As the Christmas period gets earlier and earlier each year, it becomes statistically more and more likely that you’ll be playing Santa’s Wild Ride during the festive season. Anyway there’s no reason why you shouldn’t play a Christmas-themed online slot whenever you want so read on to find out if this Microgaming offering is your cup of tea.
Santa’s Wild Ride features five reels and 243 ways to win which is one of Microgaming’s methods of abolishing the usual paylines – you can win as long as matching symbols appear in adjacent reels. Christmas music adds to the holiday atmosphere.
Snow, a full moon and a starry sky fill the background to this slot and every symbol is theme-related so we have a selection of Christmas food and drink, a North Pole sign, Santa and his motorbike, a drill-wielding elf and Santa’s foxy female assistant.
The Santa’s Wild Ride logo is wild and the keys to the motorbike are the scatter symbols.
Bonus Features
Santas’s Wild Symbol
Just a quick word about this useful wild symbol; if it contributes to a winning combination in the base game it will multiply that win by 2x, 3x or 4x. Happy days!
Free Gift Bonus
Free gifts from Santa appear on reels two and four in the base game only and will reward you with cash prizes.
Free Spins
This is where the money is and there are a possible 1,900,000 coins available for the luckiest players. Land three or more of the key scatter symbols anywhere on the reels and you’ll get 25 free goes. You’ll also get to choose one of the following bonuses:
- Stacked Wild – each reel contains wilds stacked on top of each other.
- Expanding Wild – will fill an entire reel with wilds if it lands.
- Trailing Wild – wild symbols are randomly added to the reels before each spin.
Free spins cannot be re-triggered from within this feature.
Santa’s Wild Ride Online Slot Playing Tips
When you land the free spins feature there’s a choice to be made regarding the wilds; we prefer the trailing wild as it seems to allow for the possibility of higher value wins. We also found the stacked wild more profitable than the expanding wild.
Verdict
This is probably the most Christmassy slot we’ve played and so it’s well worth trying out in the last couple of months of the year. A long and profitable free spins round also means that there’s some money to be made here for the luckiest players.
| Game: | Santa's Wild Ride |
| Manufacturer: | Microgaming |
| Reels: | 5 |
| Paylines: | 243 |
| Bet Range: | £0.30 - £30.00 |
| Bonus Features: | Yes |
| Free Spins: | Yes |
| Autoplay: | Yes |
| Mobile: | No |
| Progressive: | Yes |
| Base Game Jackpot: | 800x |
| RTP: | Unknown |