The Catfather

The Catfather is the Pragmatic Play slot that introduced its mob of gangster cats, inviting players into a dimly lit family mansion to earn their place in the organisation. It uses five reels, three rows and just nine paylines, with medium volatility and an unusually wide stake range of 0.09 € to 180 € per spin.

Random stacked wilds can land on the middle three reels, and a tied-up cat scatter awards up to 25 free spins in which every win is multiplied by 4x. The RTP is 96.52 % and the top win is 405280 €. Its compact line count and playful theme suit players who like simple rules, and it pairs naturally with its sequel, The Catfather Part II.

The action takes place inside the family's mansion, where two lamps throw a warm light across the room behind the reels. It is a moody, film-inspired setting that contrasts nicely with the comic cat characters in front of it.

A soundtrack plays throughout, and the stake controls are grouped in a bar at the bottom of the screen. The graphics are sharp and load quickly in a web browser, so players can start without downloading anything.

The Catfather is a medium-variance game. It hands out small wins at a fairly regular pace, while the larger payouts call for some patience. That middle-ground profile makes it a comfortable choice for newcomers and a dependable one for experienced players.

The reels feature two groups of regular symbols:

• Five cat mobsters: the members of the family and the premium symbols, paying from up to 35 coins to a maximum of 1,000 coins.
• Card ranks A, K and Q: the lower tier, paying from up to 10 coins to a maximum of 125 coins.

How much a win pays depends on the symbol and the number of matches on a line. Stakes are chosen in the control bar before spinning. With a minimum of 0.09 € and a maximum of 180 € per spin, the game covers very small budgets as well as high-stakes play, and autoplay can run a series of spins at the selected stake.

Only nine paylines run across the 5x3 grid, which keeps the game easy to follow: each line is clearly visible, and a payout needs at least three matching symbols on one of them.

The wild is by far the most valuable symbol. Landing five on a payline pays up to 25,000 coins, many times more than the best regular symbol. With so few lines, the wild's ability to complete a combination matters on every spin.

Three features shape the game's bonus potential:

• Wild: two cats peeking out of a box. It substitutes for every symbol except the scatter and pays up to 25,000 coins for five on a line.
• Random stacked wilds: stacks of wilds can appear at random on reels 2, 3 and 4, filling whole columns and linking several lines in the same spin.
• Tied-up cat scatter: three or more anywhere on the reels trigger the free spins feature, which awards up to 25 free spins with a 4x multiplier on wins.

A long free spins round with every payout multiplied by four is the main route to the game's 405280 € maximum, and stacked wilds keep the base game lively in between.