Has Christmas Comes Early in the New Play’n GO Online Slot – Xmas Magic?
It’s that time of the year when the allChristmas themed slots start to arrive at our casinos, we checked out Raging Reindeer from iSoftBet and now its time to take at look at Play’n Go’s offering Xmas Magic which will be playable at Unibet Casino.
The Xmas Magic slot uses a slightly larger than normal 5×4 reel layout and comes with 50 adjustable paylines, using the backdrop of Christmas themed house with chimneys you will find the reels adorned with stockings, candy canes, snow globes and mistletoe and even Santa Claus dropping Wild presents down the chimneys.
Whilst this does sound like an appealing backdrop for a Christmas slot, it also didn’t go unnoticed that this machine is unusually similar in terms of mechanics to the Happy Halloween slot previously released by Play’n Go, and on further testing it turns out that this does seem to be what we would be called a re-skin of an older slot.
The basic mechanics of this slot are the heavily stacked premium symbols on the reels, capable of scoring quite large base game hits with 50 paylines in play, the bonus round is where things heat up as added wilds are dropped down the chimney on each free spin during the bonus round giving heavily stacked wilds on the reels by the end of the bonus round.
These added wilds all in a large clump on the reels can make for some fantastic wins during the bonus round when they all align and land in view but likewise, you can also have some very disappointing bonuses when this doesn’t happen. The biggest factor here though is the ability to fully re-trigger the bonus round meaning even more added wilds!
The bonus round, in essence, is a kind of all or nothing affair with mediocre wins when the wilds don’t line up and huge wins if they do, so it’s definitely worth taking note that this machine even with a Xmas theme does come with quite a bit of variance too!
Xmas Magic Slot – Gameplay and Bonus Features
| Xmas Magic Slot - Technical Summary | |
|---|---|
| Paylines | 50 |
| Variance/Volatility | Medium |
| Free Spins | Yes |
| Multipliers | No |
| Re-Trigger Bonus Round | Yes |
| Special Features | Free Spins Added Wilds Full Re-Triggers |
| RTP (Return To Player) | 96.50% |
Bonus Features
Free Spins
The free spins bonus round is triggered by landing 3 scatters on the first 3 reels and awards an initial 10 free spins.
During every free spin during the bonus round two extra Wild symbols will be added onto reels 2-5, which in turn then creates longer stacks of Wilds on each of these reels.
There is also the ability to full re-trigger this bonus round awarding 10 further free spins along with more added wilds added onto the reels during these extra spins.
Xmas Magic Slot
Overall Opinions
As a standalone release Xmas Magic Slot is perfectly playable, there is definitely some great win potential in the bonus round and it is actually quite a volatile machine, which is rare for most seasonal styled slots.
In our playtests, we managed big base game hits, but only a few bonus rounds over 100x stake, we also didn’t manage to re-trigger the bonus round which is really the key biggest factor on this slot to get extra added wilds.
The main issue we had with this release is that essentially it is a re-skin of an older slot title and nothing mechanics-wise has been changed or improved, a bit like unwrapping your presents on Christmas day to find out it was an old present from last year (maybe not so dramatic but you get the idea!).
If however, you see this as a new slot then you should enjoy playing it as long as you like a good dose of variance in your slots!
18+. BeGambleAware.org. New Customers Only. Minimum deposit £10.
50x wagering requirement applies. Bonus will expire 30 days after opt-in. Further T&Cs apply.
