Santa Spins

Santa Spins: Slot Overview

Joining the Christmas slot freight train is software provider Red Tiger with a festive slot going by the name of Santa Spins. Is there a form of double entendre happening in the title? Either way, it evoked images of Santa banging away at an online slot or going incognito to the North Pole local and feeding a few coins into the one or two pokie machines they've got out the back. In that same spirit, what would Santa make of the influx of Xmas-themed slots flooding the market, flattery or overkill? Anyway, enough with the pondering; let's see what Red Tiger's interpretation of the holiday season is like in a game counting things like a full reel Wild Santa and Xmas Spins as its features.

Red Tiger's graphics and sound team appear to have turned the white Christmas dial up to eleven when designing Santa Spins. It's located in a fairy tale world of quaint buildings, mistletoe, a snowman, snowflakes, and oodles of gifts. Are we in the North Pole, a picture-perfect village that gets snowed in for Xmas, or somewhere else altogether? If the visuals manage to cast a bit of magic, enchanted players are free to choose. The sounds are equally in step with the graphics, which include jingle bells, a gentle winter tune, and plenty of ho ho ho's.

In the middle of the scene, draped in all manner of seasonal objects, is Santa Spins' 5-reel, 4-row gaming area. It has 20 paylines running across it, awarding wins when matching symbols land on one from the leftmost side over consecutive reels. Beneath the sparkling snowy garments, Santa Spins functions in a medium volatile way while knocking out a return to player of 95.73%. To share in its Xmas cheer (or despair), any device may be utilised, and bet levels range from 10 p/c to $/€100 per spin.

The word jolly sprang to mind when pursuing the set of symbols on Santa Spins' paytable. The line-up includes J-A card rank low pays, as well as a wreath, bells, a reindeer, and a lady character as the premium symbols. Hitting a five-of-a-kind win pays 0.8-2x the bet for the card symbols or 5 to 40 times the stake for five of the high pays.

Santa Spins: Slot Features

Wild Santa

Keep an eye out for the House symbols, which appear anywhere on all but the leftmost reel; up to 16 of them can land at once on a spin. Houses do not form line wins, and on their own, they don't actually do anything except take up space. However, when a Santa Wild hits, it throws gifts at any Houses in view, turning them wild. The Santa Wild appears on the first reel only and is always fully stacked. Both the Santa Wild and the wild versions of House symbols can substitute for any normal pay symbol.

Xmas Spins

Xmas Spins scatters award 10, 12, or 15 free spins when 3, 4, or 5 of them land, respectively. In the bonus round, the Wild Santa is locked in place on the first reel for the total duration of the free spins. Each Xmas Spins scatter that lands during the round awards +1 free spin.

Santa Spins: Slot Verdict

In the beginning, there's a chance Santa Spins makes a warm first impression with its seasonal presentation of a charming settlement plunged into the depths of winter. However, this is not one of those oppressively cold winter scenes where the townsfolk huddle around the fireplace, pacing about or rubbing their hands to warm them up. Rather, the inhabitants of this town joyously embrace winter, for this means jolly Saint Nick will soon be making his rounds with his faithful troop of reindeer, delivering good cheer and presents across the globe.

Scratch beneath the surface, though, and there isn't much to Santa Spins outside its cheerful outer wrapper. House symbols are sort of annoying when Santa Wilds don't hit since they just take up space and do nothing like a derelict property that is neither lived in nor rented. Perhaps it would have been just as good if Houses were always wild. However, that would eviscerate the only extra besides the free spins bonus round, plus converting Houses to wilds provides a direct link to the idea of Santa doling out gifts. Once triggered, free spins, again, rely on the Santa Wild turning Houses wild mechanic for much of its excitement, such as it is. The system isn't overly lucrative if you were wondering, with winning potential in Santa Spins reaching its apogee at 995.2 times the stake.

Amongst the busy mass of Christmas Slots, Santa Spins wasn't one of the particularly memorable ones. It has a suitably pleasant appearance and does some okay trickery with House to wild conversions at times but ultimately failed to make a tremendous impression.