Slots Like Fish ‘Em Up: A Reel-Five Collector Worth Chasing
Fish ‘Em Up comes from Snowborn Games and plays out across a 5×3 grid with 20 fixed paylines, distributed through the Microgaming platform now run under the Games Global banner. The headline RTP sits at 96.11%, though reduced 94.11%, 92.29% and 86.86% builds circulate too, so it pays to check which version your casino has loaded before you settle in. Catch Wins turn fish symbols into cash values that a fisherman collector on reel five sweeps up in one go, while a ‘1UP’ symbol grows the Catch Booster multiplier toward x10 and a gold-shell fish opens a three-respin Hold & Win board worth up to 5,000x stake. Stakes run from £0.20 a spin, with trackers listing a ceiling as high as £500 even though Snowborn’s own copy mentions a lower £50 cap elsewhere, and the game sits firmly in high volatility territory with a 27.16% hit frequency. Anyone hunting slots like Fish ‘Em Up should look for that same combination of a reel-five collector, a climbing feature multiplier and a proper hold-and-win finish, rather than just another fishing skin.
Where to Play
18+ only. T&Cs apply. Please gamble responsibly.
How the Game Works
Reviewed by Paul StonePublished: July 2026
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Snowborn built Fish ‘Em Up around a cheerful seaside cartoon rather than the moodier tone some fishing slots go for. The backdrop shifts between a sunny shoreline, a starry night sky and a golden sunset depending on which state the reels are in, and a chubby fisherman leans over the boat rail while lures, reels and playing-card royals fill out the paytable underwater. It launched in wide release on 30 May 2023, following what appears to be a brief exclusive rollout with a launch partner a little earlier, and the presentation still holds up as one of the tidier fishing themes on the market.
The pace leans toward patience. Base spins can run dry for a while between meaningful fish hits, and the real appeal only shows once the Catch Booster starts climbing or the boat scatters line up for Free Spins, so this isn’t a game built for players chasing constant small wins. High-volatility fans who enjoy watching a multiplier meter build across a session, rather than collecting frequent modest returns, will get more out of Fish ‘Em Up than someone after a gentle, low-variance grind.
Symbols and Paytable
Fish symbols carry cash values worth roughly 0.2x to 50x your stake depending on which type lands, and they’re the reason the fisherman collector on reel five matters so much: whenever he shows up, every fish value visible on the grid gets swept into a single Catch Win. Playing-card royals and fishing tackle, reels, floats and lures fill the lower end of the paytable, working the way standard low-pay symbols do across most five-reel Microgaming-distributed slots, while the wild substitutes for everything except the boat scatter and the Hold & Win trigger symbol.
Bonus Features Explained
Catch Wins
Every fish on the reels shows a printed cash value rather than paying out through a conventional line combination. Landing the fisherman collector symbol on reel five sweeps up whatever fish values are showing across the grid at that moment and adds the total straight to your win, which is what makes reel five worth watching even on spins that otherwise look quiet.
Catch Booster
A ‘1UP’ symbol is the trigger here. Each one that lands nudges an active multiplier up by one step, capped at x10, and that multiplier then applies to any Catch Wins collected while it’s active. The multiplier resets once you’re back in the base game, but it carries over and keeps climbing through Free Spins, which is where the biggest Catch Wins tend to land.
Free Spins
Three boat scatters landing on reels one, three and five open the Free Spins round, awarding 10 spins to start. Pushing the Catch Booster multiplier up to x4, x7 and x10 during the feature each adds five extra spins on top, so a hot run can stretch a long way past the initial ten. A Buy Feature is also listed by some trackers at around 70x stake for players who would rather skip straight to the free spins, though that figure comes from a single source and is worth double-checking in your own lobby before relying on it.
Hold & Win Bonus
A fish symbol landing with a gold or shell overlay triggers the Hold & Win board, dropping you onto an otherwise empty grid with three respins on the clock. Any new gold or shell fish that lands resets the respin count, and the round keeps going until either the grid fills completely or the respins run out. Prize tiers stack up from Mini at 30x stake and Midi at 100x, through Maxi at 500x, up to the Mega prize at 5,000x stake, which is also the game’s overall maximum win.
Pros and Cons
A quick look at what Fish ‘Em Up does well and where it falls short, based on its features, RTP, volatility and the state of the published information around it.
Pros
- Reel-five collector turns scattered fish values into one clean Catch Win
- Catch Booster multiplier carries into Free Spins instead of resetting
- Hold & Win board offers four genuine prize tiers up to a 5,000x Mega
- Cheerful, varied presentation across sunny, sunset and night-time states
- Low £0.20 minimum stake keeps the high-volatility swings accessible
Cons
- High volatility means long dry spells between meaningful fish hits
- Reduced RTP builds (94.11%, 92.29%, 86.86%) exist and some operators run them
- Bet-limit sources disagree, with Snowborn’s own copy citing £50 against trackers’ £500
- The 70x stake Buy Feature cost is not independently confirmed
- The base game outside of Catch Wins can feel thin between features
Game Screenshot
Demo Play
Most licensed casinos that carry Fish ‘Em Up let you load a free-play version first, using demo credit rather than real money. That is a sensible way to get a feel for how the Catch Booster climbs and how often the Hold & Win board turns up before staking anything, though demo balances don’t reflect what a real-money session or a specific bonus offer will do.
