Saint Nicked 2

Saint Nicked 2: Slot Overview

For some, Christmas is a time for peace, love, harmony, celebration, and family unless that is, you happen to be the naughty Father Christmas in Lucksome's Saint Nicked 2, in which case Christmas is all about dropping off the damn presents and getting boozed. Lucksome's bad Santa first appeared in the first Saint Nicked, which was unusual in that it was an original production rather than a quick and easy Christmas clone. The same can't be said for Saint Nicked 2, however, which, made in conjunction with Blueprint Gaming, is a rerun of past ideas as seen in a game like King Kong Cash Even Bigger Bananas.

For the base game, you better hang on tight to Santa's sleigh as it flies above town, dropping presents on the boys and girls in their snow-covered homes in the burbs. It's a sweet visual, actually, where Santa, Rudolph, and an elf's heads can be peeped above the gaming grid riding the sleigh. Bad Santa is back in the voice-over commentary, injecting dirty humour into a slot that switches from a present delivery base game to, ahem, a questionable establishment for free spins. Maybe that's where Santa and the gang go after delivering gifts around the world; maybe they're here taking a well-earned break? Either way this ain't your typical gingerbread and warm milk Father Christmas.

Saint Nicked 2's ho ho hoing takes place on a 5-reel, 4-row gaming area awarding winning combinations with the help of a 4,096 ways to win pay system. 10 c to $/€10 may be wagered on each paid spin, and since Saint Nicked 2 is linked to Blueprint Gaming's Jackpot King, the RTP works out at 92.5% + JP 0.38% + 0.11% reserve whilst the math model is medium-high volatile.

On the lower part of the symbol hierarchy are 9-A card ranks, while the upper part has fluffy handcuffs, an elf hat, a glass of liquor, a gin tree ornament, and a hot-rodded sleigh. The rewards for hitting 5 OAK winning combinations are 1-1.5 times the bet for the royals and 2 to 5 times the bet for the premium symbols. The wild symbol appears on all reels except the leftmost, substituting for all paying symbols.

Saint Nicked 2: Slot Features

Saint Nicked 2's sack is stuffed with a Cash Collect feature, unlockable Collect symbols, Cashpot prizes, and free spins with a progressive multiplier.

Cash Collect

On each spin, Beer Cash symbols are active on all reels. When beginning the game, only the regular Santa Collect symbol is active and may land on the rightmost reel. When a Santa Collect symbol lands and there are Beer Cash symbols on the grid, it expands to cover its reel and collects the values of any Beer Cash symbols in view after regular wins have been paid. After this occurs, the next type of Collect symbol is unlocked in order, as mentioned below. The other Collect symbols are:

• Rudolph Collect – once a Santa Collect collects any Beer Cash symbol, the ability to land the Rudolph Collect symbol on the leftmost reel is unlocked.
• Lock & Spin – once any Collect symbol has collected Beer Cash symbols again, the Lock & Spin is unlocked. When the Lock & Spin hits on reels 1 or 6, Cash symbols are held in position, and a respin occurs. Respins continue until no new Cash symbols land.
• Happy Hour – once a Lock & Spins has collected Beer Cash symbols, the Happy Hour Collect symbol is unlocked. Happy Hour collects all Cash symbols in view as well as awarding a cash boost of up to 5x the bet to each Beer Cash symbol.
• Thirsty Elf– once a Happy Hour Collect has collected Beer Cash symbols, Thirsty Elf Collect is unlocked. On any spin where Santa or Rudolph collects a win, if a Thirsty Elf is present, it accumulates the value of any Cash symbols in view before being collected along with all the Cash symbols.

When all four Collect upgrades have been unlocked, they remain active in the main game and in free spins from then on. Landing a Cashpot symbol, such as the 20x Mini, the 200x Major, or the 2,500x Mega, awards its value if a Collect symbol is also in view.

Free Spins

Landing 3 scatter symbols awards 10 free spins. If 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols land to trigger 10 free spins, then players also receive a payout of 20x, 100x, or 500x the bet, respectively. During free spins, collecting 3, 6, 9, or 12 Santa or Rudolph collect symbols awards +5 extra free spins each time, plus a Cash symbol collect multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10 is awarded, respectively.

Saint Nicked 2: Slot Verdict

A few paragraphs back, we mentioned this not being your typical Father Christmas, thematically, but gameplay-wise, Saint Nicked 2 is standard Blueprint Gaming money collect stuff. On one level, this is a shame because the first Saint Nicked game was quite unique, which is rare for a Christmas slot. It appears Blueprint Gaming got their hooks into Saint Nicked 2 and instead of following up with more original thinking, the game got dragged back into the studio's comfort zone. That zone is one of Cash collecting and local jackpot prizes, which have graced a number of BP slots by now. King Kong Cash Even Bigger Bananas is one, for example, that is very close, if not the same, as a bunch in Blueprint Gaming's portfolio.

This should be sweet news for fans of Blueprint Gaming's cash collect range. Maybe even for players partial to Big Bass Bonanza whose effect can be felt in the free spins retrigger feature where multipliers can grow via Cash Collect symbol accumulation. There is likely to be a good number of target gamblers willing to get on Saint Nicked 2's naughty list, too, as Blueprint Gaming is unlikely to be popping off all these cash collect slots for lols. Saint Nicked 2 is linked to Jackpot King, too, adding an extra incentive to the right punter, and is able to knock out wins of up to 10,000x in its own right.

Add in the naughty humour, and it feels like there is a ready-made crowd ripe for the sort of entertainment Saint Nicked 2 is able to unload. However, it's hard not to feel disappointed about the difference between the originality of the first release, and Saint Nicked 2's conformity, making it a rather bland slot to review.