Free slot: Santa’s Wonderland

How Santa's Wonderland works

It's a good time of year, more and more Christmas-themed games are being added to your favorite online casinos. Today, we are going to analyze a slot machine from the leading online game provider: Santa's Wonderland. With toys, baubles and mini Santa Clauses in Wild, the gifts are likely to rain down on players who have been good enough!

This slot has been added to most online casinos as of November 19, 2021. Its volatility is considered high, as with the vast majority of Pragmatic Play slots, but the maximum winning potential has been enhanced especially for the occasion with the possibility of winning up to 7,500 times your original bet on Santa's Wonderland! The theoretical return to player (RTP) doesn't seem to have been affected by this increase in volatility as it is still 96%. The starting grid of Santa's Wonderland is in 8x8 format with 8 reels composed of 8 symbols each for vast connection possibilities. A very interesting feature takes place during each round of Santa's Wonderland and allows to trigger numerous mini bonuses. Indeed, you will certainly have noticed colored snowflakes appearing on the grid behind the symbols during each round of the game. When a connection is made with a symbol present on a colored snowflake, it triggers its mini bonus. 5 different snowflakes activate 5 different mini bonuses:

• The blue snowflake triggers Refresh -> when no new connections are available during that round, this feature will clear the entire grid of all symbols (except the Wild) to give you a second chance

• Purple snowflake triggers Wild Santa -> when no new connections are available this round, one symbol and all its like will be changed to Wilds

• Yellow snowflake triggers Blocks -> when no new connections are available in this round, 2x2 symbols are randomly added to the grid

• Red snowflake triggers Supersize -> when no new connections are available in this round, a random symbol in the format 3x3, 4x4 or 5x5 is added to the grid

• Green snowflake triggers Lucky Santa -> when no new connections are available in this round, between 5 and 15 Wilds are added to the grid at random

If multiple mini bonuses are obtained, they are triggered in the order given above.

Santa's Wonderland's different symbols

Few different symbols are used to validate payouts in Santa's Wonderland, which makes it easy for you. The wild is simply Santa Claus, but can only appear in the various special features. Paying symbols are classified into 2 distinct categories according to their rarity:

• Premium symbols are easily recognizable. They are represented by a toy and are the rarest symbols in the game. Their connections allow you to get big wins

• Common symbols allow for simpler connections, but pay much less. They are represented by Christmas tree balls of different colors

The image above shows you the payouts for potential connections with each of the Santa's Wonderland pay symbols. The bigger the connection, the bigger the payout. In this example, the bet is $1.

The Different Connections in Santa's Wonderland

Santa's Wonderland's connections do not require any predefined paylines and are very simple to understand. In fact, the payout connections in this slot machine are made through clusters. These groups of 5 or more identical symbols are valid when the symbols are in contact with each other, either horizontally or vertically. With each valid connection, the used symbols are removed from the grid to let new symbols cascade in to replace them. This tumble system allows you to potentially make several different connections in a single round.

How the Santa's Wonderland bonus works

You may have noticed the clock-shaped counter on the right side of the starting grid. This clock keeps track of the symbols used during each base game connection and turns them into points. Get 140 points to trigger the Midnight Riches bonus in Santa's Wonderland! When your round ends, the bonus starts directly from level 1 and gives you a x3 win multiplier that takes effect immediately and remains active for the duration of the feature. Each mini-bonus is guaranteed for each bonus level and they are always triggered in the same order.

Keep collecting symbols and therefore points to progress through the bonus levels and increase your total multiplier:

• 116 symbols collected takes you to level 2 and gives you a total multiplier x6

• 120 symbols collected will take you to level 3 and give you a total multiplier of x9

• 124 collected symbols takes you to level 4 and grants you a total multiplier of x12

• 132 collected symbols will take you to level 5 and give you a total multiplier of x15

As you can see, the number of collected symbols is reset with each new level you reach. Rare for a Pragmatic Play slot machine: it is not possible to buy the Santa's Wonderland free spins bonus directly, so you will have to be patient and lucky to discover the bonus levels.

Our review of Santa's Wonderland

Santa's Wonderland looks like many of the slots that Pragmatic Play has offered us before, but the Christmas universe is interesting, exciting and very well done. The different base game features add spice to the game and the bonus levels are very exciting. The only possible criticism could be the lack of a bonus buy-in feature, but it is interesting to note that Santa's Wonderland can get you a payout of 7,500 times your bet, which is quite rare from this provider!