you the option to play against up to four other players, all of you using you own bear characters, with a different color for the jacket. They all fish together in the special area that is on top of the reels. You can see how much the others have made by looking on both sides of your own reels.
The features tend to be a bit more basic, true both about the wild and the scatter. Both will do their job, but they don’t trigger free spins or multipliers. The wild will replace all the symbols, with the usual exception of the scatter symbol, plus it will give away payouts of up to 5,000x. These are both regular roles for the wild, but I like to see them do something extra, like appear in stacked or expanded modes, neither option offered in this case.
The second feature is quite generous as well, with 500x the bet being won with the scatter symbol’s help. The presence of the scatter symbol in at least three positions gets you a prize, without them being required to be on the same payline.
Fish a Crab Feature
Triggered at random, this feature is started when a crab shows up directly underneath the bear character that you selected. If that happens, the bear fisherman pulls the crab out and gets you a prize of 5x the bet.
Fishing with Buddies Feature
This feature is actually part of the multiplayer game. You don’t trigger it by getting certain symbols. Instead, you play as quickly as possible, spinning the reels without taking long pauses, which will result in your line going deeper into the water. You can see your progress and that of your competitors by looking at the bonus game area. Stopping your spins will result in the line coming up instead of down. If it goes all the way up, your bear falls asleep and you no longer qualify when the bonus round is triggered by someone.
If you do take part in the bonus game, you will see that fish begin swimming in the water, the lure of the bears catching them if it’s at the same level as them. Up to three goldfish will be part of the school of fish. If at least one of them is caught by a player, a second level is triggered, where the goldfish is released and that bear gets an additional prize.
Betting options and jackpots
It’s one of the cheapest games you can play these days, even when you max out the bet. You don’t have too many betting options to work with though, as the line bets have a very narrow range, between $0.01 and $0.05. The bets in the game will only go from $0.01 to $1.
You do get a lot of coins when you win the jackpot, but their value is only $50 to $250. In coins, you get a total of 5,000 for the 1 you use in your line bet.
Design and symbols
The multiplayer mode that is available here led to some interesting decisions regarding the slot’s design. The reels take the lower half of the middle of the screen, while the top is occupied by the bonus game area, with the five bear characters fishing in a pond. The left area has the logo and info on two of the competing players, while the right area has the other two players and the chat window. The design is well made, with cute bears as the main characters and with the rest of the symbols also being easy to enjoy.
Symbols: Coral (wild, 5,000 coins), Crab (scatter), Logo (scatter, 500x the bet), Bear (1,500 coins), Fishing Bucket (500 coins), Fishing Bobber (500 coins), Ace (150 coins), King (150 coins), Queen (100 coins), Jack (100 coins), 10 (75 coins), 9 (75 coins) and 8 (75 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
The game should be a lot of fun, especially since it adds the multiplayer element and the competition which so many need, so that they can truly enjoy a game. It might be disappointing with the prizes it offers, but that’s only because it’s one of the cheapest slots you can play.
This Fishing with Buddies slot is offered by all online casinos with Playtech software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
