Megaways™ for Christmas Carols
Pragmatic Play has shifted their focus from present American history with its previous Cowboys Gold game to a more charming setting for their Xmas 2020 release with this Megaways™ slot based on Charles Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol. In that regard, it competes directly with Play n Go’s Holiday Spirits game, which also includes Ebenezer Scrooge, the famed skinflint who is ripe for a yuletide change! Now we’re transported to London’s cold streets, a warm and inviting atmosphere enhanced by crisp, colorful images and a cheerful music.
There are six conventional reels and one additional reel that adds more icons above the main grid, like in all good Megaways™ games. The game’s mechanics aren’t especially novel or unique; we’ve seen them before in a slew of prior BTG and licensee slots. Win cascades, free spins, and multipliers are all on the menu.
RTP, Variance, and Top Payout
Christmas Carol is a high volatility slot, so getting the large rewards will be difficult. To accomplish so, you’ll need to earn a string of cascading wins and keep the multipliers high. The maximum payout is 20,000x, and the return to player (RTP) is 96.5 percent.
Paytable and Symbols
The cards symbolize the low-value symbols in this game, from 10 to Ace.
All of the characters who appear on the reels as premium symbols will be familiar to everyone who has read the narrative or seen at least one film based on the renowned book. You’ll witness Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of the Past, Present, and Future, in addition to Ebenezer’s underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit. The Ghost of Future pays the most, with a payout of 50 times the stake for six of a type.
Look out for Ebenezer Scrooge, who is the Wild and may substitute for any normal icon to generate winning combinations, as well as his Pocket Watch, which is the Scatter and activates the Free Spins round.
Features and Gameplay
Christmas Carol Megaways™ has all of the expected features for a game of this type. Here’s how it works:
Cascading Wins
Every winning spin will activate the Tumble feature, commonly known as Cascading reels, thanks to the Megaways gaming engine. All winning symbols will vanish, allowing place for new ones to emerge on the reels, ideally resulting in another winning combination and more cascades.
Feature of Free Spins
The Free Spins bonus is triggered when four or more Ebenezer’s Pocket Watch scatter symbols appear on the screen. What you obtain is determined by the quantity of scatters utilized to start the round. The following is how it works:
Scatters: 4
The first gives you 15 free spins with a 1x multiplier to begin with, the second gives you 10 free spins with a 5x multiplier to begin with, and the third gives you 5 free spins with a 10x multiplier to begin with. The fourth choice is Mystery, which awards between 5 and 15 free spins as well as a 1x-10x multiplier at the start.
Scatters: 5
Choose from 19, 14, or 9 free spins, each with a 1x, 5x, or 10x multiplier. The Mystery feature awards a random number of free spins as well as a random multiplier.
Scatters: 6
Finally, if six Scatters appear on the reels, players may choose between 23, 18, or 13 free spins with a 1x, 5x, or 10x win multiplier, or the Mystery option.
The Unlimited Win Multiplier function is activated after the free spins have started. Each victory multiplies the win multiplier by one. More free spins may also be triggered by landing more scatters in the auxiliary reel set above the main reel set. You’ll get 5 extra free spins if you get three more scatters on a single spin. When your progressive multiplier exceeds 10x during this free spins round, the whole potential of this game – 20,000x – becomes available.
Our Opinion
Christmas Carol is a classic Megaways™ game with a structure that is quite similar to Pragmatic Play’s Raging Rhino Megaways™ slot. Fans of the genre will appreciate it, and the Xmas graphics are wonderfully done, but there isn’t much unique here to set it out from the other slots with expanding reels and high volatility. The limitless multiplier and 20,000x peak potential are, of course, its redeeming features. Just be aware that it will be quite difficult to break, so proceed with caution when spinning the reels and bet sensibly.
