It hasn't been long since Pragmatic Play fired up their first Megaways powered slot Great Rhino Megaways and already they've cloned it in time for the holiday season. Christmas Carol Megaways is a straight forward reskin which is understandable from a business perspective. Why spend more resources than needed to deliver a bit of entertainment for such a short period of the year? Especially when considering the popularity of the original, and the tendency for competitors to do the same. Whatever your opinions on the quick ‘n easy way to fill Christmas slots stockings, here is Pragmatic's contribution.
From the baking hot African plains to the snow-filled streets of 19th century London the scene has definitely changed. Now it's focused on Charles Dickens' tale of the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge, as a line-up of ghosts scare him into being kind. A 6-reel Megaways grid takes up most of the space, while a four-position extra reel runs horizontally above it. A common setup for this type of game in other words. Characters from the story populate the reels adding Christmas cheer, aside from a spectral hooded figure who brings down the merry vibe.
Players can relive the classic Christmas adventure on any device, selecting bets from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. Powering the game is a raging rhino of a math model, its volatility high with a rating of 5/5. Potential is equally high, which we'll get to, while the default RTP varies between 96.48% - 96.58% depending on whether the Ante Bet is active or not. In short, nothing Scroogy about the math model, provided you're a player who likes it a bit rough.
On each spin, 2-7 symbols land on each main reel so when factoring in the extra reel, up to 200,704 ways to win is possible. A significant amount more than usual, not that it is easy to notice the difference when the game's in swing. Starting at the lower end of the paytable are 10-A royals, backed by the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future, plus Bob Crachett, and Tiny Tim. Quite the group of Dickensian characters, worth 1.5 to 50x the bet for six of a kind. Scrooge isn't left out. He's the wild, showing up on the bonus reel to replace any of the pay symbols to make a winning combination.
The good part about cloning a slot from a developer's point of view is that there is no need to conjure up any new features. This rings true in Christmas Carol Megaways which uses the same suite of extras found in Great Rhino Megaways, plus one. For players, it means free spins, Ante Bets, and a new bonus buy for non-UK players.
One optional extra is the Ante Bet function. Engaging it increases the bet by 25%, though symbol values remain the same. The benefit is additional scatters are added to the reels, upping the prospects of triggering free spins. In fact, it actually doubles the chance of winning free spins.
Scrooge's pocket watch is the scatter symbol - 4 in view trigger the Free Spins feature. Any scatter on the reels past that amount adds +4 spins to whatever is awarded next. Free spins don't launch straight away. Instead, players get 4 options of varying rules and volatility to choose from:
Choosing the 4th option randomly awards 5-15 free spins with an x1-x10 starting win multiplier. A bit of a crapshoot which can work out well if you get the 15 spins and x10 multiplier, not so joy-inducing for the 5 spins combined with the x1.
During free spins, scatters remain in play, now only ever landing on the bonus reel up top. Three watches get you 5 more spins with no limit to the number awarded. Christmas Carol Megaways boasts significant potential, which will require the next feature to kick in. This is the progressive win multiplier. It starts on whatever level was initially awarded, then increases by +1 after each winning cascade. Like free spins, there is no set limit on how large the multiplier can get.
Players after a self-bought Christmas pressie can treat themselves to the Bonus Buy to fast track free spins. For an outlay of 100x the bet, four scatters at least are guaranteed to land on the next spin.
There isn't much to add which wasn't said in the Great Rhino Megaways review really. That is, Christmas Carol Megaways offers fine gaming, nothing particularly must-see, though nothing overly negative either. Scrooge has been popular for over 100 years in pop culture and makes a fitting match for a slot. Christmas Carol Megaway's primary purpose is to offer a few cheerful spins in a Christmas themed slot, so in that, it should suit a range of players on the day.
Despite bringing in a larger number of Megaways, the base game can meander without any extra features involved. Due to the sheer amount of ways, big wins can occur there, but it's in the free spins round where best results can be found – up to 20,000 times the bet at most. A very un-Scrooge like amount, where starting on an x10 multiplier from the Blueprint Gaming like bonus game selection certainly helps. What also may help some is the new option to buy free spins, rather than wait patiently for them to arise.
Well it hasn't taken long for Pragmatic Play to start cloning their Megaways back catalogue, so don't expect to find anything new. Yet for a fun bit of Xmas led gaming Christmas Carol Megaways is as good as any other to keep away the humbug blues.
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