Holiday Spirits – Bringing A Christmas Carol to the Reels
One of the most enjoyable Christmas slots to set the mood is Holiday Spirits from Play’n GO. The slot is based on the Charles Dicken’s 1843 story, A Christmas Carol and it brings the novel’s main character Ebenezer Scrooge to the reels alongside the ghost of the Christmas Past, Present and Future.
Holiday Spirits is played on a 3-reel, 3-row video slot that offers 5 paylines. All wins must be formed from left to right and consist of three matching symbols, either horizontally or diagonally.
The reels are displayed on a wooden frame whilst a Christmas tree and cosy fire is seen on either side of the reels in the background. The Christmas tree is decorated with yellow, blue and red ornaments. Enhancing the Christmas theme is an atmospheric soundtrack and sound effects.
On the reels, players can expect to find lower valued Christmas symbols and higher valued characters. The lower valued symbols include a candy cane, mistletoe, a snowman in a snow globe and a Christmas stocking with a present and candy cane inside of it. As for the higher valued symbols, players can expect to find the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future on the reels. The most rewarding standard symbol is Jacob Marley, paying 6 times your stake for a winning combination.
The wild in Holiday Spirits is none other than Ebenezer Scrooge himself, sporting a top hat and a pair of spectacles. The Scrooge Wild substitutes all standard symbols and pays 24 times your stake for three across a payline.
Above the reels, there is a shiny vintage clock and a wrapped Christmas present with an x2 tag written on it. On any random spin, Ebenezer’s Clock can trigger and award a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5 or x10. In addition, Ebenezer’s Gift can also trigger once the Clock multiplier is active. Essentially, this means the x2 present will double any active multiplier from the Clock feature. That means payouts can benefit from multipliers of x4, x6, x8, x10 or x20, effectively doubling the rewards from Ebenezer’s Clock.
To truly put you in the Christmas mood, Holiday Spirits has three separate bonus features that are triggered by the Ghosts of the Christmas Past, Present and Future. The Win Spins feature is triggered if you land two stacked Christmas spirit symbols on any two reels with an active multiplier. If you land double stacked symbols on any two reels, you will trigger Win Spins depending on the active multiplier:
- A x2 multiplier triggers Win Spins of Christmas Future
- A x3, x4 or x5 multiplier triggers Win Spins of Christmas Present
- A x10 multiplier triggers Win Spins of Christmas Past
Win Spins of Christmas Future
Win Spins of Christmas Future is played with a x2 multiplier on the activating spin. The two stacked symbols lock into place and re-spins occur until you eventually win. Each time a re-spin happens, and you do not win, the multiplier increases. It increases from x2 to x3, x4, x5 until eventually x10. Once the multiplier is x10, you are guaranteed a win. If you win beforehand, the feature ends.
Win Spins of Christmas Present
Win Spins of Christmas Present is played with a x3, x4 or x5 multiplier on the activating spin. For this feature, the two stacked symbols lock into place but the multiplier does not increase. Instead, a re-spin with a guaranteed win occurs. The multiplier depends on its value during the activating spin.
Win Spins of Christmas Past
Win Spins of Christmas Past is triggered when there is a x10 active multiplier on the triggering spin. The two stacked symbols lock into place and a re-spin occurs. If the re-spin is unsuccessful, the multiplier decreases to x5, x4, x3 and eventually x2. On the last re-spin of x2, a win is guaranteed.
Holiday Spirits is certainly an exciting Christmas slot that has an unusual yet fascinating bonus mechanic. Based on the Christmas Carol novel, the Christmas themed slot has an RTP of 96.54% and a potential maximum win of 1,600 times your stake.
Aloha Christmas – Celebrations in Hawaii
Christmas is a magical time of the year that is celebrated in almost every corner of the world. The cliché that Christmas has to be snowy is not relevant everywhere. For instance, in Hawaii Christmas is celebrated on warm beaches.
A perfect representation of this is the Aloha Christmas slot from NetEnt. The action takes place on a 6-reel, 6-row grid that pays out for forming successful clusters (groups) of 9 matching symbols. To be included in part of the cluster, the symbols must link either horizontally or vertically.
The slot’s Hawaiian Christmas theme is brought to life with blue skies, a sandy beach, a cocktail bar and a Tiki Mask totem wearing a Christmas hat on the right-hand side of the reels. The totem animates as well, pulling faces and making gestures whenever you land a winning cluster.
There is an upbeat tune playing in the background and whenever you click on the spin button, you can hear Christmas bells ringing until the spin comes to a gradual stop, further enhancing the Christmas atmosphere. The animations and graphics are simple yet suit the style of the slot.
On the reels, players will find four lower-valued symbols and three higher valued ones. The lower valued symbols include a flower, a shell, an opened coconut and a pineapple. As for the higher valued symbols, players will find Blue, Green and Red Tiki Masks, all wearing Christmas hats. The higher-valued Tiki Masks can land as stacked symbols, counting as two symbols.
