Looking for a slot with that feel-good factor and big win potential for the festive season? Well, Santa from Pragmatic Play fits that description perfectly. A soothing soundtrack playing an adaptation of the famed Jingle Bells song, warm festive colors, and stacked Santas as wild symbols are packed into a Christmas present all slot-playing players will be able to enjoy.
In the spirit of the festive season, the slot has a medium level of volatility that will not see balances disappear in a flash, yet it keeps the potential for mega wins.
A quiet and serene forest scene on a cold wintery night, with full moon and steady falling snow in view, serves as a fitting background for the game window. That is itself intricately ornamented with a golden line. The graphics are extremely crisp, while the animations flow smoothly. The soundtrack is just as fitting for the festive season.
Santa has nine pay symbols, one wild symbol and two bonus symbols. At the low end, they are 10s to As, continuing at the high-paying level with a traditional candy cane, a pair of bells, a deer, and an elf. Santa is the wild symbol, appearing stacked at all times on reels two to five only. The bonus symbols are a golden gift box with a red bow, while the free spins scatters are an intricate tile with a Christmas tree and the word ‘scatter’ at the bottom.
Santa is a video slot with five reels, three rows and 20 fixed pay lines. The game has two bonus features: a Christmas pick-and-click bonus game with four fixed jackpots, and a free spins round with guaranteed wild reels. The RTP of this medium-variance game is set at 95.92%. At the time of this review, the game is available for play on desktop only. AutoPlay allows players to choose from 10 to 100 spins to be played consecutively, with a range of options as to when the run should stop.
Spinning the reels on Santa starts at 0.20 coins and peaks at 100 coins. Pays for a single five of a kind range from 2.50 to 20x the initial stake. The maximum win in the bonus game can be in excess of 250x your bet, while in the free spins it can exceed 1,000x the stake.
The pick-and-click feature guarantees the win of one of four fixed jackpots and additional coin wins. It is triggered by hitting gift box symbols on reels one, three and five. Alternatively, Santa can randomly swing in on his sleigh to place the bonus symbols on the required reels. The game leads to a second screen, displaying 12 golden gift boxes hanging on a Christmas tree. These may contain coin wins or jackpot symbols.
Players keep opening gifts until a jackpot symbol is revealed. The choices for the jackpots are Minor, Mini, Mega and Grand, with values ranging from 10x to 250x the total stake. The bonus game ends when one of the jackpots is won.
The accumulated coin wins and the jackpot amount are paid at the end of the round. Expect wins around 30x to 40x your bet when the Mini jackpot is won, and higher-value prizes if any of the other jackpots is revealed.
Scatter symbols appearing on reels two, three and four in one spin will activate six free spins, which cannot be retriggered. At the start of each free spin, reels two to five can turn into wild reels. The bonus game cannot be won during the feature. This is the moment to score the biggest wins on Santa: having the back four reels wild will result in an all-line win, paying a minimum of 200x the bet on each occurrence.
The festive season is a time of giving and surprises. It’s no wonder, then, that game providers are regularly releasing new slot creations just before it starts. After all, we all like to be surprised with some great gifts on the reels of our favorite games. Some of the best Christmas slots with super mega win potential are Santa’s Wild Ride from Microgaming, Jingle Bells from Red Tiger Gaming, and Secrets of Christmas from NetEnt.
Pragmatic Play might not be one of the veterans in the gaming industry, but its team have garnered a reputation for releasing quality slots with crisp graphics, stunning animations, entertaining features and high win potential.
Just a few months prior to the release of Santa, they launched their Da Vinci’s Treasure slot, which has a maximum win of a staggering 48,000x the bet in a single spin. It is currently the highest possible win potential on a non-progressive slot, where a mere 0.20 credits bet could yield a massive win of 12,000 credits. That’s a dream for any avid slot-playing enthusiast.
Santa is trending towards the other end of the volatility scale. Its medium-to-low variance will provide ample play time and entertainment even with smaller balances, while retaining the potential to still score decent wins. During our test runs, we repeatedly managed to hit amounts of 150+ times the bet in the free spins and in the bonus game.
Overall, Santa is a pleasant game with a nice Christmas soundtrack that will be just perfect to play during the festive season, or at any other time during the year. Ready to collect your Christmas gifts?
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