I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of deja-vu when I began to play Santa’s Great Gifts; haven’t Pragmatic Play already released a Christmas-themed online slot this year? I didn’t bother going to double-check; after all, what difference does it make? At the same time, though, it does feel a bit “overkill” for developers to pump out multiple Christmas-themed games several months before the season even arrives! This one doesn’t make use of any traditional pay lines or pay ways, instead opting to make every symbol a scatter. That being the case, the important statistics here are the 30 available positions and the 12 symbols required for a top win. It also boasts a 96.23% – 96.33% RTP and a maximum win of 5,000x your bet.
So, what gifts did Santa bring us this time in his “great” sack? Well, he brought scatter symbols… the paytable is eager to point out that these pay in any position… which seems strange considering that every symbol also pays in any position. I hope that Santa isn’t getting confused in his old age! He also brought presents, of course, which come in four different colours and contain multipliers between 2x and 100x. There’s a free spin feature, along with both bonus bet and bonus buy options for those who enjoy that kind of thing. And a partridge in a pear tree.
Slot developers seem eager to get us in the mood for Christmas early this year, so why resist? Resistance is futile, remember – we’ve been warned of that before… So go ahead, load up our free demo slot of Santa’s Great Gifts below, and accept the inevitable!
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 5 |
| Paylines | Scatter Pays |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 5,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.33% |
| Our Rating | 7.8 |
Santa’s Great Gifts Slot Casino Bonuses
Santa’s Great Gifts Slot Free Play
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Santa’s Great Gifts Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Wow, are we doing this again… already? The theme of this one is, of course, Christmas, and it’s something that Pragmatic Play definitely has lots of experience with – even if my memory is tricking me when it tells me that they have already produced a Christmas game this year. For example, there’s Christmas Carol Megaways, a Christmas-themed entry in the Big Bass Bonanza series, and no doubt a bunch more Pragmatic Play Christmas games already out there… and that’s before we even start to consider the multitude of similar titles available from every other online slot developer. In short, if you love Christmas-themed games, you are absolutely spoilt for choice… if you hate them, I guess you had better brace yourself – the next couple of months are certain to be absolutely bursting at the seams with more content such as this.
Will the paytable be enough to convince you of the merits of Santa’s Great Gifts? Once again, every symbol in this game pays as a scatter, meaning that you only need to land the maximum number of 12 symbols anywhere on the screen to be rewarded with the top payout from each. That may not be as easy as it sounds, even with the 30 possible positions available on the enlarged reel set. A snow globe holding a snowman is the highest-paying symbol and has a return of 50x your bet for 12-30 symbols, whilst a gingerbread man will pay you 25x your bet, and what could well be a Christmas-tree themed biscuit is worth 15x you’re your bet for each completed set of 12 or more. The candy cane will pay you 12x the current stake for a maximum hit, whilst a cup of candy holds the last high-paying symbol spot with a return of 10x for each maximum grouping.
The wagering options are standard Pragmatic Play, with three controls allowing you to change the number of coins and bet level to quickly switch between the minimum of €0.20 and the maximum of €100.00 for each round.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game uses a large playfield with six reels, each consisting of five rows. This creates 30 possible positions for symbols to land, making the 12 symbols required anywhere in view to score a maximum win feel as if it should be relatively easy. Spoiler here – it’s not. All symbols appear in stacked configurations, and the stacks of lower-paying symbols seem much larger and more frequent than those of higher-paying symbols. Because of this, you may find yourself hitting groups of 12 symbols – but they are likely to consist of the lowest-paying symbols on the paytable.
Multiplier Symbols
This is a rolling/cascading/tumbling reels format slot, meaning that any wins you achieve will have their symbols removed from the grid immediately after landing, allowing new symbols to drop into their place from the top of the screen.
The four present symbols, which can appear randomly on the reels, can hold multipliers between 2x and 100x. If multiple presents should land during a single paid spin, their values will be added together before the total is applied to your winnings at the end of the round.
Bonus Bet
The bonus bet has a small premium of 25% on top of the regular price per spin and significantly increases your chances of winning the free spin bonus round. The paytable makes this option sound like a good deal for the price, so I’d be tempted to play with it enabled.
Santa’s Great Gifts Slot Bonus Features
There is just a single bonus round in Santa’s Great Gifts, but I didn’t find this to be much of a problem – the scatter-pay format of the base game makes it feel quite interesting and unique, meaning that you are unlikely to become bored or find the base game monotonous during an average session.
Winning yourself a bonus round requires hitting four or more scatter symbols anywhere on the reels, with 10 free spins being awarded for the minimum four scatter trigger and 15 or 20 free spins awarded for five or six scatters, respectively.
Free Spins
The big draw of this feature is the so-called progressive feature, meaning that multiple levels of play are available during the bonus round. You begin on level one, where the present symbols have their usual multiplier values of 2x to 100x, but after collecting six present symbols, you will be upgraded to level two, where the presents are guaranteed to have a minimum multiplier of 8x.
After collecting another six presents, your level is upgraded again, increasing the value of each present to a minimum of 15x, whilst level four will increase the minimum value of every present to 50x.
You can also re-trigger this feature by hitting three or more scatter symbols whilst the feature is in play, adding an additional five free spins to your remaining counter.
Bonus Buy
The bonus buy menu has four options, allowing you to start the feature at each of the four levels described in the previous section. The cost to buy into the bonus round at the regular first level is 100x the normal bet, increasing to 200x, 400x, or 500x if you wish to upgrade the bonus round to the higher levels right from the start.
These options do seem as if they should have a significant benefit, and whilst I was testing the game, I definitely did find that I had some fantastic results from choosing the higher levels. The only issue is that if things do not go your way, you can spend a whole bunch of cash on a very poor paying feature. Essentially, the more you spend on the bonus buy menu, the bigger the risk you are taking. Choose with care!
Santa’s Great Gifts Slot Review Final Thoughts
I have come to expect great things from Pragmatic Play’s online slots, and Santa’s Great Gifts does not disappoint. I really enjoy the scatter-pay base game, but the bonus round with its uPGrading present symbols really sets your heartbeat racing. The competition for the best Christmas slot of 2022 continues to get more fierce each week – keep them coming, guys!
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