Expert Take
Fish ‘Em Up earns its keep through the reel-five collector rather than the base spins around it. Watching scattered fish values sweep into a single Catch Win, then watching that win get multiplied once the Catch Booster is running, gives the game a sense of build that a lot of fishing slots don’t bother with. It won’t suit anyone after steady, low-variance action, and the unresolved £50 versus £500 bet-limit question is a genuine rough edge in the public information around it, but as a high-volatility fishing title with a proper four-tier Hold & Win finish, it holds its own against bigger-name rivals.
Similar Slots to Try
Reel Kingdom swaps the reel-five collector for a wild diver and gives you a genuine choice between two separate bonus rounds.
The slot that made fishing themes mainstream keeps things simpler, with one free spins round and a lower 10-payline layout.
Push Gaming’s Arctic fishing title trades Catch Wins for Orca Collect and stretches the ceiling out to 10,000x stake.
About the Developer
Fish ‘Em Up comes from Snowborn Games, a studio founded in Stockholm in 2017 by Per Larsson, Björn Zethraeus and Anders Fredriksson, three founders with prior ties to established Nordic developers including NetEnt, and the company also runs a second office in Helsinki. QTech Games took a majority stake in Snowborn in 2018, and its games are distributed through the platform built by Microgaming, which became part of Games Global following the 2022 spin-off of Microgaming’s B2B business; that is a distribution relationship rather than confirmed outright ownership of the studio itself, so any claim that Games Global owns Snowborn outright should be treated with some caution. The Vault, also reviewed on SlotsLike, is another title carrying Snowborn’s fingerprints, credited there to platform partner Skillz Gaming, and it is a useful comparison point for anyone curious how the studio’s output looks outside the fishing theme.
Fish ‘Em Up Key Stats
Fish ‘Em Up slot information last reviewed: July 2026
| Fish ‘Em Up Slot Info | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fish ‘Em Up |
| Provider | Snowborn Games |
| Developer Rank | 1 out of 1 Snowborn Games slots reviewed on SlotsLike |
| RTP | 96.11% (94.11%, 92.29% and 86.86% reduced versions also circulate) |
| RTP Category | Medium-High |
| RTP Rank | 860 out of all games |
| Feature Description | Boat scatters trigger Free Spins carrying an escalating Catch Booster multiplier; a reel-five collector sweeps Catch Wins; gold-shell fish start a 3-respin Hold & Win board with a 5,000x Mega prize |
| Feature Categories | Hold & Win, Collector, Increasing Multiplier, Free Spins, Buy Feature |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 20 fixed |
| Volatility | High |
| Volatility Rank | 305 out of all games |
| Min Bet | £0.20 |
| Max Bet | £500 (some listings cite a £50 ceiling – confirm at your casino) |
| Max Win | 5,000x stake |
| Release Date | 30 May 2023 |
| Slotslike Rank | 615 out of all slots |
Slots with the Same Features
These games share Fish ‘Em Up’s hold-and-win backbone, even though each studio builds its own collector, character or expanding-reel twist around it.
Iron Dog’s dog-racing Hold & Win prints the same 5,000x Mega tier, triggered by six coins rather than a gold-shell fish.
A four-row farm layout swaps the fish collector for three character-led coin powers ahead of its own three-respin board.
PearFiction’s swamp slot trades hold-and-win respins for expanding 7,776-way reels and a taller 10,000x ceiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the Hold & Win bonus work in Fish ‘Em Up?
A fish symbol landing with a gold or shell overlay triggers the board, giving you three respins on an otherwise empty grid. Any new gold or shell fish resets the respin count, and the round ends once the grid fills or the respins run out, with prizes ranging from a 30x Mini up to a 5,000x Mega.
What is the RTP of Fish ‘Em Up?
Snowborn’s top-tier build returns 96.11%, though reduced 94.11%, 92.29% and 86.86% versions also exist and some operators run those instead. It is worth checking which configuration your casino has loaded before you play.
What is the maximum win on Fish ‘Em Up?
The ceiling is 5,000x your stake, paid out through the Mega tier of the Hold & Win bonus. That figure is confirmed consistently across the developer’s own materials and independent trackers.
How volatile is Fish ‘Em Up?
It is rated high volatility with a 27.16% hit frequency, so wins land less often than in a low-variance slot and the biggest payouts are concentrated in the Hold & Win and Free Spins features rather than the base game.
What are the best slots like Fish ‘Em Up?
Big Bass Mission Fishin’ is the closest match, with its own collector-style wild and a genuine choice of two bonus rounds. Big Bass Bonanza and Big Bite cover the same fishing theme with different feature structures if you want to compare the wider genre.
Can I play Fish ‘Em Up for free?
Most casinos that carry the game offer a demo version using play credit, which is a sensible way to see the Catch Booster and Hold & Win board in action before staking real money.
Who developed Fish ‘Em Up?
Snowborn Games built it, with distribution through the Microgaming platform now run under the Games Global banner. The wide release landed on 30 May 2023.
Our Verdict on Fish ‘Em Up
Fish ‘Em Up is a well-built high-volatility fishing slot that earns its place through the reel-five collector and a Catch Booster multiplier that actually carries weight into Free Spins. The four-tier Hold & Win finish gives it a proper endgame that a lot of fishing-themed competitors skip, even if the base game asks for patience and a couple of published figures, the bet-limit ceiling especially, still need tidying up by Snowborn or its operators. For players who enjoy watching a multiplier build across a session rather than chasing frequent small wins, it’s a solid high-volatility pick within its genre.
SlotsLike rating: 7.5/10