OCEAN MAGIC

HOW THE ADVANTAGE WORKS: Ocean Magic / Fu Ru Dong Hai

• Ocean Magic features wild bubbles that move up one row every spin. If a wild bubble lands on top of an Ocean Magic symbol, all of the surrounding symbols will turn wild.
  

WHEN TO PLAY

• Any wild bubbles that are currently in any of the following positions, including the “sunrise” bubbles below the bottom row. This strategy is the same for both regular and Bubble Boost mode (see my reasoning in the notes below).
  

Additional notes​

• I’ve seen other recommendations to play Bubble Boost mode more conservatively than the regular mode. This is because you are betting twice as much for a chance to get more bubbles via the Bubble Boost feature, thus making bubbles worth half as much compared to the regular mode. What this doesn’t take into consideration is that the bubbles tend to come in streaks. So you are more likely to get the foghorn (that releases the extra Bubble Boost bubbles) if there are already bubbles present, especially more so on the bottom rows. Your biggest wins will usually be when you get the foghorn, therefore, the extra cost of Bubble Boost mode evens itself out.
• Wild bubbles that are below the bottom row are known as sunrise bubbles. These are the most important wild bubbles because they are often overlooked by casual players and other hustlers. These bubbles also tend to come up in spurts, which makes them even more valuable.
• Some APs will even play sunrise bubbles in reel five for the reasons stated above, hoping to get the foghorn or for more bubbles to rise up. I avoid this as the bubbles in reel five are mostly worthless, as opposed to reel four bubbles, which can still be somewhat valuable.
• If you don’t expand a wild bubble by landing it on top of an Ocean Magic symbol, then you will most likely lose money during that play (unless you are playing with multiple bubbles). However, if you do expand it, or get multiple bubbles to expand at once, then the wins can be gigantic.
• Wild bubbles in reels two and three are the most valuable because there is more room around them to expand when they land on top of the Ocean Magic symbol. This is also why bubbles that land in the middle two rows are more valuable.
• If a wild bubble landed on top of an Ocean Magic symbol on the previous spin, the screen will show wild symbols on all adjacent positions. It can be hard to tell which of those are the actual wild bubbles versus the expanded ones that disappear next spin. If you switch to a different bet level and then switch back, the expanded ones will go away and you will only see the wild bubbles that stick around.
• Ocean Magic has been around for many years now, but you will still find it at most casinos. And it is still an excellent game to hustle, despite the fact that everyone already knows about it.
• Bubble Boost mode has a hit frequency of 38.2%, while the regular mode has a hit frequency of 20.2%.
• Ocean Magic has an RTP that ranges from 86% to 96%.

Having five wild bubbles on the same row is an amazing situation. Bubbles often come in big spurts like this.

Sunrise bubbles (hidden bubbles that rise into play on the next spin) like these are the most important bubbles in the game, as they are often overlooked by casual players and other hustlers. They also tend to come in spurts, which makes them even more valuable. The photo above is a walk-up play I found after another hustler had just checked the machine and walked away, unaware of how valuable a play this was.

In situations like this, where a wild bubble landed on top of an Ocean Magic symbol, it can be hard to immediately tell what is an actual wild bubble (that sticks around) versus an expanded wild (which disappears next spin). Switching bet levels and then switching back will make the expanded ones go away.

This is a secret trick that almost no one knows about—the treasure chest scatter symbol will obscure the wild bubbles, so look for a glow like this behind them to find wild bubbles that other APs missed.

Fu Ru Dong Hai is an Asian-themed clone of Ocean Magic. It’s not nearly as common as the original Ocean Magic, but you can still find it in some casinos.