Games

12 Slots of Christmas – Rated

February 22, 2024 William Mcmaster

More Slots To Enjoy This Festive Season

When the trees with fancy lights go up with soulful Christmas songs played on repeat, it is the season to be jolly! Take things up a notch by playing fun Christmas slots. Like the season, these slots are colorful with Christmas details such as gifts, snow, and Santa.

As expected, there are numerous freebies to enjoy on the slots, including free spins and large payouts. Based on payouts, features, design, and mechanics, we have compiled a list of the 12 best Christmas slots for you to explore this festive season:

Jingle Spin 10/10

NetEnt’s Jingle Spin is a fun Christmas-themed online slot with five reels and nine paylines. The game is set in Santa’s workshop, where a group of elves drop presents from Santa’s wheel of fortune into your reels. It is filled with traditional Christmas symbols such as the Christmas tree, reindeer, pinecone, and red bauble – the wild symbol. This wild symbol will give you up to 50 free spins.

Secrets of Christmas 9/10

Secrets of Christmas is a 5-reel slot with 25 fixed paylines and juicy bonuses for every player. The game design echoes Christmas with a wooden cabin in the snow as the background. All symbols are Christmas-themed, including the card symbols made up of garlands laced with lights. Free spins can be won with scatters, and a bonus game is available to players to increase winnings.

Taco Brothers Saving Christmas 9/10

With 243 different ways to win big in Elk Studio’s Taco Brothers Saving Christmas slot game, your holidays just got better. The reward here is up to 1,500 times your stake. The three brothers act as wilds and can trigger a Respin feature.

The symbols are the same as the original game, but it is set on a winter night. It also features festive lamps and a gold bell embellished with holly to add to the game’s holiday spirit.

Secret Santa 8/10

Secret Santa from Microgaming gives you 1024 ways to win in one of the most exciting Holiday slots of the season. The 5-reel game features seven mystery features, which can be randomly triggered as you play.

Up to 82,500 points can be won with wild reels, free spins, scatters, rolling reels, mystery multipliers, wild boosts, and dashing wilds. Characters in the game are Santa of course, teddy bears, cake, and other Christmas decorations.

A Very Foxin’ Christmas 9/10

This Christmas slot from NextGen Gaming, with an RTP of 96%, comes with 25 active lines played on five reels. In the themed online slot, Foxin has a Christmas tree in his home and a merry soundtrack that keeps you company as you play. Its features include wilds, scatters, free spins, multipliers, and a unique SuperBet feature that lets you go with huge payouts.

Fat Santa 7/10

A well-fed Santa is the first center of attraction in this game by Relax Gaming. With an RTP of 96%, it features five reels and 50 paylines, plus you can win up to 1,000x the value of your stake. It features an exciting feel that complements the Christmas air perfectly.

Symbols in the game include Fat Santa, an elf, Rudolph, a snowman, and so on. Free spins, wilds in the form of Christmas pies, and other exciting bonuses make it one of the best slots of the season.

A Christmas Carol 9/10

Charles Dickens’ Christmas legend, Ebenezer Scrooge, is the one around whom this non-progressive, 3D, 5-reel slot is based. Featuring excellent graphics of Scrooge’s bedroom as the background, it comes with 25 paylines. The ghosts of Christmas are the scatters, while a Christmas turkey is the wild that substitutes every other symbol except the ghosts.

The Christmas Present symbol also turns all ghost icons on the reels into wilds. The maximum win you can get on a jackpot here is 513,000 coins.

Merry X-Mas 6/10

Set the tone for your festivities this Christmas by playing the Merry X-mas slot. By placing the maximum wager, you can win up to 187,500 coins as a jackpot prize. Designed with five reels, it has 15 paylines and an RTP of 95.8%. It does not have a free spins feature, but other unique bonus modes make up for it. The main symbols here are Christmas tree decoration ornaments, making it a fun holiday slot.

Santa Surprise 7/10

Playtech’s Santa Surprise is the slot game of the season with its five reels and 20 paylines. Santa is the wild symbol in this game, and his house is the scatter. Just like one would expect from Santa, the bonuses on this game are so huge you can win 10,000 credits at once. The graphics are also sleek and in-line with the cheerful Christmas spirit.

Gingerbread Lane 8/10

A 5-reel slot with 25 paylines, Gingerbread Lane, is a slot of Christmas tree decor. The symbols are a Christmas tree, a pair under the mistletoe, an angel, and a cat and dog. It features wilds, scatters, and loads of bonuses for all players, including free spins.

Sweet Bonanza Xmas 8/10

This slot game is a distinct one, unlike many regular Christmas-themed slots. It remains a fruit slot game, but a touch of winter is added, alluding to the North Pole where Santa lives. You are in for a real bonanza with a possible payout of up to 21,100x the worth of your stake!

