Treasure Trawler Slot Review

The Treasure Trawler Slot Game

Seagulls chirping above the splashing waves, heaps of fortune-filled boxes, and buckets of digital fish help Treasure Trawler step out of the standard fish-catching theme. 

At its core, it’s a video slot with dozens of special features, and a breath of fresh sea air in this debatably oversaturated niche. 

Pragmatic already made ripples in this space with its Big Bass series, and I’m glad their well of innovation hasn’t dried up just yet. We’re seeing the good old “Money” symbols, but instead of rods, dynamites, and fishermen, “Collectors” come with a fresh batch of unique mechanisms. 

Symbols and Payouts

In Treasure Trawler, you’ll be drawing four minor and four major paying symbols, as well as Wilds, Bonus Anchors, Money symbols (treasure chests), and five unique Collectors. I’ll dive deep into the latter in a second, so here’s a breakdown of standard payouts at $1 wagers:

• J and Q pay $0.25, $0.75, and $2.50 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind
• K and A pay $0.25, $1, and $2.50 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind
• Fishing rods pay $0.50, $1.25, and $3.75 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind
• Anchors pay $0.50, $1.50, and $5 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind
• Right-facing fish pay $0.50, $2.50, and $6.25 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind
• Left-facing fish pay $1.25, $3.75, and $12.50 for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind

Treasure Trawler Bonus Features

From Wilds and Anchored Scatters to Collector Boats, plenty of unique bonus symbols will wash up ashore as you play Treasure Trawler. In the following sections, I’ll describe how each of them works except for Wilds - they’re the usual substitutes for all non-bonus symbols. 

Free Spins

If you’re lucky to draw 3 Bonus Anchors, you’ll receive 8 free spins with a unique progressive feature. 

Every fourth Collector Boat drawn during this time will retrigger free spins and raise the global multiplier to x2, then x3, and finally x5 after which you won’t get any gratis respins. 

There’s a small catch, though - Bonus Anchors can only appear on the second, third, and fourth reels.

Money & Collector Symbols

Treasure Chests can wash up in the base game and during free spins, assuming a random prize value ranging from 1-100x of your current bet. As generous as they are, you won’t be able to cash their rewards in until one of the five collector boats appears. 

Collectors “collect” all values from present Treasure Chests into your wallet, but they also bring game-changing elements to the table. You can tell them apart by the color of the symbol’s background, so let me explain how they work:

• Standard Collector (Orange): the basic version only collects money from Treasure Chests. 
• Extra Credit Collector (Blue): before collecting the cash from money symbols, it will increase the prize value of each by its own value. 
• Multiplier Collector (Purple): carries a multiplier value instead of an instant prize, adding it to all Treasure Chests, and sums all values before cashing in. 
• Expanding Collector (Red): the “jackpot” of collectors, it will fill entire columns where at least one Treasure Chest is present. Freshly spawned chests will take a random prize value as if they were normally drawn. 
• Respin Collector (Green): it will make all Collector Boats and Treasure Chests sticky, trigger a single respin on all other positions, and then collect the cash. 

How to Win at Treasure Trawler Slot

Treasure Trawler features 5 reels, 3 rows, and 20 paylines. You win when at least three paying symbols can be traced along one of the win lines, which are fixed and always active. 

One of the biggest misconceptions players unfamiliar with Pragmatic’s fish games have is that Treasure Chests payout on their own (the cash prize text glaring at you “does” make this believable, though). Sadly, the only way to claim these fortunes is by drawing at least one collector boat. 

The fastest way to stack up huge wins is by drawing three scatter symbols. Not only do you get 8 free spins, but you’ll also get a progressively-increasing global multiplier to apply to all wins. 

Even on bad days, Treasure Trawler pays well, but at the best of times, it can give you up to 5,000x of your bet; the largest wager you can place is $100, meaning that you have a chance of scoring up to $500,000 with each spin. 

Treasure Trawler Slot RTP & Volatility

Pragmatic’s RNG testing determined that Treasure Trawler’s return-to-player is an impressive 96.54%. 

Even though you’ll see Treasure Chests more often than you’d like, the volatility of this game is, according to the game’s creator, a humble 3 out of 5. 

The Final Thoughts

As someone who’s been vigorously playing Big Bass games for the longest time, I had no trouble jumping into Treasure Trawler’s quirky bonus functions. However, I imagine the learning curve would be steep for a beginner, but that and the lack of the Bonus Buy feature are the only gripes I have with this slot. 

Its RTP is excellent, just like its far-stretching wagering range and the overall ambient. The 3x5 playing grid and simple categorization of paying symbols are also great, so even if I were a casual player, I’d play Treasure Trawler for real money.