Crab Trap Overview
NetEnt has released a new online slot game called Crab Trap. And just like the name implies, it uses a crab theme. Crab fishing to be exact.
The reels are set inside a sort of fishing hut with a big fish hanging on the side and the ocean in the background with a classic lighthouse. It’s all very colorful.
The game uses 6 reels that are each 4 symbols high. And instead of paylines, it uses scatter pays. So a minimum of 5, 6 or 7 of the same symbols, anywhere on screen, count as a winning combination. Depending on the payout of the symbol.
Besides standard card symbols, you will also find all sorts of other related symbols like a bucker, starfish and boot. There are also crabs on this game, but more on those later, because these aren’t normal paying symbols. Lastly there are no wild symbols, but there are scatter symbols and also blue and red boat symbols on all reels.
Crab Trap comes with a pretty low maximum payout of 1.191 times your bet. And it’s a medium volatile slot game.
Crab Trap Features
Respin Bonus
The game features blue and red boats that can appear on any base spin and also during free spins.
When a blue boat symbol appears, it will put a frame trap around it’s own position and then create between 1 and 5 more frames on other random positions on the reels.
When a red boat symbol appears and there are at least 5 frames active on the reels, a respin bonus is triggered.
Crab symbols can land anywhere on the reels and can be 1×1, 2×2 or 3×3 in size. 1×1 crab symbols have a value of x1, x2, x5 or x10. 2×2 crab symbols have a value of x10, x20, x50 or x100. And 3×3 crab symbols have a value of x100, x200, x500 or x1.000.
During the respins, when a a crab symbol lands on a position with a frame trap it will be locked in place and respins keep going until no more new crabs land. 2×2 and 3×3 crab symbols will also lock, even if the total crab is not trapped by a frame.
After all respins are done, all crabs in a trap will pay their associated reward. But if a 2×2 or 3×3 crab isn’t completely trapped, it will split up into 1×1 crabs and only award those options. You are only awarded the 2×2 or 3×3 crabs when you completely trap it within a frame.
After respins are over and you are paid your rewards, all frames with a caught crab are removed from the reels and the game continues as normal.
Free Spins Feature
3, 4, 5 or 6 or more scatters will award 5, 7, 10 and 15 free spins respectively.
All scatter symbols that appear during free spins are collected above the reels and each time you collected 3 of them, you are awarded with 1 extra spin.
The Respin Bonus is also still active during free spins, with the only difference that frame traps are not removed after a respin bonus.
Bonus Buy
Some casinos will offer the option to buy 6 free spins for 50 times bet.
Verdict
It’s a pretty long explanation for a pretty simple game. When you play for a short while it instantly becomes clear how it all works. It seems more difficult than it is.
At first I thought that even the big crabs would pay, even if not totally in a frame, but sadly that’s not the case.
For me, Crab Trap, is a fun and very colorful game. But also a game that I don’t think I will be playing 2 or 3 months from now.
The game is fine and looks amazing. But it has such a low maximum payout, that’s it’s just not that interesting. If a little over 1.000 times bet is the maximum, how many really big wins can you expect on this game?
I think more casual slot players might enjoy this game some more. It is medium volatile and features do seem to trigger quite often.
Of course Crab Trap is now available at all NetEnt casinos listed anywhere on this website.