There is also a Free Spins scatter symbol, Mystery symbols (that always are the same for the individual spin) and Multiplier Wild symbols. The Multiplier Wild symbols can only be revealed from Mystery symbols. The Multiplier Wilds can replace any symbols except for the scatter and Starfish symbol. They can have multiplier values of x2, x3, x4, x5 and x7. As for the Starfish symbol, it can only land during the free spins bonus round and is collected. For every three Starfish symbols collected, the player is given two additional free spins and one of the lower-valued symbols is removed from play for the remainder of the feature.
In Aloha Christmas, there are a variety of bonus features. One of them is found in the Mystery Symbol. Once the spin is complete, all Mystery Symbols transform into matching symbols and a payout is awarded. In addition, these Mystery Symbols can reveal themselves as Multiplier Wilds, with values of x2, x3, x4, x5 or x7.
To complement the Mystery Symbols, re-spins are awarded for any winning cluster. If you land a cluster of successful symbols, they lock into position and a re-spin follows. Any additional symbols that contribute to the cluster are added and the process is repeated. This keeps on happening until no new winning symbols are added to the cluster. At that moment, a payout is made, and a multiplier is applied. The multiplier depends on how big the cluster is. Here is how the multiplier value is determined:
- A multiplier of x1 is applied for 9-18 symbols
- A multiplier of x2 is applied for 19-24 symbols
- A multiplier of x3 is applied for 25-30 symbols
- A multiplier of x5 is applied for 31-34 symbols
- A multiplier of x7 is applied for 35-36 symbols
Free Spins Feature
Lastly, Aloha Christmas also features a Free Spins bonus round. The bonus round is triggered by landing 3 or more scatter symbols. Landing 4, 5 or 6 scatters will trigger the bonus round and a payout of 10, 25 or 50 times your stake. For the bonus feature, players can choose one of the following modes:
- Play with 10 Free Spins and Mystery Symbol Multipliers of x2, x3 or x4.
- Play with 6 Free Spins and Mystery Symbol Multipliers of x4, x5 or x7.
The Mystery Symbol Multipliers apply each time you land mystery symbols on the reels. They can morph into the selected multipliers. In addition, you can also collect Starfish symbols. For every three starfish symbols collected, you add two additional free spins to your total and remove one of the lower-valued symbols. This can be repeated four times, ensuring 8 free spins are added and all lower-valued symbols are removed from play.
Aloha Christmas is an exciting Christmas themed slot with a highly respectable RTP of 96% and a maximum win of 1,750 times your total stake.
Mystery Fox Christmas Party – Celebrations in Las Vegas
Christmas is celebrated everywhere, including Las Vegas. Mystery Fox Christmas Party is a fair reflection of that. The Wizard Games slot is set in Las Vegas where Mr Fox and Foxette party in Christmas style.
The action takes place on a 5x4 grid that offers a total of 60 paylines. All wins must form from left to right. Mystery Fox Christmas Party is a spin-off version of the original Mystery Fox slot from Wizard Games. In this sequel, the characters and symbols are all Christmas related.
Behind the reels, you will see the many tall buildings in Las Vegas and the famous ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada’ signpost. On the right-hand side of the reels, Foxette stands looking on your every spin and gesturing once you land a winning combination. There is also an upbeat Christmas jive that has ringing bells to help and create a festive atmosphere.
On the reels, players can expect to find lower-valued ornament symbols that include the card suits (clubs, diamonds, spades, hearts) and a star. Higher-valued symbols include two martinis, a roulette wheel, a red sports car, a safe full of gold and two separate fox gents wearing Christmas attire.
There is also a wild symbol that can land stacked which is represented by Foxette (the same fox that stands next to the reels). Mystery Fox Christmas Party also has a scatter symbol that triggers the free spins bonus round and a Bonus Symbol that is collected for each individual reel.
In Mystery Fox Christmas Party, there are several bonuses. One of them is the Full Wild Feature. It is triggered by collecting Bonus Symbols for each reel. Once a reel has collected four Bonus Symbols, the whole reel turns wild and remains so for the following four consecutive spins.
Free Spins Feature
The other bonus feature is the Free Spins, which is triggered when at least 3 scatter symbols land on the same spin. The Free Spins feature can award up to 75 Free Spins with up to 1, 2 or 3 Full Wild Reels. Here is how.
3 Scatters
Landing 3 scatters can award one of the following:
- 2 Free Spins with reels 1, 3 and 5 fully wild
- 6 Free Spins with reels 2 and 4 fully wild
- 15 Free Spins with only reel 3 fully wild
4 Scatters
Landing 4 scatters can award one of the following:
- 4 Free Spins with reels 1, 3 and 5 fully wild
- 12 Free Spins with reels 2 and 4 fully wild
- 30 Free Spins with only reel 3 fully wild
5 Scatters
Landing 5 scatters can award one of the following:
- 10 Free Spins with reels 1, 3 and 5 fully wild
- 30 Free Spins with reels 2 and 4 fully wild
- 75 Free Spins with only reel 3 fully wild
Ultimately, it is up to the player to choose which game mode they prefer for the Free Spins bonus round. Mystery Fox Christmas Party is complete with a 94.65% RTP.