Blueprint Gaming: The UK Powerhouse Behind Fishin’ Frenzy

Walk into any British pub twenty years ago and you would hear it: the beeps and jingles of a fruit machine in the corner. Blueprint Gaming took that exact feeling and moved it online. This is the studio behind Fishin’ Frenzy, one of the most-played slots in UK casinos, a huge catalogue of famous branded games, and the Jackpot King network that can pay out seven-figure sums.

The numbers tell the story. Founded in 2001, the studio now has more than 500 titles to its name and holds licences for some of the biggest brands in entertainment. Ted, The Goonies, Rick and Morty, and even Game of Thrones have all been turned into Blueprint slots. Few studios can match that Rolodex.

It also has a wealthy parent. Blueprint is owned by Germany’s Gauselmann Group, the family firm behind the Merkur gaming brand, which gives the Newark team deep pockets and decades of land-based slot expertise to draw on. Small studio energy, big company backing.

Provider type: Game Studio. Blueprint Gaming makes video slots and runs its own jackpot networks. No live dealer studio, no aggregation of other studios’ libraries. On our Provider Types filter it sits under Game Studio.

Who is Blueprint Gaming, in plain English

From pub fruit machines to online slots

Blueprint was founded in 2001 and is based in Newark, Nottinghamshire, in the UK. Its origin story is unusual and it explains everything. The studio started by adapting physical pub fruit machines into online slots, so early hits like King Kong Cash, Slots O’ Gold and Genie Jackpots were digital versions of machines British players already knew from the pub. That pub-machine DNA still runs through the games nearly 25 years later, and it is a big reason UK players feel instantly at home with them.

Who owns it now

Blueprint is not independent. Germany’s Gauselmann Group, a family-owned gaming company founded in 1957 with more than 14,000 staff, bought a controlling stake in 2008 and took full ownership by 2012. Gauselmann, which runs the well-known Merkur brand in land-based venues, handed Blueprint corporate muscle and European distribution while letting the Newark team keep creative control. In short, it kept making its own games, just with a giant footing the bill.

Fishin’ Frenzy, the UK’s favourite fishing trip

How the fisherman bonus works

Here is the five-year-old version. Fishin’ Frenzy is a simple, cheerful slot about a bloke in a boat. The magic happens in the free spins, where a fisherman symbol reels in fish, and each fish carries a cash value that gets paid straight to you. Land more fisherman symbols and he catches more fish, and a Golden Fisherman multiplier, worth up to 10x in newer versions, can supercharge the whole haul. It is easy to grasp, genuinely fun, and weirdly addictive. No manual required.

A franchise that refuses to stop

The studio knows a winner when it sees one. Since the original launched in 2014, Fishin’ Frenzy has become a franchise juggernaut, spawning a Megaways version, jackpot-enabled editions and endless spin-offs. The 2025 update, Even Bigger Catch, pushed the top prize to a massive 50,000x your stake, dwarfing the modest original. Each new release lands to a ready-made audience of fans, which is exactly why the studio keeps casting the same line. When something reels players in this reliably, you do not mess with the bait.

The branded slots and home-grown hits

Famous faces on the reels

If one thing sets the studio apart, it is licensing. The studio is the industry leader at turning famous brands into slots, and its portfolio reads like a Netflix watchlist. The Goonies won Game of the Year at the 2019 Gaming Intelligence Awards, Rick and Morty scooped a slot award in 2021, and staples like Ted and Beavis and Butt-Head keep pulling in fans of the originals.

By 2026 the studio had added genuine blockbusters, with Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and The Flintstones all getting the Blueprint treatment. Landing deals like these is expensive and complicated, so few rivals can compete on this turf. Better still, Blueprint wraps each licence in its trademark bonus mechanics, from spinning bonus wheels to mystery symbols, so the games play well rather than coasting on a famous name.

The home-grown originals

The studio’s own creations matter just as much as the licensed ones. King Kong Cash grew from a single pub-machine port into a full series, complete with a giant ape flinging bananas and a bonus everyone recognises.

Genie Jackpots rubbed its way to franchise status, Eye of Horus became a genuine UK staple on the strength of its expanding wilds, and titles like The Vault and Slots O’ Gold kept the fruit-machine spirit alive online.