Christmas Jackpot Bells 9/10

Here is a Christmas slot with progressive jackpots for you to try. It is made up of 5 reels set on a Merry Christmas red background and five fixed paylines. The symbols are mostly fruits, but the Christmas theme is hard to miss. There are no scatters, but there is a wild that can trigger a massive progressive jackpot win.

Make the most of the holiday season with any of these astounding online themed slots for Christmas. Enjoy a good game and gather as many wins as possible, so your Christmas can be indeed merry! Check out more Holiday slots.

A Look Inside The Inner Workings of a Top Casino

February 22, 2024 William Mcmaster

Have you ever wondered how online casinos work? There’s been a steady increase in the number of online casinos over the years. However, we bet even the seasoned gamblers aren’t that much aware of what lies beneath the surface.

We’re so used to looking at the platform, game library, and securities at the least. But really, there’s more to the online casino business model than what meets the eye. If you’re someone frequenting legal online casinos, then you should know a little more than their facades.

In this article, we’ll let you have a look at what’s going on behind the scene of online casinos. We made this article just for you because we want to help you get to know more about your chosen source of entertainment and fun. After all, there’s also money involved in this kind of entertainment. You might as well know a lot more about what you’re getting into.

What Jobs Are There In An Online Casino?

We’re sure you’re aware that there are more people working in the background of an online casino. However, do you know exactly what kind of jobs are there?

There are hundreds or even thousands of people worldwide working to give you the best online casino experience possible. If you make a search on the net, these are amongst the online casino jobs you’ll most likely see.

Customer Service Representatives

This is one of the most basic jobs there is in an online casino. However, the role of customer service representatives is vital in the business. Without them, no one would be there to attend to your questions, suggestions, or complaints.

Live Dealers

If an online casino offers live dealer games, there sure are live dealers in it. They are the ones you interact with when playing a live dealer game. They are the virtual counterpart of land-based casino dealers.

UX/UI Designers

This job might sound too technical but basically, UX/UI designers ensure you’ll have a great experience in online casinos. They are behind that user-friendly website with an easy-to-use and aesthetically-pleasing interface.

Coders/Web and App Developers

These are probably some of the most important roles in an online casino. Without them, you wouldn’t even have an online casino to use whether on desktop or mobile devices.

Security Analysts

There are a lot of security threats, breaches, and frauds on the internet. Online casinos combat such issues by hiring security analysts who ensure the casino’s security. This is an important role that benefits not just the online casino but also its players.

Writers

Have you ever read a piece about an online casino that’s so convincing, it made you visit its website? Such kinds of pieces are the writers’ doing. They are also the ones that fill the online casinos with valuable content to attract and help customers.

Other Jobs

To give you an idea of how many more careers there are, we checked out some top casinos for a list of other jobs. Here are some more jobs owe found on the career page of LeoVegas:

Marketing Sales, Production, and Client Acquisition

SEM Manager
Affiliate Manager
Content Marketer
Marketing Compliance Specialist

Tech and Product Tech

Senior Backend Engineer
Javascript Engineer
QA Engineer
QA Analysts

Legal

Compliance Manager
Technical Compliance Specialist

Customer Support

CS System Specialists
Customer Experience Advisor

These are only a few of the vacant positions at LeoVegas when we looked into it. There are a lot more jobs, and each role is vital in the success of an online casino. If you want to check out more, bet365 also has a list of careers available on its website.

Recipe of a Successful Online Casino

Though online casinos have business models that are almost similar, not all become successful. Some are ranked the best while others are blacklisted. What makes some succeed and the others fail? We’ll try to answer that question for you.

Let’s have one of our top online casinos as an example — LeoVegas. Founded in 2011, we can say that LeoVegas is still a young online casino, yet it has a global rating of 4.9 out of 5. They must be doing something right to be rated that high.

License Maintenance Through Best Practices

First and foremost, legal online casinos need to adhere to licensing laws. Obtaining a license is one thing and maintaining it is another. This is something LeoVegas might be doing right.

The company holds licenses from the Malta Gaming Authority, the UK Gambling Commission, and the Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen). The Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) in Spain also authorized LeoVegas in 2019.

To maintain these licenses, LeoVegas sticks to certain practices in compliance with the rules of these licensing authorities. Three of those practices are:

Ensuring no minors are allowed usage of their website.

Legal online casinos do this through verification procedures upon sign-up. It can be a hassle for players like you to verify your identity, but really it’s for your own good.

Making sure no players from countries they are not allowed to offer services can register.

LeoVegas blocks players from these countries. If you can’t access the site, it means you’re living in a restricted area.

Promoting responsible gaming.

Licencing authorities are well aware of the addictive properties of games of chance like online casino games. As such, they require every online casino to have a properly laid-out plan to address this issue. Failure to do so can lead to a fine or suspension or revocation of the casino’s license to operate.

