Phat Cats Megaways

Phat Cats Megaways: Slot Overview

After being impressed by the previous Kalamba Games Megaways release Machina Reloaded Megaways, there were positive expectations going into the studio's fourth use of BTG's popular machine. Phat Cats Megaways, as it's been dubbed, could not be further from the previous slot, trading in robots for cats, hence the name. These cats aren't just regular sleeping-on-your-lap kind of moggies, though. The felines in Phat Cats Megaways are busy doing business in an online slot featuring nudging mystery symbols, lock & upgrade symbols, coin symbols, free spins, and a bonus buy.

The kitties in Phat Cats Megaways don't just want to make deals; they want to do them in style. At least, that's what the bass-heavy funk track would suggest when Phat Cats Megaways hits the screen. For your eyes, the game is located in a big boss' office, where piles of cold hard cash, casino chips, a city view, liquor bottles and a burning stogie help set the scene. There's an old-school landline phone on one side; yes, phones used to be connected to the wall, while the rest of the décor is pure cashed-up big boss. Quite what line of business these kitties are in is not explicitly stated. It would appear to be gambling-related, but players are free to indulge in whatever fantasy tickles their fancy within that sort of framework.

When you're ready to roll with the big boys or girls, as such, selecting a bet comes first, where the options range from 20 p/c to $/€50 per spin. A highly volatile game, Phat Cats Megaways produces a return to player value of 96.22%, or 96.34% when buying the bonus. The gaming is held on a Megaways-driven grid with 6 vertically spinning reels holding up to 7 symbols each, plus a 4-symbol horizontally bonus reel. Being a Megaways slot utilizing dynamic reels, ways to win vary, topping out at 200,704 at full capacity.

Winning combinations are made up of 3-6 matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from the leftmost side. One exception is the big boss symbol which pays out for two-of-a-kind hits. For low pay symbols, players are furnished with 10-A card ranks as the low pays and five cat character symbols as the highs. When six-of-a-kind winning ways hit, they pay 0.2x the bet for the card symbols and 0.75-3x the bet for the premiums. Rounding off this section is the wild symbol. Wilds substitute for any normal pay symbol to help complete winning ways.

Phat Cats Megaways: Slot Features

Players who have been around the block might feel a sense of familiarity with some of Phat Cats Megaways' features. Here we'll cover mystery symbols, upgrade & lock symbols, coin symbols, free spins, and the buy bonus.

Mystery Symbols

Mystery symbols are one of the most important features in Phat Cats Megaways. Mystery symbols are stacked tiles which convert into the same low pay, high pay or coin symbol after each spin. When reels spin, the vertical reels with the stack of mystery symbols nudges down one position. It's worth noting that, should the bet be changed, any in view mystery symbols are saved at the previous bet level. Also, while there are mystery symbols on a reel, the number of rows stays the same between spins.

Upgrade & Lock Symbols

Upgrade & Lock symbols appear only on the top tracker reel. Upgrade symbols lock symbols, as well as add +1 extra row beneath them for the next spin. Lock symbols lock the symbols below them for the next spin.

Coin Symbols

Coin symbols come with random multipliers displayed on them. Players are awarded a payout equal to the sum of all coin symbol values multiplied by the bet.

Free Spins

Hit 3 or more scatter symbols to trigger the free spins bonus round. The round starts with 4 mystery symbols on reels 2 and 5, but it is possible to land new mystery symbols during the feature. No set number of free spins are awarded, so the round continues until no more mystery symbols are in view. The round uses a win multiplier as well, increasing by +1 after each free spin. Each win is multiplied by the multiplier before it is paid.

Buy Bonus

If available in your country, players may choose to buy the bonus round rather than trigger it organically. The cost for doing so is 149 times the stake.

Phat Cats Megaways: Slot Verdict

Before launching into the Phat Cats Megaways dissection, here's a quick observation. So far, Kalamba Games Megaways slots have either starred robots, or they've had animals such as cats or rats. Not sure if this has some deep-seated psychological reasoning behind it, or it's just one of those random things in life that occurs with absolutely no deterministic factor influencing events. Anyway, on with the verdict where, when all was said and done, Phat Cats Megaways served up a satisfying session, blending familiar and not-so-familiar elements into one hair balled rubbing up against your leg and purring spot.

The most familiar parts are the way mystery symbols resembled the Nudge & Revel re-spins feature made infamous in Push Gaming's hit slot Razor Shark. It's very close, certainly close enough to ring a large bell. Mystery symbols have the ability to plaster the screen with matching symbols, which can, at times, lead to a tidy result – coin wins can be alright, too. Potentially lending a helping hand when they hit are the two Upgrade & Lock symbols, depending on what's locked and what the other reels produce. Factor in the progressive multiplier, which increases on every free spin, and you've got a slot that can fire off wins as high as 20,000x the bet.

Whilst not diabolically avant-garde, Kalamba Games has mixed in a number of components which add novelty to the nudging stack of mystery symbols concept in an engaging kitty version of Vegas. Players after a break from being chased by toothy characters in Razor Shark might appreciate the change of scenery and species that Phat Cats Megaways presents, as might Megaways aficionados on the hunt for something rarely seen in conjunction with Big Time Gaming's ubiquitous game engine.