Even a chilled-out Wombat like me gets in a huff occasionally. As the festive period approaches even the icons of Christmas, Santa and Rudolf, can have a melt-down and suffer from a glitter overload.
It´s time to release all of that festive fury with the Santa Vs Rudolf slot from those Swedish dudes, NetEnt. You might want to also spend some time on the Pack & Cash slot machine to get the logistics end of things sorted.
This is your chance to vent some steam and join the humorous battle between Rudolph, who has taken Santa’s traditional hat, and the rotund chap of Christmas Eve, Mr Claus. The characters in this game are even more famous than that little fella in the Monopoly Big Spin slot we have just been playing. You don’t get more famous than the white bearded one.
Even though I normally get to make the most of the Christmas beach action- you gotta love Oz! Now, where did I put the suncream?
Look and Feel
As the theme suggests, Santa Vs Rudolph slot is a light-hearted look at the stress and fuss of Christmas.
The game is styled to look like a comic book with the action taking place in the snowy North Pole with a confused Santa to the left of the reels and a rude Rudolph to the right. It’s in the same category as Lucky’s Fish and Chips, just with less cod and more festive stuff.
Game Play
This festive argy-bargy takes place over 3 rows, 5 reels and 20 pay-lines. That´s double the likes of Dawn of Egypt, but even so we´d still put this game down as a medium to high variance slot. It´s not as volatile as that Egyptian game that we just mentioned though.
Santa’s magical sleigh is the most lucrative icon on the reels. 5 sleigh icons on a pay-line will gift you 25 x your wager prize. That’s almost as good as pulling your first festive cracker!
Other important festive paraphernalia on the reels include wish lists for Santa, snow globes, and collars for Rudolph and his team of reindeer. The sweet-toothed Ace through 10 of the card deck provides the candy shaped lower value icons.
Because Santa and Rudolf are the focus of this bust-up, they provide a pair of Wilds which offer some unusual features.
The Bonuses
Walking Wilds
When a Santa or Rudolf Wild lands on the reels they literally get on the move. Santa’s Wild moves to the left from reel 5, while the provocateur Rudolf’s Wild moves to the right from reel 1 with each spin. Amusingly, these different icons migrate across the reels until they literally drop off the reels. These “Walking Wilds” do more than help generate winning combinations. If the two characters bump into one another on the reels they trigger the Free Spins feature.
Free Spins
The collision between Christmas Eve’s protagonists sets off 10 free spins, and there are more games to trigger if two bump into one another again, up to a maximum of 30 free games. Let him have it Santa!
What’s even more bizarre and entertaining is that several walking wilds can be in action at the same time. A screen full of walking Wilds is possible in this mode, as Wilds won’t necessarily only start their walk on the wild side from reel 1 or 5, depending on the character.
Make sure you keep one eye on the two metres that sit on top of the reel set during the game. Each and every time one of the Wilds topples from the reels after a walk, the wild is collected in the character metre. Once one of the character metres is filled to the brim, either the Rudolf or Santa bonus game is triggered. And it’s worth noting that the Rudolf Spins are the more lucrative of the 2 features.
Firstly, with Rudolph Spins you gain a trio of free games. During these spins up to 5 reindeer Wilds are thrown onto the reels to make you more wins. It’s hard to bear a grudge against an animal with a glowing red nose, after all!
The Santa Gift Bonus involves a basic picking game where you choose between a haul of gifts to reveal cash prizes or multipliers. There is a 4 x your stake prize to unveil if the gaming gods are with you. But if you happen to find Santa’s missing headgear, that red and white hat, you will end the bonus feature at once, so try and avoid picking that one.
Summary
Santa Vs Rudolf is a comic slice of festive fun, themed on a time of year where things can and often do go wrong! NetEnt has dreamt up the perfect antidote to glitter, gifts and Christmas magic in this domestic bust-up. Colliding Wilds that walk the reels, free spins and a duo of extras, all wave a magic wand of silliness and hopefully cash over your festive slot play.
Now, for a long cold drink on my beach lounger!
Score: 4.5 out of 5
This game is no longer available at Wombat Casino. Sorry about that chaps!
Why not try Santa´s Big Bash Megaways slot from Iron Dog?