Legal online casinos go to great lengths to ensure they adhere to all rules set by the licensing authorities. Those procedures and rules they are implementing that you find annoying at times are most likely in adherence to gambling laws. So, don’t lose your temper and know that they are necessary for your own protection.

Other Ingredients

A lot of things come into play for online casinos to be successful. Here is a list of other things that directly or indirectly affect a casino’s success or failure.

User-friendly, responsive website that is aesthetically pleasing
Safety and security
Transparent terms and conditions
Excellent payment system
Impressive game library
Outstanding customer service

These are only a few of those things that almost all successful online casinos have in common. For an extensive discussion about the qualities of successful online casinos, you can check out our article about the best online casinos.

Problems That Online Casinos Face

No matter how properly laid-out an online casino business model can be, there will surely be bumps on the road. There will be problems like players abusing bonuses and promotions and players’ connivance. There’s also the issue of take-over of one’s account by another person.

There are a lot more fraud threats that online casinos face. Fortunately, the advances in technology allowed online casino operators to identify and address these problems before they escalate. Successful online casinos have a ready solution for whatever problems they might face.

Final Thoughts

Online gambling is a lucrative business, but its day-to-day operation is more complicated than you imagine. Behind that site that you’re using and the games that you enjoyed playing are people exerting effort to deliver the best services possible.

After reading this article, we hope that you gained a better understanding of how online casinos work. It will surely help you in finding the best online casinos to enjoy your favorite casino games. If you still find it difficult to choose, you can check out our recommended online casinos. We only recommend what we believe are trustworthy ones.

Sources:

Leo Vegas

Bet365 Careers

Casino Careers

Malta Gaming Authority

UK Gambling Commission

The Progress of iGaming As an Industry

February 23, 2024 William Mcmaster

Within the last three decades, iGaming has exploded in popularity to become one of the most valuable markets in the industry. Its inception dates as far back as the mid-90s. Sally M. Gainsbury defines iGaming as “an online game which requires payment, may involve monetary rewards, with the results significantly dependent on chance. The iGaming industry encompasses casino games, sports betting, horse race betting, lottery, poker, mobile gambling, and bingo.

The Birth of i-gaming

Online gaming started to become popular in the mid-90s. In 1994, the government of Antigua and Barbuda was the first country to enact the Free Trade & Processing Zone Act. This law legalized online casinos and sports booking companies. That same year, the first online gambling venue – the Lichtenstein International Lottery, was made accessible to the public.

Established in 1994, Microgaming became the first and biggest online game developer, and created the first online progressive slot game named “Cash Splash”. The company still exists today. In 1995, Windows 95 was launched by Microsoft, this meant that many players could access the internet at the same time online casinos were being launched. The Gaming Club was the first online casino to launch, powered by Microgaming software in 1998.

The First games and Set-up (Early 2000s)

The term “iGaming” originated in the early 2000s when online casinos began to gain widespread prominence. New iGaming hubs began to spring up in several UK Territories including Alderney, Gibraltar, and the Isle of Man. The history of iGaming in Gibraltar began in 1998 with a company known as Victor Chandler, now known as BetVictor.

After this, many casinos moved to the country, making it one of the hotspots for iGaming. Malta is another one of the leading iGaming hubs globally. Boasting a recognized license since 1996, Curacao is one of the oldest and most popular jurisdictions in the world that offer gambling licenses through their regulatory bodies.

Bridge to Mainstream (2005-2015)

One of the breakout technologies during this era was live-streaming. Live casinos were invented using this technology and players received a live video feed of the casino and the dealers, creating a similar atmosphere to a land-based casino.

A few promising iGaming companies such as Canbet, UltimateBet, Absolute Poker, and 666Bet started out well. In fact, 666Bet experienced the highest growth in 2014 and UltimateBet was one of the biggest casinos in the early 2000s. However, they all died out by 2015 for reasons ranging from fraudulent bonuses to cheating players; while other iGaming companies such as Playtech, NetEnt, William Hill, and Evolution Gaming began to increase in popularity.

Current i-gaming Trends

iGaming is growing at a remarkable pace. This is mainly because of the flexibility and convenience it offers. Nowadays, players can access a broad range of games anywhere and anytime, and this comfort and convenience have contributed to the popularity of iGaming.

Advancements in technology have also improved the gaming experience. Now, there are new offerings that include Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, making iGaming more attractive to players. Another factor that contributed to the explosive growth of the iGaming industry was the provision of advanced payment methods, some online casinos now accept cryptocurrencies, further increasing the mainstream adoption of iGaming.

