How to Fish Reel of Fortune — Weapon, Rod & Boat Skins
Insert a Drip creature, spin the island machine, then toggle looks with Z or C.
How to Fish has no redeemable cheat codes for cosmetics. Skins come from the Reel of Fortune, an arcade cabinet on every island that accepts a rare Drip creature (or, in some reports, a boss drop) and pays out a random appearance for one of that island’s equipment types. Skins are cosmetic only. They do not change damage, fire rate, or boat speed.
A Drip creature is the rainbow-named variant of a normal Fishipedia entry. Catch it with the same bait you already use on that island, kill it so the encyclopedia registers, then carry the body to a Reel of Fortune. When the prompt reads that you should insert a drip creature, spend it. The reel stops on a single skin. Patch 1.0.5 also fixed a bug where skins looked invisible while rolling at 4K, and it fixed Fishipedia unlocking one Drip late.
Island machine tables
Each cabinet shows the equipment types it can roll along the bottom of the screen. No island rolls every gun. The Assault Rifle is the only type locked to Island 5.
| Island | Location nickname | Skin types on the reel |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lighthouse | Brass Knuckles, Knife |
| 2 | Forest | Boat, Brass Knuckles, Knife, Pistol, Fishing Rod, Shotgun |
| 3 | Desert | Boat, Pistol, SMG, Fishing Rod, Shotgun |
| 4 | Rocks | Boat, Fishing Rod, SMG, Sniper Rifle |
| 5 | Volcano | Boat, Fishing Rod, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle |
If you burn your first Drip on Island 1, you only have a chance at melee skins. Later cabinets open guns, the rod, and the boat. Save a Drip for Island 5 if you care about Assault Rifle looks, because that type does not appear earlier.
How to equip a skin
Hold the matching item and cycle appearances:
- Keyboard: Z or C
- Controller: right D-pad
The Fishing Rod and Boat often hide the on-screen toggle hint. The same buttons still work. For a boat skin, sit at the wheel (select drive) and press Z or C. If nothing changes, you do not own a skin for that item yet, or you are holding the wrong tool.
How to farm Drip creatures
Drip variants do not need special weather, night-only spots, or a unique lure. Use the normal bait for that species on its island, keep catching, and watch for a rainbow name. Kill the variant. Press Tab and check the encyclopedia for holes. Collector tracks normal creatures; Fishipedia tracks Drip kills. The Rare Variants page and the Fish Locations list tell you which bait belongs to which island.
Boss bodies are valuable for story trophies first. Do not insert a Spider Crab Shell or Whale Fin into a machine if an NPC still needs it. After the hand-in, leftover drip farm is safe.
Gambling versus the reel
Roulette and slot cabinets are a different loop. They wager cash or fish for multipliers and the All in / MAX WIN / GOLD GOLD GOLD achievements. Those machines are covered in the Gambling Guide. The Reel of Fortune spends a Drip, not a coin stack, and its jackpot is a skin, not a 7× payout.
Chat griefers used rich text until Patch 1.0.10 stripped it. That does not affect skins. If a reel animation looks empty at 4K, update past 1.0.5.
Related pages
- Rare Variants — how Drip names appear
- Achievements — Drip, Fishipedia, GOLD GOLD GOLD
- Gear Hub — which weapons are worth skinning
- Walkthrough — when you reach each island cabinet