Great Blue Jackpot Slot by Playtech

This is the jackpot version of Great Blue, the reef slot Playtech first put out back in 2009. Same glassy blue water, same cast, but now there are four progressive jackpots stacked on the side and an RTP that pays for them. It sits at 95.02%, a good bit under the original, which is the trade you make for the extra prizes.

The orca is the one you're chasing. It's the wild, it stands in for everything except the pearl shell, and it also tops the paytable by a distance: five orcas on a line pays 10,000x your line bet, which is the game's biggest fixed win. After the whale it drops off steeply to the sharks and turtles, so the reels can run cold between the big hits. High volatility, as you'd guess.

Three or more pearl shells anywhere trigger the Pearl Bonus. Before the free games start you get a pick round, opening shells to set your reward, and it can push you up from the default 8 spins to as many as 23, and lift the multiplier from x2 to as high as x8. A shallow pick leaves you with the base deal. A lucky one turns the round into the best thing the game does.

The four jackpots run on their own pearl-collect meters, Whale, Shark, Turtle and Fish, filling as you play until a tier tops out and pays. They show as "Not available" in the free Playtech demo, since progressives only run for real money, so treat this underwater version as a way to learn the reels and the Pearl Bonus rather than to see the top prizes land.