The online gambling market is currently valued at $59 million, with the industry being projected to increase in value up to $93 billion by 2023. In 2019, lotteries were the biggest section of the iGaming industry, accounting for 46% of the total revenue. Accounting for a 7% increase annually, the sports betting section is projected to record an exponential increase in the coming years. iGaming players currently constitute 11% of the global internet traffic.

Additionally, the iGaming industry has contributed significantly to the GDP of countries like Malta, Curacao, Macau, and even the UK. By the end of 2019, the Malta Gaming Authority had issued licenses to 294 casinos. The economy of the island has been diversified to include iGaming, and this has resulted in the creation of 11,747 employment opportunities that contributed to 4.8% of the total jobs in Malta.

Previously, only the Swedish Gaming Authority (Spelinspektionen) were authorized to operate gambling services for real money in Sweden. The advent of digitalization has eliminated monopoly from the system, and players from Sweden can access games from offshore casino operators.

The biggest online gambling companies globally include IGT, GVC Holdings Plc, Bet365, Scientific Games, Paddy Power, Betfair, William Hill, The Stars Group, Playtech, Kindred Group Plc, and 888 Holdings Plc.

The future of i-gaming

With the rapid absorption and modification of modern technologies by online casinos, it is impossible to predict the future of iGaming. In 2019, the iGaming market surpassed $5 billion and is expected to increase at a 16.5% CAGR between 2020 and 2026. It is apparent that the expansion of the iGaming market depends on the government of top countries, including the UK, US, Australia, Malta, Germany, and Sweden, where online gambling is a potentially lucrative venture.

Your Weekly Best New Slots | Week 50 / December 7 – 13, 2020

February 23, 2024 William Mcmaster

Delightful New Slots You Can Enjoy This Week | CompareCasino

CompareCasino bears witness to developers ensuring you have delightful new slots to enjoy every single week all year-round. Proof of that is the interesting new slots that caught our attention in the last stretch of the year.

Our first stop is a holiday-season-themed slot bringing generous max win potentials along with other features. If a Christmas-themed slot doesn’t appeal to you, no worries. You have four more choices in our selection of best new slots this week. Enjoy the usual free spin features together with cascade/avalanche and win multipliers among other things. There are even four Jackpots up for grabs in one of this week’s new slots.

So, sit back and allow us to present to you the details of each of these new slots. You can decide which one you like the most afterward.

5 New Slots To Check Out

Fantasma Games, Thunderkick, and Play’n GO all released delightful new slots you can enjoy playing this week. In addition, TrueLab Games with Yggdrasil and Triple Edge Studios with Microgaming also give you two of the best new slots this week. Let’s dig into what these developers have for us a few weeks before the year ends.

Christmas Tree

With Christmas around the corner, it’s no surprise that TrueLab and Yggdrasil chose a slot theme that matches the season. The Christmas tree not only serves as this slot’s title but also as host to its triangular-shaped grid.

Surrounded by in-season decorations, its grid of 6 rows uses the cluster-pay system. To score a win, you need at least five diagonally-connected matching symbols, which triggers the Cascade feature.

When the cascade ends, the Blizzard feature begins. During this feature, there are 3-9 mystery symbols dropping in random positions that transform into similar symbols. A snowman can also wake up to throw snowballs, turning into wild all symbols similar to the one it hit.

The cascades likewise serve as your ticket to other awesome features. If you trigger at least three consecutive cascades, you’ll receive any of these three presents:

Coin Win awards 5x to 1,000x your bet.
Total Win Multiplier awards 2x to 30x multiplier to your winnings.
5 Free Spins.

During the free spins, the snowman remains active. There is also a progressive win multiplier that starts at x1 and goes up by 1 after every cascade.

With its delightful features and engaging gameplay, this is one of those new slots you’ll surely enjoy playing this week.

Number of Paylines: Cluster Pays	RTP: 96.4%
Min Bet: 0.40	Max Bet: 40
Max Payout: 25,000x	Software Provider: TrueLab Games / Yggdrasil Gaming

Assassin Moon

Triple Edge Studios in partnership with Microgaming lets you in the intriguing life of agents in Assassin Moon. This espionage-themed slot gives you a luxurious view of a millionaire’s villa in the background of its 5×3 game area. This 25-payline slot has 8 pay symbols, and agent Luna serves as the wild which can land on all reels. This is a special kind of wild because it can appear stacked to cover an entire reel.

Helping you take home winnings are loads of features. Choose to use the Win Booster and get extra moon symbols which turn up the RTP to 96.33%. This also increases your chance of activating the HyperHold feature.

Three scatters on reels 2, 3, and 4 awards 10 free spins, activating the feature. The three middle reels form a Jumbo Block 3×3 in size, making it possible to win more free spins.

