It's not the usual slot you see daily. Actually, Santa's Christmas isn't even a slot. It's closer to a scratch card, considering there are no reels. Instead, each of the positions on the symbol grid represents a scratch cards field you should reveal. Even the illusion of slot games is not present.
Nevertheless, NetoPlay’s clients are proudly boasting it as a slot game. There are so many wrong things here, but we’re going to elaborate on all of them in this Santa’s Christmas slot review, again, it’s not a slot. For the sake of consistency, we will refer to some of these elements as slot features, because we see them at genuine slots.
Santa's Christmas Details | |
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House Edge: 0.00% | Return to player: 100.00% |
Autospin: No | Softwares: no download - instant play, mobile |
Released: NA | Min Bet: 0.5 |
Max Bet: 10 | Scatters: No |
Gamble: No | Max Coins: 1 |
Reels: 3 | Paylines: 8 |
Spins: No | Bonus Rounds: Yes |
Wild: No | Software: NetoPlay |
Santa's Christmas comparison | ||
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Santa's Christmas | AVG | |
Rating: | 2.0 | 4.2 |
House Edge: | 0.00 % | 3.68 % |
Return to player: | 100.00 % | 96.32 % |
Paylines: | 8 | 25.0 |
Bonus Features: | 1 | 3.6 |
On paper, Santa’s Christmas has 3 rows and 3 columns of symbols. However, we can’t say that it’s a matter of 3 reels, because all of the symbols are revealed individually, ergo, no reels in there. It also has an “odd” number of paylines, 8 to be exact. This doesn’t make any sense and is nowhere near what we consider “traditional slot principles”.
The bet value, or better said, the card value can be in the range of €/$0.50 and €/$10. There's nothing special about it, and the settings are rather straightforward. That said, you should press on the left arrow to reduce the bet amount, and the right one to increase it — the top prize changes based on the card value.
The return to play is not made public. Although this is not a significant concern, considering it's not a very popular slot, players who choose to play it, might be worried. It is a red flag, nevertheless. We can't say much about the game, just because Santa's Christmas is so limited in basically all areas. It is definitely not winning any best slot of the year awards!
Besides the fast-shifting symbols that occur only when you "spin" the reels, there are no other moving elements. Even the audio is underwhelming. This all leads to one thing, dated game engine and casino platform. The competition has stomped the few online casinos that offer NetoPlay games. With limited resources, they can't do much. Also, since this is a Flash-based game, it's only a matter of time before it goes offline. Another alternative might be a download client, which have become rather unpopular with casino players in recent times.
All symbols follow the theme, and we didn’t see any generic ones. However, this is only one piece of the puzzle. The design of the game has to work seamlessly with the platform and tap into its full potential.
According to us, this is the moment when we suggest way better alternatives for Santa’s Christmas by NetoPlay. We're pretty sure you will enjoy A Christmas Carol Slot or even Secret Santa by Microgaming. The latter, in particular, comes with 7 Mystery Bonus Features. It is by far one of the best Christmas slots you will ever find in the upcoming few years. The only thing that can dethrone it is a major platform update.
We’re not sure if we can point it out as a bonus feature, but you can “scratch-off” one of the fields, next to the “quasi reels”. It reveals a value, which we're still not quite sure about. To make matters worse, there's no explanation of what it's supposed to do. What is this value? How does it affect the cash balance? Can it affect the base game in any way? Clearly a huge misstep on NetoPlay’s end. Also, not even the online casinos have tried to make things clear.
After very detailed research, we concluded that this "scratch" area is what determines the win amount. Regardless of what happens in these “symbol positions”, you still get to win a prize determined on a simple scratch to reveal field.
Our unbiased recommendation for you, look for a different slot. Santa's Christmas cannot lure in or keep a player excited for more than a couple of minutes. By the moment you realise that nothing thrilling will happen, no matter how many times you scratch off the symbols, you’ve already lost a considerable amount of money. Our Santa’s Christmas slot review might come off as vague, and in some instances even blunt, but that’s because there’s not much to talk about it. It’s sort of a filler for the Christmas period.