The Catfather

Crime movies like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas and others have been seen as classics for a long time, and they always have a super serious tone and approach to the story. Pragmatic Play (more here) has leveraged these stories to create the Catfather slot, a game that puts a somewhat funny twist on the traditional lineup of crime movie characters. This game has some pretty cool features, and the graphics work really well for the theme. In short, this is an action-packed game with a reasonable volatility.

Format and Layout

With an older video slot layout with nine paylines, this game has available bet sizes that are much smaller than what most people are used to. As is the case with most games by this developer, the coins start at $0.01 apiece, and this means you can play for as little as $0.09 per spin. They go up to $0.50 apiece, and with the ability to bet as many as 10 coins on each of the paylines, there's a pretty wide range of betting options with a lot of room for precision.

This game is also one of the few that pays in both directions. You can win with combinations that go left-to-right or right-to-left.

Wild Symbol Features

The two black cats in a cardboard box are the wild symbol, and it's probably the most important symbol in the entire game. It shows up on every single reel, and it's also responsible for the top jackpot. Five wilds on a payline gets you a 5,000x payout. What's worth noting is that you can win with as few as just one of these wilds on the reels, so if you get a wild to show up on the first or fifth reel, you're guaranteed a payout. The pay structure is 250x for four, 50x for three, 5x for four and 1x for one.

On every spin, you have a chance to randomly earn a reel that's completely stacked with wilds. This can happen on the second, third or fourth reel, and it provides players with easier wins than usual. It's a really cool feature because even if the randomly stacked wild feature covers up a scatter, it still counts towards payouts and free spins.

Free Spins Bonus Feature

The free spins bonus feature is available when you get three or more of the scattered mouse. You'll also get an instant payout that's a multiple of your entire bet. Three earns 10 free spins with a 2x win. Four scatters will earn 15 free spins and a payout worth 5x. Five gets a whooping 20x win (multiplied by your entire bet) on top of a set of 25 free spins. To give you even more value, the winnings in your free spins are hit with an incredible 4x multiplier, but the random stacked wilds do not occur in the free spins feature.

Notable Payouts

Five of the orange cat in a hat earns 200x, and five of the blue cat gets you 100x. The cat in the sunglasses and cap earns 70x for five of a kind, and five of the cat in the purple hat will give you 35x. Five of the burglar cat pays 30x to players.

The three low symbols are the A, K and Q, and they are stylized with sparkling diamonds and gold. Five of the A gets 25x, and five of the K will pay out 20x. There's also a 15x win for five of the Q symbol.

What's worth pointing out here is that they have really limited the use of the A, K and Q symbols here to just three symbols, and it puts you in a position where there are mostly cats on the reels. That helps the game to avoid looking generic, which is what often happens when the majority of the reels are covered by the card rank symbols.

Overview

The Catfather is interesting as a slot (more) because the theme is executed extremely well and the features are pretty solid. The graphics are strong enough to work well for this game as well, and that helps the title as a whole come together to work out nicely. The main weakness of this game is that the top jackpot is so much larger than any of the secondary wins, and this hurts the volatility a bit by making it higher, but that's something that many players won't mind at all. Overall, it's a solid game all around, and it's perfect for cat lovers.