Santas Wonderland Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Santa's Wonderland Review

Pragmatic Play has had some well-deserved success with their engaging grid slot Gems Bonanza, and it seems like a very fitting choice for a Holidays season makeover. Santa's Wonderland is not quite a pure reskin job however, which in this particular case is regrettable. The math model has been watered down significantly, and there are several other disadvantages to consider as well.

We’ll walk you through everything in the review summary, but it’s safe to say that cynics will prefer the original game over this Christmas version. If you have a soft spot for the Festive season however, Santa's Wonderland might be well worth your while. It’s still a solid grid slot filled with entertaining moments, not least in the thrill-ride bonus round, and it’s a bit strange that Pragmatic has taken the time and effort to make these adjustments instead of churning out a simple reskin job.

Santa's Wonderland Slot Features

You need between 5 and 25+ matching symbols in a cluster anywhere on the grid to win, and the premiums award 150 to 500 x your stake for 25+ in a cluster. The Tumble feature makes sure all winning symbols are removed, and new and/or existing symbols will then drop down to fill the gaps. This process repeats as long as you keep winning, and wilds cannot land organically in this game.

You get 5 different-colored snowflake symbols underneath the regular symbols in random positions per spin.

• Blue snowflake - Refresh - clears all symbols from the grid except wilds, triggering the tumble feature.
• Purple snowflake - Wild Santa - all instances of a random symbol type are turned into Santa Wilds.
• Yellow snowflake - Blocks - awards random 2x2 blocks of matching symbols to random positions.
• Red snowflake - Supersize - adds a randomly sized 3x3, 4x4 or 5x5 symbol to the grid.
• Green snowflake - Lucky Santa - gives you 5 to 15 wild symbols randomly spread across the grid.

The Bonus Round is called the Midnight Riches Progressive feature, and you’ll notice that all base game winning symbols make the clock on the right-hand side move towards midnight. You need 140 winning symbols collected in a single tumble sequence to trigger the Midnight Riches bonus round, and it takes you through all the modifiers in the same order as listed above.

You start with a global x3 multiplier in the first level of the feature, and collecting winning symbols is how you level up. The 5 modifiers are guaranteed to play out per level, and here’s an overview:

• 116 collected symbols awards level 2 with an x6 multiplier.
• 120 collected symbols awards level 3 with an x9 multiplier.
• 124 collected symbols awards level 4 with an x12 multiplier.
• 132 collected symbols awards level 5 with an x15 multiplier.

Non-UK players, and anyone living in an eligible jurisdiction, can buy the Midnight Riches Progressive feature from the in-game menu. This will set you back 100x your stake, and it takes you directly into the feature.

The 200 Spins Santa's Wonderland Slot Experience

You get to see a few modifier base game wins, before we purchase the Midnight Riches Progressive feature around the 1-minute mark.

Review Summary

The Xmas skin fits the Gems Bonanza template like a glove, but Pragmatic Play has made some strange choices instead of releasing a pure Holidays reskin job. First of all, the 7,500x potential is reduced from 10,000x, and the symbols are also worth less. You need to collect more winning symbols to trigger the bonus round (and to level up), and the RTP range values have also been decreased a bit.

The Pragmatic team might need to take a lesson from Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, cause this stinginess is hardly in tune with the festive spirit. If you can look past all of the above however, Santa's Wonderland offers highly entertaining Holidays gaming. A quick spin option has been included to make the game run even smoother, and it’s a joy to plow through all the modifiers when the Midnight Riches feature finally triggers.

Pros

• Up to 5 modifiers in escrow system
• All 5 play out per level in the 5-tier bonus round
• Bonus buy for 100x (not UK)
• Win up to 7,500x your stake

Cons

• Gems Bonanza copycat with:
• Lower potential, symbol values and RTP
• Also, beware of adjustable RTP ranges

If you enjoy Santa's Wonderland Slot you should also try:

Gems Bonanza - is a better alternative as you might understand from the above, at least if you could care less about the Christmas theme. You get all the same features, but they require less symbols collected to trigger, and you also get a higher RTP (still ranges), and a 10,000x potential.

Fat Santa - is Push Gaming’s seasonal reskin of their classic, Fat Rabbit, and it plays out on a 5x5 grid with 50 paylines. You’ll benefit from random wilds when Santa’s Sleigh flies across the grid, and he’ll gobble up mince pies to fatten up as a wild in the bonus round. This can lead to 10,223x payouts at the most.

Jingle Bells Power Reels - is a Red Tiger Xmas release, and it’s a beefed up version of their original seasonal title.

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