Fat Cat

I've always wondered what happens when you read the stories of these wealthy old dears who don't really have much in the way of friends or family, who then leave their wealth (sometimes, it can be a considerable amount of money) to their beloved pet, usually a cat or dog.

I mean, how does the cat or dog visit the solicitors to sign the forms to claim their inheritance? Are they subject to the same tax laws on inheritance as humans? How do they spend the cash? Do they get issued with canine credit cards or feline check books?

Well, this may be a flight of fancy for me, but in the world of the WGS Technology slot Fat Cat, the lives of very wealthy animals is laid bare. This amusing slot is a 5-reel game with 20 selectable pay lines in play and it can be played for just 0.01 per spin (minimum bet of 0.20 for all pay lines in play) although you can ramp up the size of the bets considerably to 100.00 per spin.

So if you have ever wondered what cats would do if they were given, or earned, plenty of wonga to spend upon themselves, you need a few spins on the Fat Cat slot to find out. So that is precisely what we did in putting together this review.

Overview

• Game: Fat Cat
• Developer: WGS Technology
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 20 (selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.01
• Maximum Bet: 100.00
• Jackpot: 5,000
• Free Spins Bonus: No
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium

Where can I play the Fat Cat slot?

If you want to try your luck on the Fat Cat slot then the place to head is Red Stag Casino. New customers can benefit from a relatively new and updated new player bonus which means that on your first few deposits on the site, you could earn an additional $2,500 on top of your deposits in bonus funds.

In addition to this extra bonus cash, you will also be eligible, depending on the deposits you make, to be able to receive up to 500 Free Spins on your initial deposits. These Free Spins can then be used on a number of different slots and games across the site.

With a wide choice of games to play and some fabulous slots in particular from WGS Technology, Red Stag Casino is one establishment that will be 'deer' to your heart for a long time to come.

Presentation

I have to be brutally honest with you and say that I am at a loss to understand where WGS Technology decided to set the Fat Cat slot. It appears to be a countryside scene with jets in the air but then what appears to be a large chessboard in the middle of the landscape with dollars, cash and gold all littered around.

The sound is virtually non-existent apart from a few bumps and whirrs on the slot as you play and it is distinctly underwhelming though there are a few better effects when you land some of the wins and the bonus features are triggered in the game.

The graphics are not that great to be honest and it almost has the look of an old 8-bit slot that you used to play on a computer for a bit of fun about 15 years ago. I'd like to think this was deliberate on the part of the game designers but in truth, I am not sure.

What's on the reels?

There are ten standard symbols on the reel, plus two others that link in with the main bonus features of the slot. The six lower paying standard symbols are the playing card low symbols which range from the 9 through to the ace and you can win from 5 coins up to 250 coins with these symbols.

The higher value symbols are the money bag, the pile of cash, the dog butler and lastly the Kitty Cat female feline who is the highest paying standard symbol offering 2,000 coins as her highest paying jackpot prize, for five across a line. Both the Kitty Cat and the Butler symbols also offer low value wins of 5 coins for landing two on a line.

Wild features

The Fat Cat is easy to spot as he is purple, fat and bedecked with a gold necklace like you'd find on a rapper. Land any Wild on the reel and he can substitute for all symbols apart from the Dollar Scatter symbol and this can help create winning lines with the standard symbols.

Land Wild symbols in a row though and you can land some sizeable wins ranging from just 2 coins for a single Wild on the leftmost reel up to the maximum jackpot prize in the Fat Cat slot of 5,000 coins for landing five of the Wilds across the reel.

Free Spins features

There is no Free Spins feature included on the Fat Cat slot.

Other bonus features

The bonus feature in the Fat Cat slot is triggered when you land three or more of the Dollar Sign scatters on the reels. When this occurs you are taken away from the standard reel set and instead shown a screen with eight dollar signs displayed.

Players then click on the dollar signs to win prizes of up to 1000x their triggering bet. The player can continue to pick the symbols until the game ends, or all the available cash prizes have been revealed.

Best feature of the Fat Cat slot

There's not a huge amount on the Fat Cat slot but the best feature is the Wild symbol by far. The Dollar Scatter can lead to some decent value wins, but it can be hard to trigger that bonus, whereas the Wild symbol features far more prominently in the game and it makes the base game far more enjoyable and is often used when you land some of the bigger wins in the base game. Add to that it is the source of the biggest win available on the slot and it is easy to see why it is the best feature on the game.

What does the Fat Cat slot lack?

I have to be honest and say that I feel the Fat Cat slot lacks a lot of things and this is a rather disappointing effort from WGS Technology. The game looks and sounds like it is 20 years older than it is, the game design looks rushed, ill-conceived and is frankly a tad confusing and the lack of Free Spins bonus is perhaps unforgivable on a slot that lacks little else that will encourage people to play the game. The jackpot size is appealing, especially if you are willing to play for higher stakes, but other than that there's not much to keep you coming back to play this slot.

Conclusion

I have to admit to being very disappointed with the Fat Cat slot. I've played some games involving cats and dogs over the years, such as Kitty Cabana or Hound Hotel and I've found them decent to play, but Fat Cat just doesn't appeal to me. It lacks bonus features, the game is very simplistic and looks rather dated and the rewards you can get from playing just don't make the effort or expense truly worthwhile in my view. There are much better slots available to play from WGS Technology.

Ratings

• Presentation: 10 / 20 - This is a very simplistic slot and to be honest, its design and execution is somewhat poor. I am not sure what the backdrop is supposed to show, the graphics are very poor quality and almost lazily done and the sound is rather generic and uninspiring. This is not a slot that will make you want to play again based on how it looks. Quite the opposite in fact.
• Game-play: 11 / 20 - The base game of the Fat Cat slot is easy enough to follow but there's no real substance to it. Wins tend to be on the small side and the lack of dynamism in the slot makes you feel somewhat apathetic to the action that is happening on screen. The lack of Free Spins also means that the slot doesn't have massive appeal in terms of unlocking the bonus features, although the selection game does give it a little boost.
• Bonus Features: 11 / 20 - A lack of Free Spins bonus really hurts the Fat Cat slot here. The selection game you can play through hitting three scatters is decent but isn't the most exciting and the only other bonus is the Wild, which can be rewarding and is the only redeeming feature of the slot to be honest. This could have been a game with some imaginative and clever bonuses, but the impression I get is that WGS Technology put the minimum effort into coming up with this game and it shows.
• Entertainment Factor: 10 / 20 - When you start playing the Fat Cat slot you immediately think that there must be more to it than what you are experiencing but after a while, you recognize relatively quickly that, actually, there isn't and that is hugely disappointing. If you like bog-standard slots that play like they are from 16 years ago with limited bonus features then Fat Cat will suit you, but to be honest, that is a pretty small market of slot players.
• Play Value: 11 / 20 - The variance on the Fat Cat slot is somewhat variable. I started off thinking this would be a lower variance slot, but after a while I thought it was a higher variance game. However, after lengthy play I think it is mid-level variance in the main but it does fluctuate in terms of payouts considerably and that should be something you consider when sizing your bet on the slot.
• Overall 53 / 100 - Wealth and animals are popular choices for themes for slot games and Fat Cat is not one of the best examples of either genre to be brutally honest. It does have a couple of redeeming features, notably the bonus features it does have, but the slot looks tired and old, doesn't grip you with excitement and the rewards you get can be small and sporadic.

Good Luck!

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