Santa’s Xmas Rush

Santa’s Xmas Rush review

Familiar Christmas fare

Father Christmas has built his workshop in a 6×6 grid, which is where you’ll play this game. Expect snow, the jolly man himself, and very high volatility that would test the patience of a kid on Christmas morning.

Clusters of baubles, reindeer and stockings bring joy, but what about the presents? They can be found in the base game and bonus round, giving a decent pace to the action.

Symbols and payouts in Santa’s Xmas Rush

Ho ho how about this: since this is a cluster pays slot, you get a payout for six or more horizontally or vertically connected icons. The low-paying symbols are the gem baubles, which pay out between 0.25 and 7.5x. The reindeer toy, gingerbread and stocking are the high-value symbols. They pay out between 1x and 25x.

What special features will you find in Santa’s Xmas Rush?

Father Christmas has one or two surprises in his sack, including tumbling reels, present prizes and free spins that reveal a hold-and-win feature. UK players should note that this slot comes with options not available on UK casino sites, namely the free spins bonus buy, autoplay, and two ante bet features.

Free spins

Saint Nick gets in his sleigh, and if you see him on the reels in a snow globe, it’s a good sign. That’s the scatter, and four, five, six or seven of them trigger 10, 14, 18 or 22 free spins, respectively. In this round, the snowflakes that give out presents can be added to the reels after a tumble win. 

Hold and Win

The best bit of the free spins round is that it turns the snowflakes into a hold-and-win feature. They stay on the reels for each spin and get added to randomly after tumble wins. That means when Father Christmas appears, you can get quite a lot of presents all at once.

Presents and respins

You could spot three to eight snowflakes behind symbols on the reels. They’re added randomly and only play a role when the Santa symbol appears. They turn into presents with values ranging from 0.5x to 2,500x your total bet. One of the presents might reveal a respin, which means you collect your presents and then get another lot straight after. The number of Santa symbols on the reels acts as a multiplier for your gifts.

A few presents under the tree

Our Santa’s Xmas Rush review didn’t reveal a stuffed stocking in terms of features. There’s enough going on to stop us from exchanging this gift, though.

Santa’s Xmas rush graphics & sound

The upbeat music with bells and an occasional “Ho ho ho!” are enough to cheer up any Grinch, or maybe it’s more likely to turn you into one after a while. Pragmatic Play has kept it merry and bright, which is what you expect at Christmas.

Santa’s Xmas Rush mobile experience

Father Christmas doesn’t need to come down your chimney as he can arrive on your phone. The game is designed with mobile players in mind, so using touchscreen controls to spin is easy.

Sleigh bells and smartphones

The slot looks just as good on a smaller screen. In fact, we think the super cheerful Santa is more manageable that way! 

Pros & cons of Santa’s Xmas Rush

On the plus side, for once, this doesn’t feel like a Christmas rebrand of an existing slot. What that means, though, is that it’s a festive overload that still can’t quite stand out from normal slots. 

No need to rush

The pros outweigh the cons, but still, there’s no need to rush towards this slot. It has a bit of festive magic for UK players, but you have to wait for it.

UK online casinos that are the best place to find Santa’s Xmas Rush

Whether you need to get in a festive mood before the work party or want to see a white Christmas, you can seek out this slot at a few reputable UK casinos.

1. PlayOJO
2. William Hill

Running into issues: use these solutions

While you don’t have elves to help you out, these solutions will stop your sleigh from getting stuck in the snow.

1. We know it’s cold at the North Pole, but a freezing game is no fun. If nothing’s moving, restart the game to resume play.
2. If you were in the middle of a spin, any malfunction will void it, so your bet will be refunded.

Standard snowy shenanigans

During our Santa’s Xmas Rush review, we found exactly what we expected. Christmas is classic, and plenty of slots play around with the theme, so if you want your festive fun to be straightforward, this game delivers with bells on. 

The biggest drawback is that getting to the best part (the free spins) typically comes around as often as a white Christmas in the UK.

Other slots to play if Santa’s Xmas Rush is up your street

If you prefer to play variations of your favourite slots but with tinsel on them, or want something more quirky, these options will jingle your bells.

• Big Bass Christmas
• Sweet Bonanza Xmas

Author

Dayna Clarke

Senior Content Editor

Dayna is a UK casino content expert with 10+ years’ experience, including roles with leading iGaming providers and operators. With BBC bylines, she brings authority and insight to every piece she writes.

[email protected]