The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker review

A number of developers release Christmas-themed slots at this time of year, and we’re pleased to be reviewing one of the first for 2018. The Nutcracker slot is iSoftBet’s festive release, featuring stacked wilds, re-triggerable best free spins offers, and gift box bonuses. But will this Christmas slot be another cliché, full of sparkle but lacking substance? Find out by reading our full review of The Nutcracker ahead of its release on 28 November 2018.

The Nutcracker slot features

The Nutcracker is a 5-reel slot with 20 paylines, based on E.T. A. Hoffman’s classic Christmas tale about Clara and the Nutcracker prince, where toys come to life in a dream Clara has on Christmas eve. Symbols on the reels include 10 to Ace playing card symbols, a teddy bear, a toy train, and a girl holding the Nutcracker doll. There’s also a mouse symbol, which is the premium symbol and pays out 50 times the stake for 5 in a payline. The wild symbol in this slot is the Nutcracker toy soldier himself, which replaces all symbols except for the Sugar Plum Fairy scatter. This Nutrcacker is the hero of the game, since it will trigger two features, which are different according to whether it lands during the base game or during the free spins round.

If the Nutcracker wild lands fully stacked on the middle reel during the base game, this will trigger the Nutcracker Gift Bonus & Free Spins feature. You will now choose from a number of gift boxes surrounding a Christmas tree, and the box you select will reveal how many Nutcracker free spins you’ll get. The number of spins can be between 5 and 10, and during these spins, the stacked wild will remain locked in position. If you form a winning combination, you’ll get a streak respin, during which the winning symbols will lock into place. These respins will continue as long as you get a new matching symbol that increases the winning cluster.

The Nutcracker slot free spins

Landing on 3 or more Sugar Plum Fairy symbols on the reels while playing The Nutcracker slot will give you 10 to 30 Fairy free spins. If you manage to land the Nutcracker wild fully on the middle reel during this round, the multiplier will increase by 1 up to a maximum of 10x! What’s more, every time you get 1 or 2 scatters during the free spins, you’ll get an additional 1 or 2 spins. On the other hand, if you land on 3 or more scatters, you will re-trigger the whole feature by getting 10, 20 or 30 extra spins, which means that you can get up 60 free spins in total while playing The Nutcracker slot!

The Nutcracker slot bonus

Has the above convinced you to try out The Nutcracker slot? The good news is that many of the best casino sites will be offering this slot as from the end of November, and a lot of them will also be running Christmas casino promotions which might involve extra bonuses or free spins on The Nutcracker slot. In the meantime, one sure way of playing the game with a bonus is by signing up with a new casino site and claiming its deposit bonus. The below casinos will welcome you with a 100% or 200% deposit match, which means you’ll get double or triple your deposit amount in bonus funds. You will then be able to use this bonus to play any slot at the casino!

Where to play The Nutcracker slot

The Nutcracker slot min/max bets, RTP, volatility and maximum win

The Nutcracker slot can be played by staking between 20p and £20 per spin. It’s a low-roller offering of medium volatility, and its RTP is set to 95.97% (a little below average, but it was be expected given that it’s a slot which is likely to be played mostly around Christmas time). The official hit frequency according to the developer is 22.85% and it might take a while to trigger both free spins features. However, high payouts of up to 5,000 times the stake await lucky players who manage to arrive at the 10x multiplier during the free spins!

The Nutcracker slot graphics and sound

Naturally, the graphics in this slot are first class, as iSoftBet has done its utmost to evoke that Christmassy feel without overdoing it too much. The letter symbols are nicely rendered in an old-style font, and each symbol is enclosed within an elegant golden frame. The contrast of colours is particularly striking, and the setting has something magical about it. We haven’t had the opportunity to play it yet so we can’t say anything about the soundtrack, but we imagine it to be equally enchanting.

The Nutcracker slot – Our Conclusion

We think that iSoftBet has done a good job when it comes to creating a Christmas-themed slot that looks different to the rest, and which conveys something beyond the usual festive feel – a sense of mystery and magic pervades the reels, and the thrill is enhanced by a good mix of bonus features. We cannot vouch for the payouts yet – in fact, at the moment we do caution that the free spins may be difficult to trigger and hope that there will be enough decent base game wins to sustain our bankrolls. Why not try it out for free at first? You can play Christmas slots fee at many online casinos simply by browsing for the games in their game collection.