At least 6 moon symbols trigger the HyperHold feature awarding 3 spins at the beginning. This is where you’ll get a chance to win one of this slot’s four jackpots. The Mini, Minor, and Major jackpots award 50x, 150x, and 750x your bet, respectively. The Mega jackpot pays the highest at 5,000x your stake.

Number of Paylines: 25	RTP: 96.08%
Min Bet: 0.10	Max Bet: 20
Max Payout: 12,500x	Software Provider: Triple Edge Studios / Microgaming

Maze Escape Megaways

Fantasma Games once again made use of the Megaways mechanics in its latest release, the Maze Escape Megaways. Drawing inspiration from King Minos, this mythology-themed slot makes use of ruins as a background of the 6×7 game area. Some tiles are blocked at the beginning though, and you have to form winning combinations to remove the blockers.

Three or more adjacent matching symbols score a win. Base game spin starts with a golden frame highlighting one first-reel tile. A win occurring with the symbol in the tile triggers the Shifting Maze Avalanche. Save for the highlighted one, all other symbols are removed, and the reel then shifts to the left. Two blocked tiles also get uncovered.

Some of the blocked tiles contain special symbols which activate a modifier when the said tiles get uncovered. These modifiers are:

Guidance of Athena. Showers the reel with 1 to 4 special symbols.
Minotaur Wild. Turns an entire reel into a minotaur wild carrying a random x1 to x7 multiplier.

Collect 3 scatter symbols to get 10 Labyrinth Free Spins. During this round, every win not only triggers the Shifting Maze Avalanche but also comes with a multiplier that starts at x1. You’ll also see blocked tiles with the Wings of Icarus symbol. Unblock these tiles and win either 1-3 free spins or a x1 to x3 increase in the win multiplier.

It’s delightful that Fantasma finds new ways to make its Megaways slots unique and something you’ll enjoy each and every week.

Number of Paylines: up to 117,649 win ways	RTP: 96.15%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 40
Max Payout: 25,000x	Software Provider: Fantasma Games

Crystal Quest: Arcane Tower

This week, Thunderkick serves the second installment in its Crystal Quest series. This time, red-haired explorer Gemma searches a jungle named Arcane Tower to find some fortunes.

The game has an entertaining cartoony look, and the animation and sound effects add to the enjoyable gameplay. Some candles and trees and an old book surround the 6×4 game area with 4,096 ways to win. Except for the sorcerer, you need at least three matching symbols from the leftmost reel to the right to win. The sorcerer symbol pays at just two of a kind.

A win triggers the avalanche feature that continues to be in play as long as there are winning combinations forming. There is also a win multiplier starting at x1 that goes up a notch every time you trigger an avalanche. Something to look forward to at the start of a spin is the Linked Reels feature. It synchronizes up to 6 adjacent reels to become a replica of each other, increasing the chances of a win.

Things get more exciting when three scatter symbols land awarding 12 free spins. The bonus round carries a win multiplier that does not go back to x1 between spins. You’ll also benefit from the Wild Explosion feature, as all wilds explode when there are no matching symbols in view. This gets rid of the symbols and triggers an avalanche. Furthermore, two of the scatters in view give 3 extra free spins and additional 2 spins for each extra scatter. There are no limits on how many extra spins you can win, which is pretty awesome.

Number of Paylines: 4,096	RTP: 96.17%
Min Bet: 0.10	Max Bet: 100
Max Payout: 15,000x	Software Provider: Thunderkick

Frozen Gems

Play’n GO’s timing couldn’t have been perfect, releasing an icy-themed slot during the cold winter months. All visual elements at Frozen Gems stay in theme. The thick frost on the background creeps its way to the golden 5-reel grid, freezing it in place.

Frozen Gems has a cascade feature that activates when you win. To score a win, you need at least three of a kind of any pay symbol landing from the leftmost reel to the right. In addition, there is a win multiplier starting at x1 that comes into play. This multiplier goes up by one after every cascade and continues to increase until the cascade comes to an end.

Winning combinations in a given sequence are also key to thawing the frosty topmost row which carries the following modifiers:

Wild turns into wild all symbols except for the scatter.
The x2 Splitting symbol divides into two all symbols save for the scatter.
The x3 Splitting symbol divides into three all symbols save for the scatter.

Completing the features is the free spin. Three scatters award 9 free spins and a stake win of x5 plus an additional 5 for every extra scatter. This is apart from the win multiplier in play. During the round, the win multiplier does not go back to x1 when the cascade ends. It carries over its value on the next win and will continue to go up as long as you trigger more cascades. Likewise having no limits is the extra +1 free spin awarded when scatter lands during the bonus round.

Number of Paylines: 243 to 8,748	RTP: 96.36%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 100
Max Payout: 10,000x	Software Provider: Play’n GO

Conclusion

The industry’s software developers never fail to serve some delightful new slots we can explore and enjoy week after week. While developers keep the downpour of new slots steady, our team is busy selecting the best among the rest. So, be sure to visit our site for the selection of the best new slots every single week.

