The Shark

The Shark is a penny progressive by Realtime Gaming. It has a jackpot that starts at $2,500 and a maximum bet of 45 coins per spin or 45c per game. As the name indicates the game has an undersea theme with sharks, star fish, mermaids, octopus and treasure chests all appearing on the reels.

Like most progressive slots you have to play max bet to have any chance of winning the jackpot. If you play less than max bet you cannot win the progressive even if you line up the correct winning combination. Since max bet is only 45c per spin there is really no reason not to play max bet.

To win the progressive you need to line up five of the star fish symbols on any of the nine lines. As usual with progressive slots after the top jackpot the wins drop quite a bit. The next highest win is just 1,225 coins for five mermaids. In dollar terms this is just $12.25 - a big drop from the $2,500 top jackpot.

In addition to having 21 winning combinations on the reels, The Shark also has two bonus features where you always win additional credits. The first is a reel based bonus called the Sunken Treasure Bonus. To win this you need to get three scattered treasure chests on reels 2, 3 and 4. The game then randomly selects a chest to reveal a prize of up to 465 credits.

The second bonus stage is potentially much more profitable than the Treasure Chest Bonus. It is the Shark Bonus Round. To win this bonus you need to get a scattered shark symbol on reels 1, 3 and 5. Once won you move on to a second screen stage (View Screenshot).

The second screen stage is a high / low type game. You start off with one card displayed and you have to guess whether the next card will be higher or lower. If you guess correctly you win a bonus and get to guess again. If you are incorrect the bonus ends. Ties lose instead of pushing which is a little disappointing. Maximum win on the bonus is 2,700 coins.

The Shark is a great progressive to play if you have a small gambling budget. The progressive prize is quite good considering the max bet is only 45c and the bonus games will help you keep going in search of the big jackpot.