Wins of Winter

Wins of Winter: Slot Overview

Better glove up and put your woolly hat on for this one, players. Swedish outfit Fantasma Games has conjured up a chilly scene to host its cold season-themed online slot Wins of Winter. While not specifically a Christmas slot as such, it could do as a pretty suitable fill-in for one, and like a lot of Christmas slots, Wins of Winter has been built off the back of a previous release. In the case of Wins of Winter, the originator was a mystically minded game titled Magikspell. The two games are far from being a straight reskin job, though. Fantasma Games has modified a bunch of different parts to not exactly call this brand-new, but it has quite dramatically altered the overall experience.

The first new part is the setting, which, as we mentioned in the previous paragraph, is a shivery part of the globe, where the winds howl and the sky takes on unusual hues. The sort of place where a boiling pot of water thrown in the air would come down as snow. The previous game, Magikspell, had a fabulous soundtrack, and while Wins of Winter doesn't soar to quite the same heights, it is rather wondrous and would fit like a charm in, say, an animated film. Other parts of the scene include towering trees, ice, and hovering crystals. Kinda random, kinda magic; let's float onwards.

One thing that has been retained for Wins of Winter is the 5 reel game panel arranged in a 3-4-5-4-3 formation. Crossing it is 20 fixed paylines where combinations of 3 to 5 of a kind may land. As before, the math model is highly volatile, while the RTP this time comes in at 96% - slightly less than before. Potential has taken a sizable hit, by comparison, clocking in at 5,000 times the stake. Any device can be used for tackling Wins of Winter, where bets can be set from 20 p/c to $/€160 per paid spin. Note that Frozen frames, Golden frames, and the Progression meter are saved at each bet level when changing the stake.

Symbol time, and here find 10-A card symbols as the low pays, worth 0.75 to 1 times the stake for five of a kind, then purple gems, green gems, yellow gems, red gems, and a wizardy chap as the high pays. High pays award 1.25 to 3.5 times the stake for a five-of-a-kind hit. Wilds are here, too but only appear on the board from the Winter Wild feature. A wild's basic job is to substitute for any regular pay symbols. Wilds can appear on any reel and are worth up to 3.5x the bet for a five-symbol win made up exclusively of wilds.

Wins of Winter: Slot Features

Features in Wins of Winter are a jumble of old and new, such as a Progression meter, the Winter Wild feature, a Mirror feature, the Chest feature, and a bonus game.

Winter Wild Feature

When a Snow symbol lands, it leaves a frozen frame on the position it hit in. It is possible the Snow symbol randomly becomes a Golden Snow symbol, which leaves a Golden frame on its position. Positions with Golden frames transform into wild symbols on the next spin. All adjacent cells with Frozen frames turn into wilds, as well as the position next to them. Both frame types stay on the reels until they are used in a wild transformation.

Progression Meter

Also, whenever a Snow symbol lands, 1 point is added to the Progression meter. When the meter reaches 50 points the Mirror feature is triggered, at 100 points the Mirror feature activates again, then at 150 points the bonus game multiplier is upgraded in this order – x1, x2, x3, x,5, x7, x10, x12, x15, x20, x25, x30, x40, x50, x60, x80, and x100. Each time the multiplier is upgraded, the Progression meter returns to zero. If points go over 150, the extra amount is added to the next collection sequence. If the multiplier reaches x100, no more points are collected. When the bonus game concludes, the multiplier resets to x1.

Mirror Feature

When activated, Frozen and Golden frames on reels 1 and 2 are replicated on reels 3 and 4. Vice versa, so Frozen and Golden frames on reels 3 and 4 are replicated on reels 1 and 2. Golden frames place Frozen frames, and if there is already a frame in a position, the process is skipped. The Mirror feature triggers after the Chest feature but before the Winter Wild feature.

Chest Feature

Chests land on the rightmost reel in the base game. When one lands, it either adds 3-6 points to the Progression meter or places 2-4 Frozen frames in random positions.

Bonus Game

Hitting 3 bonus symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4 in the base game awards the bonus game. Here, 9-18 clicks are awarded. Players click to reveal values of 0.5 to 20 times the stake. Cash prizes are added up, and the bonus game multiplier is applied to the total before being awarded.

Wins of Winter: Slot Verdict

Wins of Winter is more a celebration of all things cold and a little magical rather than a Christmas slot as such. However, with a spot of imagination, players could treat it like postmodernism and let Wins of Winter be whatever they want it to be. It certainly feels like someone with a very specific set of demands had their way with Magikspell, for better or for worse. Better if, well, if you prefer pick-me's rather than hold 'n win features, or prefer snowflakes to gargoyles, perhaps. But it does feel like we are digging rather deep to find reasons for choosing Wins of Winter over Magikspell for those in the market for a diamond-shaped game grid with an infectious wild element.

Leaving the comparisons aside for a moment, Wins of Winter did hit a certain spot at points during testing. It did create quite a magical vibe, for one. The visuals are nice, and the soundtrack is about as sweeping as they come. Personal preference here, but it wasn't as sweeping as Magikspell, though, and it was almost impossible not to keep comparing the two games throughout the session. Sadly, Wins of Winter kept coming up as the less interesting of the two. Let's just round off by saying when it comes to winning potential, Wins of Winter is massively outgunned, too, coming with a 5,000x top win compared to 20,000x in Magikspell.

Unless you're absolutely enchanted by Wins of Winter's environment, it's hard to think of many other reasons for picking it over its predecessor. Fantasma Games has toned down just about everything from the bonus round multiplier to the overall winning potential. As a Christmas stand-in, or if pick 'n clicks rule over hold 'n wins, okay, maybe, why not? Otherwise, it simply feels like a lesser game.