Top 10 Best Holiday Slots of 2020

February 23, 2024 William Mcmaster

Get Jolly With Our Top Festive Slots

The festive season is upon us. It’s the season of jingling bells, snow (maybe), cookies, and Santa! There’s no better way to enjoy it than infusing the holiday cheer and goodwill into your gameplay. Here are the best casinos you can play at.

With new options to select from each year, we have decided to take on the role of Santa’s elves, sorting through the naughty and nice. Our gift to you includes a wild-reindeer, an exciting Megaways slot, and a Hawaiian Christmas experience! Below, you’ll find the list of our top 10 Christmas casino games rated from best, to very best. And since we’re talking about gifts, read more on the best holiday casino deals.

1. Holiday Spirits

Brought to you by Play ‘n Go, Holiday Spirit sees Ebenezer Scrooge reliving his past, present, and future. The game is set on a 3×3 grid with 5 fixed paylines. The slot is visually stunning and the features come together really well, offering decent rewards. Depending on the operator, the RTP can either be 91.21%, 94.22%, or 96.29%, with 96.29% being the commonest. Holiday Spirits has medium volatility and a potential win up to 1,600x the bet.

The game is a complete clone of Chronos Joker, but its vibrant seasonal cheer and engaging theme offers a festive cheer.

2. Santa’s Riches

Developed by Greentube, this slot machine artfully combines the traditional appearance of the North Pole’s workers with modern design and exciting features. Santa’s Riches begins with 20 lines on a 5×3 grid, but with the reel expansion feature, it can be increased to 50 paylines and 6×5 reels. The game has medium volatility and a fair RTP of 95.26%.

In this game, the rewards match the volatility and the game offers numerous features that make the slot worth exploring.

3. Aloha! Christmas™

This game is a remake of the popular 2016 NetEnt slot, Aloha! Cluster Pays. With an RTP of 96%, you stand a chance to win up to 1,750x your stake. Visually, the slot has a unique and happy island vibe. The colorful 6×6 reels are set on a beach featuring tiki bars, Hawaiian beaches, and cocktails. Certainly an interesting break from the traditional Christmas slots.

Players who prefer traditional holiday games might not enjoy playing Aloha! Christmas during the festive season, but it is still an entertaining slot to play any time.

4. Epic Holiday Party

Looking for a Christmas-themed game and a New Year-themed game rolled into one? Then this might just be what you need. Instead of the North Pole, you’ll find Santa in Vegas partying with beautiful women. This slot game features 5×3 reels and 243 winning ways. Epic Holiday Party slot has a 95% RTP and 4 huge progressive jackpots where you can win at least $5,000!

An entertaining slot machine overall, not exactly traditional, but still embodies the holiday vibe perfectly.

5. Christmas Gift Rush

This is a fun, gift-themed slot that features 1 active payline initially, and 3 potential paylines once the game starts. The graphics are stunning, traditional, and artfully designed. With just one spin, you can win 400x your stake without multipliers and nudges, and up to 2,675x with them. However, the slot has high volatility, so the 400x reward might not be considered lucrative to some players. Habanero offers 4 different RTP levels which include 97.87%, 96.66%, 92.92%, and 91.95%.

The visuals and features provide all you could possibly want from a Christmas-themed game, but the high volatility and RTP must be considered.

6. Rudolph Gone Wild

Meet the popular red-nosed reindeer in this 5-reel, 4-row, and 50-lines slot game developed by NextGen. Rudolf Gone Wild is set in the North Pole and features Christmas details such as the painted wooden reels and the toy trains. Although there are no progressive jackpots, players stand a chance to win 5,000x the stake in a single spin. The slot machine has a 95.33% RTP.

Overall, the game’s exciting graphics, impressive bonuses make it worth a spin.

7. Christmas Carol Megaways

This slot game is the third festive-themed game in Pragmatic Play’s Megaways series. The game is played on a 6×8 grid with up to 200,704 Megaways. Christmas Carol Megaways follows the traditional Christmas theme, from the animations to the background and soundscape. Like other Megaways games, the Cascading reels feature is included in this game. This game has high volatility and a 96.5% RTP.

Christmas Carol Megaways is not innovative as such, but the game is well designed and provides an exciting gambling experience.

8. Hawaiian Christmas

Ever imagined snow on an island in Hawaii? GameArt brings that fantasy to life with Hawaiian Christmas. The game features 5×5 reels which expand to 7×7 during the free spins and a potential jackpot of 10,000x your stake.

Despite the high volatility of the game, the rewards are rather low, but the slot offers you a somewhat different winter that makes up for this.

9. Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special

A holiday-friendly remake of the Big Bad Wolf slot, this 5-reel 25-playline slot game offers huge wins. There are several exciting features, but what truly sets the game apart is its 97.34% RTP. The base game is dominated by the Pig Turn Wild feature and the swooping reels. In a single spin, players can win up to 1,255x the total bet.

Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special leaves much to be desired as it includes the exact same features as the original, except a few tweaks. However, it remains a playable slot that is suitable for your Christmas collection.

10. Carol of the Elves

Released only in November, this holiday-themed slot machine features attractive rewards and excellent graphics. It’s definitely suitable for all types of players due to the 96.20% RTP and high volatility. The elves are the protagonists of the game, and even if you won’t find Santa himself, the gifts are still up for grabs. Players can win up to 5,800 the stake in one spin, and the $870,300 jackpot prize.

This interesting new release is perfect for the festive season, and the huge potential payout makes it worth playing.

Final Thoughts

There are hundreds of Christmas-themed slots out there, and finding the best one can be a daunting task. This is why we have carefully handpicked the top 10 Christmas slots you’ll find anywhere. Better yet, we’ve even ranked them for you! You can even take it a step further by trying out all the slots on our list at our recommended casinos to find the ones you enjoy playing. Happy HoliPlays!

Your Weekly Best New Slots | Week 49 / November 30 – December 6, 2020

February 23, 2024 William Mcmaster

Outstanding New Slots To Play This Week

We found some outstanding new slots overflowing with features, and we’re sure you’ll love to play all of them this week.

The best new slots on our list this week will give your visual and auditory sense a treat, making gameplay immersive. One boasts of a Megaways engine while the other proudly brings the Megaclusters mechanism.

Each one carries a bunch of features that enhance gameplay. Avalanche mechanism, win multiplier, multiplier wilds, and expanding reels are just three of the most interesting features up for grabs.

Which among these outstanding new slots you’ll want most to play this week? We’ll help you decide by giving you a rundown of what’s in store for you in each one of them.

5 New Slots To Check Out

Behind the best new slots this week are developers Microgaming and All41 Studios, ELK Studios, Big Time Gaming, Yggdrasil, and iSoftBet. Let’s take a closer look at this week’s top 5 new slots.

Alchemy Fortunes

Visit the magical world of alchemy as Microgaming presents Alchemy Fortune from its partner All41 Studios. The 7×7 grid stands at the center of a stone chamber guarded on each side by two candles atop a stack of books. The gems and piles of coins around it and the captivating soundtrack complete the mystical feel.

In Alchemy Fortunes, 5 or more matching adjacent symbols are called Hypercluster. When Hypercluster forms, the Rolling Reels kick in, removing all winning clusters from the reels and dropping new symbols. The process continues until no new winning clusters form.

A meter attached at the side of the grid counts the number of winning symbols per sequence, unlocking levels 1-5.

20 symbols award the Potion Swap where all high-paying symbols on the reels turn into similar matching symbols.
40 symbols award the Summon Wilds where an additional 3 to 6 wilds appear on the reels in random positions.
60 symbols award the Gem Crush where all low-paying symbols get removed from the reels.
80 symbols award the Alchemy of Wilds where new wilds get added to all recorded previous wild positions.
100 symbols award 5 free spins.

During free spins, the Potion Swap and Summon Wilds come into play. The collection meters are also in play which can trigger another round of free spins. It may take a while to trigger the free spins, but there are other rewards you can enjoy along the way.

Number of Paylines: Cluster Pays	RTP: 96.41%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 100
Max Payout: 1,100x/Spin	Software Provider: All41 Studios

Katmandu Gold

The fifth in ELK’s Gold series, Katmandu Gold follows the hero, Kane as he reaches the Himalayan Mountains’ foot.

Two pillars with Buddhist-inspired design keep the 6 reels upright on both sides. Adding to the entertainment factor is the game area zooming in and out as rows increase or decrease. At least three matching symbols from left to right scores a win.

What makes Katmandu Gold one of the outstanding new slots you should play this week is its multitude of features. These features are:

Avalanches. Gets rid of winning symbols to make way for new ones. An additional row also gets added, and up to 8 rows are possible.

Big Symbols. Symbols of 2×2, 2×3, or 4×4 in size landing on every spin.

Ice Climbers. Two Yin and Yang-looking Ice Climber symbols turn into wilds all symbols above them and any empty positions under. This feature triggering on the 8th row adds one more row expanding the win ways to 531,441.

Expanding Wins. Winning symbols containing a gold arrow pointing upwards, downwards or both ways expand in the arrow’s direction. All symbols in their path then get replaced.

Multiplier Free Drops. Bonus symbols of 3, 4, 5, or 6 in view award 10, 15, 20, or 25 drops. These come with a win multiplier starting at x1 that gets an additional +1 every time an X-marked bonus symbol lands.

