About Christmas Carol Megaways™
Shifting from the theme of modern American history with their recent Cowboys Gold game to a quainter backdrop for their Xmas 2020 release, Pragmatic Play bring us this Megaways™ slot inspired by Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. In that respect it is in direct competition with Play n Go’s Holiday Spirits game which also features the famous skinflint, Ebenezer Scrooge, a man ripe for a yuletide transformation! We are taken now to the snowy streets of London, a fittingly cosy setting invoked with crisp and colourful visuals and a joyful soundtrack.
Like all good Megaways™ games here there are six regular reels and one extra reel that adds more icons above the main grid. There is nothing particularly new or different about the way the game works – we’ve seen it in countless previous slots by BTG and their licensees. Expect win cascades, free spins and multipliers aplenty.
RTP, Variance and Top Payout
Christmas Carol is a high variance slot, so it will be tough to unlock the big prizes. You’ll need to land a good succession of cascading wins and boost the multipliers high to do so. The top payout available is 20,000x and the RTP is a fairly standard 96.5%.
Symbols and Paytable
Low value icons here are represented by the cards, 10 though to Ace.
Anyone who has read the story and watched at least one movie themed after the famous novella will recognize all the characters that appear on the reels as premium symbols. Apart from Ebenezer’s underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, you will also see Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Past, Present and the Future. The Ghost of Future pays the most, 50x bet for six of a kind.
Look out as well for Ebenezer Scrooge who is the Wild that substitutes for all regular icons to form wins, and his Pocket Watch, which is the Scatter that triggers the Free Spins round itself.
Gameplay and Features
Christmas Carol Megaways™ comes with the standard features for a game of its kind. Here is how they work:
Cascading Wins
Thanks to the Megaways game engine, every winning spin will trigger the Tumble feature, also known as Cascading reels. All winning symbols will disappear, making room for new ones to land on the reels, hopefully creating a successive winning combination and triggering further cascades.
Free Spins Feature
Four or more of Ebenezer’s Pocket Watch scatter are required in order to trigger the Free Spins feature. The number of scatters used to trigger the round determines what you get. Here is how it works:
4 Scatters
The first is to get 15 free spins with a starting 1x multiplier, the second comes with 10 free spins and a 5x multiplier to begin with, while the third offers 5 free spins with a starting 10x multiplier. The fourth option is the Mystery one, with between 5 and 15 free spins awarded, and a 1x-10x starting multiplier.
5 Scatters
Pick between 19, 14, or 9 free spins that offer 1x, 5x, or 10x multiplier respectively. Again, the Mystery option delivers a random number of free spins and a random multiplier.
6 Scatters
Finally, if six Scatters triggered the feature, players can get 23, 18, or 13 free spins with a 1x, 5x, or 10x win multiplier, or they can pick the Mystery option.
Once free spins begin, the Unlimited Win Multiplier feature is activated. Every win will increase the win multiplier by 1x. It is also possible to trigger more free spins by landing more scatters in the extra reel that you see above the main reel set. Three more scatters on a single spin will earn you 5 more free spins. The full potential of this game – at 20,000x – can only really be unlocked during this free spins round when your progressive multiplier escalates beyond 10x.
Our Verdict
Christmas Carol is a classic Megaways™ game and very similar in format to the Raging Rhino Megaways™ slot from Pragmatic Play. Fans of the genre will enjoy it and the Xmas graphics are done well, but there is little new here to lift it above the others in a highly competitive field of slots with expanding reels and high variance. It’s redeeming feature of course is that unlimited multiplier and the 20,000x top potential. Just be aware that it will be very tough to crack, so tread carefully as you spin the reels, and gamble responsibly.
