This is a genre of games that has been big in certain Asian countries since the mid-2000s but hasn’t been seen on any Western casino floors as of yet … however they apparently are available at either “grey market” or outright illegal underground arcades in the United States. Hawaii, California and Denver seem to be the hotspots for them. Basically, each player at the table gets a variety of weapons and pays real money for their shots. You hunt the fish (or animals), which pay back credits when they are bagged, which means you can theoretically win more money than you spent on ammo.
However, an apparent analysis by Gaming Labs International (by way of Vice, who don’t provide a link to the actual paper) indicates these machines tend to have an RTP of about 93 to 97% and appear to often scale difficulty depending on how much the player is winning or losing. Surprisingly, 93% to 97% is equal to or better than a lot of standard slots out there! The intriguing possibility with these is that they appear to increase their payouts if one person is dumping a lot of money and losing – so basically find a table with a rich ploppie who slaps the button constantly and take advantage.
These machines are apparently legit in Hong Kong, which explains the relatively standard RTP – the illicit gambling parlors are just importing them to territories where they aren’t allowed. Examples of these games include King of Treasures, Dragon Hunter, Ocean King, Fishing Epoch, and Insect Doctor.
Links
- List of Fish Hunter games
- Ocean King instructions
- Fish hunting games tip channel