Bonus Buy. Buy your way to the bonus round with 3 to 6 bonus symbols for 100x the bet. You can also opt for Super Buy with 3 to 6 bonus symbols and a win multiplier starting at x10 for 500x the bet.

Number of Paylines: 531,441	RTP: 96.2% to 96.4%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 100
Max Payout: 10,000x	Software Provider: ELK Studios

Cyberslot Megaclusters

Big Time Gaming uses its Megaclusters mechanism for the second time in its new slot offering this week. The futuristic game area of Cyberslot Megacluster floats in front of a purplish pattern dropping neon-colored horizontal lines.

The paytable is made up of 7 symbols, and there are 3 wild symbols to help score a win. The regular wild can appear on any spin, but the other two only appear during features.

Working with the Megaclusters mechanism is the Reactions win system. On the base game, each winning symbol splits into 9 smaller symbols. The smaller symbols that become part of a winning cluster will be removed from the grid to make way for new ones. Watch out for the Golden Roaming Wild symbol as it carries a multiplier that starts at x1 and increases by +1 when it substitutes in a win.

At least 12 reactions in the base game award 6 free spins on a 9×9 grid, triggering the free spin feature. The Roaming Wild Multiplier’s current value carries over at the start of the free spin. When the multiplier reaches x10, you’ll get an additional 2 free spins retriggering the free spin feature. The Golden Roaming Wild joins the Rainbow Roaming Wild this time intensifying the winning potential. The multiplier of both wilds multiply wins together and as their multipliers grow so are your chances of hitting big wins.

Number of Paylines: 16 to 256 Megaclusters	RTP: 96.36%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 20
Max Payout: 23,960x	Software Provider: Big Time Gaming

Pirates 2: Mutiny

Yggdrasil’s follow-up to Pirates: Smugglers Paradise takes a spot in our selection of outstanding new slots to play this week. Pirates 2: Mutiny might have undergone a major makeover, but it still has the good points of its predecessor.

Two wrecked capsized ships frame the 5×5 game area with gloomy-looking clouds over an island not far behind. Just like the first version, this slot uses cluster pays instead of paylines. To win, you need at least 6 adjacent matching symbols.

Wins also trigger the Dropdown feature, which drops winning combinations at the reel’s bottom. This will also remove non-winning symbols to make way for a fresh batch. You can win not only the total amount of winning combinations but also win multipliers of up to 25x the bet.

The Free Spin feature can activate during the dropdown sequence if 3 scatters land in view. During this feature, all wins get a multiplier starting at x1 onwards.

This slot also comes with the following modifiers:

Mutiny. This awards a sure win when a huge 3×3 symbol lands at random revealing 9 similar symbols at once.
Tsunami. At least 6 potential winning symbols in view trigger a tsunami wave, sweeping all symbols save for the winning ones.
Cannon Blast. On a losing spin, a cannon blast can appear, blowing all low-paying symbols to trigger a new dropdown sequence.

Number of Paylines: Cluster Pays	RTP: 96.2%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 100
Max Payout: 4,400x	Software Provider: Yggdrasil Gaming

Queen of Wonderland Megaways

Drawing inspiration from the bizarre world created by Lewis Carroll, iSoftBet released an addition to its Twisted Tales slot series. Queen of Wonderland Megaways brings you to a colorful, lively world of Wonderland.

A majestic soundtrack welcomes you to the Queen of Wonderland’s kingdom where the 6 reels sit in front of her garden. You can see her palace standing not far behind as you spin for up to 117,649 win ways. To score a win, you need at least three matching adjacent symbols from the leftmost reel onwards. This also triggers the Megaways cascade feature giving you multiple chances of scoring wins from a single spin.

This slot might be the last in our list of outstanding new slots to play this week, but it’s definitely not the least. It’s also rich in features, making it on equal footing with its competition.

During a paid spin, the Max Megaways modifier can force the reels to display the win ways to its maximum capacity. On the other hand, a Cheshire Cat representing the mystery symbol can land at random on any spin. Mystery symbols turn themselves into similar matching symbols that can result in a winning combination.

You can collect more wins during the Queen of Wonderland Respins. You can also buy a chance to spin a wheel at the Queen of Wonderland Bet. For 100x the bet, you can either win free spins or respins.

Number of Paylines: 117,649	RTP: 96.11%
Min Bet: 0.20	Max Bet: 20
Max Payout: N/A	Software Provider: iSoftBet

Conclusion

Top developers’ latest slot offerings truly deserve a spot in our selection of best new slots this week. We’ll let you decide which is the most outstanding in our list of new slots as you try and play each of them this week. Meanwhile, we’ll be on the hunt again for great slots to feature next week. So, make sure you visit our site often to keep yourself updated on the best from the latest slot releases.