Canoe Trip

There’s no shortage of fish games on the market, but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to be one of the most popular concepts widely available – even those released new each month. So much so, that we now use the term ‘fish game’ to refer to more than just a literal fish game. When we discuss a fish game, we mean a game that uses a symbol to collect cash values in view, usually with some sort of collection process to upgrade multipliers. The theme itself doesn’t necessarily have to involve fish, as we find out today. Blueprint Gaming, who created one of the most influential fishing games available (Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways) are returning to the waterside once more to bring us Canoe Trip – a highly volatile release with wins on offer up to 50,000x bet (or £250,000 – whichever comes first), and a fixed RTP of 95.0%.

Canoe Trip Base Game

We’re down by the water today. Everything is quite simple in Blueprint Gaming‘s Canoe Trip – clear, rippling waters in what looks to be a river or lake, with a bank to the side – with bright green grass, trees, and a couple of boulders and flowers scattered about. That’s about it, so it isn’t the most exciting picture to look at, but it’s certainly a pretty one. Audios are quite hard to describe, but have a strong ‘fairytale’ kind of vibe to them. All in all, a neat little setting.

Canoe Trip Offers Players 10 Fixed Win Lines

Canoe Trip Base Features

Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Canoe Trip by matching at least 2 or 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel, across 1 of 10 fixed win lines. Symbols available begin with wooden non premiums, with 10s, Js, Qs, Ks, and As, awarding wins of 0.50x bet for 3 of a kind, increasing to values of 10x bet for 5 of a kind. At the premium end, we have tents, a mystery object that looks part campsite food, part wooden sculpture, and part baguette, life jackets, and paddles accompanied by a lifeguard ring. Land 3 of a kind of any of these premiums to see wins between 1 and 3x bet, increasing to values between 20 and 100x bet for 5 of a kind. Rounding off the premium symbols are canoes, which are also the only symbol to pay for 2 of a kind. Land 2, 3, 4, or 5 canoes to see wins of 0.50, 5, 20, or 200x bet, respectively.

Land 3 or More Scatters to Trigger Free Games

There are no base game features available in Canoe Trip. We did land Free Games within our first 11 spins (see above), but this isn’t much to go on, since the Free Game frequency hasn’t been provided. In any instance, wins are possible up to 200x bet in the base game, but there’s nothing to aid in this, or keep things moving forward if regular line wins are scarce.

Canoe Trip Bonus

Land 3, 4, or 5 campfire Scatters to trigger 10, 15, or 20 Free Games, respectively. During Free Games, a Wild character symbol is introduced – a male camper – and substitutes for all symbols except Scatters. Additionally, the tent symbols will now have prize values applied to them. Tents can take on the following values:

• Blue Tents – 2 or 5x bet
• Red Tents – 10 or 15x bet
• Green Tents – 20 or 25x bet
• Orange Tents – 50x bet
• All 4 tents in one image – 2,000x bet

Wild Symbols Collect Prize Values and Award Multiplier Upgrades With Additional Spins

On any Free Game, if the Wild symbol lands in view, it will collect the value of all tents in view.  Alongside this, Wild symbols are collected and added to the meter at the top of the reels:

• Collect 4 Wild Symbols: +10 Free Games x2
• Collect 8 Wild Symbols: +10 Free Games x4
• Collect 12 Wild Symbols: +15 Free Games x10

Additional Free Games are played after the current Free Games have ended. Any multipliers will only be applied to prize values, and are not general win multipliers. Once 12 Wilds have been collected, collection stops.

It is possible to trigger the following features randomly during Free Games:

• Wind Fall – the wind can blow, and turn random positions into tents with prize values.
• Camping for Cash – any tents in view will be locked in place, and the reels will respin, with respins continuing until no new tents land.

Canoe Trip Free Spins

The maximum win available in Canoe Trip is 50,000x bet, or £250,000 (or currency equivalent). If the sum of a single game round exceeds either of these values, the game round will end and either 50,000x bet or £250,000 will be awarded – whichever is lower.

First Impression

Another day, another fish game. Maybe I should stop describing these releases as fish games, because here we are with another example that doesn’t involve any fish. Well, you know what I mean when I say fish game, so it’s fine really. Canoe Trip is another in a long line of examples that are simultaneously playable, yet unsurprising, and just not very special. This doesn’t necessarily matter – my job is to sit here and review these games, but the average player just wants something enjoyable, and there’s nothing to say Canoe Trip doesn’t provide that – it’s just not the best example of itself.

Everything here is very much Big Bass, but then Big Bass was a little bit Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways, and Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways was just a Megaways version of Fishin’ Frenzy, so you see the problem with accusations of plagiary. I think it’s probably fair to say at this point, this concept is fair game for anyone who wants to have a crack at it – and most people have. The problem we have here is that the Big Bass series just has a bit more punch to it, which makes it hard for Canoe Trip to compare, especially when they haven’t really attempted any changes.

There’s nothing much happening in the Canoe Trip base game, as is usually the case with these releases (although line wins up to 200x bet are possible), so it’s all about Free Games. When these do land, prize value multipliers are possible up to x10, with prize values possible up to 2,000x bet (although 50x bet seems like the more realistic level to aim for). When the right combinations land, wins are possible up to 50,000x bet or £250,000 – whichever comes first. As I said in the D10S Maradona review though, it does very much feel like Blueprint put these caps in as a precaution, rather than expecting to see wins of this value often.

Maths is highly volatile, although it certainly didn’t feel like the highly volatile levels we’re used to from other providers, and RTP is fixed at 95.0%, so I guess no real complaints there, especially given the current market. Worth noting however that the Big Bass series generally tend to offer higher versions than this – if operators accept them.

All this to say, if you’re a fan of this type of game, Canoe Trip could be worth a visit. If you’re not into this style, there’s nothing really groundbreaking here that might change your mind.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.