These home-grown hits all share a formula: familiar, friendly, and packed with the kind of pick-a-prize bonus features British players cut their teeth on. Many also feed the Jackpot King network, so an old favourite can suddenly turn into a millionaire-maker on the right spin. It is proof the Newark team can build its own icons rather than only borrowing other people’s, and those originals arguably do more for the studio’s identity than any licence ever could.

Megaways and the Jackpot King network

An early Megaways adopter

When Big Time Gaming began licensing its Megaways engine in 2017, Blueprint was one of the very first studios to sign up, and it ran with the idea. It has since produced more than 80 Megaways titles, and its versions, particularly Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways, became some of the most-played variable-ways slots outside BTG’s own catalogue. Some of its newer Megaways games push the ways to win even higher than the usual 117,649, reaching a dizzying 200,704 on certain releases. Quality and quantity, both covered.

Jackpot King and Rapid Fire

The studio runs its own progressive jackpots too, and this is a serious operation. Jackpot King is a proprietary network that links jackpot pools across many Blueprint slots, feeding from a slice of every bet on connected games until someone triggers the top prize, which can climb into the millions. It is one of the biggest jackpot systems available to UK operators. In 2024 the studio added a second, faster system called Rapid Fire Jackpots, giving players a dual-layered shot at a payout. It is a similar guaranteed-excitement idea to the daily jackpots pioneered by Red Tiger, just with Blueprint’s own spin.

What Blueprint is like to play, and where

Familiar, feature-rich and UK-flavoured

These games feel comfortable, especially to British players, thanks to that pub-machine heritage and a fondness for bonus wheels and pick-me features. Most run a return to player in the 94 to 96 percent range, standard for the industry, though Jackpot King versions sit a touch lower because a slice of each bet feeds the progressive pot. The games tend toward high volatility, so they reward patient feature-hunters more than players chasing steady small wins. Manage your expectations and they are a good time.

Mobile-first, fair and tested

Every modern Blueprint slot is built in HTML5 and runs cleanly on a phone with no download. The studio holds licences from strict regulators including the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, Alderney and Gibraltar, and its games are independently tested for fairness. The odds you are quoted are the odds you get, which is the whole point of playing somewhere properly licensed.

How to spot it, and where to play

Blueprint is a genuine heavyweight in the UK, so its games are everywhere licensed British casinos operate, and increasingly across wider Europe. Most lobbies let you filter by provider, and the giveaways are obvious: any Fishin’ Frenzy title, King Kong Cash, Eye of Horus, or a big branded slot is almost certainly Blueprint. You will find its games bundled with casino bonuses and free spins, and at plenty of crypto casinos too. As always, check a site’s payment methods before depositing, and our top-rated casinos list is a solid starting point.

A quick, honest word on risk

Those Jackpot King millions and 50,000x max wins make great headlines, but they are extremely rare by design, and the high-volatility games can go cold for long stretches. Set a budget you are happy to lose, treat any big win as a lucky bonus rather than a plan, and Blueprint stays the easygoing fun it is meant to be.

Blueprint Gaming in 2026

The studio is not slowing down. 2026 has brought fresh licensed blockbusters like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, new Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways titles reaching those enormous ways-to-win counts, and a growing roster of Rapid Fire Jackpots games. With more than 500 titles now in the library, Blueprint keeps doing what it does best: familiar formats, famous brands, and a jackpot or two dangling on top.

The Gauselmann backing has quietly made all of this possible, funding the expensive licences and the technical firepower behind Jackpot King. Yet the games still feel like Blueprint: cheerful, feature-packed, and unmistakably rooted in that British pub-machine tradition. It is a formula that has kept the studio at the top of the UK market for years, with no sign of the crown slipping.

The bottom line

Blueprint Gaming is the UK’s slot machine, brought online and scaled up. It made Fishin’ Frenzy, a genuine national favourite, leads the industry in branded slots from The Goonies to Game of Thrones, and runs one of the biggest jackpot networks going in Jackpot King. Its games are approachable, feature-rich and comforting, especially if you grew up with a fruit machine in your local. If you want familiar fun with famous faces and a shot at a life-changing jackpot, Blueprint delivers. You will find its games across most of our best casinos and plenty of other online casinos too.

Want the rest of the giants? Head back to our casino software providers hub, or see related studios in our Big Time Gaming, Red Tiger, and Pragmatic Play breakdowns.