Santa’s Reel Wheel Slots

Santa’s Reel Wheel by RealTime gaming follows the traditions paved by its predecessors like Big Santa, Epic Holiday Party, and Rudolph’s Revenge - it’s a lighthearted Christmas game that aims to convey the festive spirit of the holiday.

Mechanics-wise, the slot game offers an unorthodox three-reel playing board that expands the more you play the game. RealTime Gaming programmed this slot to have medium volatility, allowing balanced gameplay with moderately frequent payouts.

Santa’s Reel Wheel pays for any winning combinations and has a top award of 50,000 times the bet. Apart from that, there’s a lot going on in the game, especially when it comes to bonus features, and we do our best to explain everything in this Santa’s Reel Wheel slot review.

Sound & Graphics

It is untypical for RTG to release a slot machine without some sort of mascot to set the tone, but it does feel refreshing. After all, this provider already has at least half-a-dozen games that feature Santa as the main character. The game looks slick and polished on a desktop, but we wish the board was scaled differently so that the mobile players could enjoy their experience without straining their eyes. On the other hand, the small music loop used in the game doesn’t feel irritating, and the reel sound effects are quite fitting as well.

Core Rules

Simply put, the goal is to make it to the top of the three reels and grab as many bonuses as possible along the way. The Firework represents the traditional Scatter and is the most powerful symbol in the game, which we shall discuss later on. The Blue Diamond is much less impressive in terms of its influence on the gameplay and merely stands for the Wild symbol.

When playing Santa’s Reel Wheel for real money, you only have one reel at your disposal - to unfreeze the next two, you must hit a winning combo or a Firework. With all three reels active, your next win grants a chance to spin Santa’s Bonus Wheel - no matter what wedge you end up on, they all yield a nice bonus.

Advanced Rules

Santa’s Reel Wheel packs a lot of extra treats that are often interconnected and show up in bulk. Here’s a quick rundown of the bonus features:

• Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand Bonus. These can be triggered when the player spins Santa’s Bonus Wheel. The Grand Bonus amounts to 1,000 times the bet.
• Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel. The ultimate form appears when you hit the Advance wedge on a normal wheel, taking you to Free Games or the Fireworks feature.
• Free Games. The feature takes you back to level 2 and can be extended by the Bonus Wheel.
• Fireworks. The game gives you three spins to hit the Firework symbol on the advanced grid that consists of fifteen spinning points. Succeeding results in getting the Grand Bonus.

Final Thoughts

The best thing about Santa’s Reel Wheel is that the game is equally captivating when played for fun. It’s been a while since RTG dared to implement something unusual in their slots, and we call this experiment a big success. Hopefully, the idea behind the game’s core mechanics will be developed further in the upcoming titles.