The Christmas spirit seeps into every aspect of our daily lives, and the Slot world is no exception. Pragmatic Play is unpacking the tinsel early this year with Christmas Carol Megaways. The title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but we’re here to find out if the gameplay makes up for it. The biggest draw of this game is its Megaways mechanic. This gives you the chance to create winning combinations with over 200,000 pay lines.
The million-dollar question remains – do all these things translate into larger prizes? Let’s find out.
The Highlights
- 6 reels and up to 200,704 pay lines
- Free Spins, Wilds, Scatters, Multipliers, Tumbling Reels, Bonus Buy, Ante Bet
- High Volatility
- Maximum prize of 20,000 x the bet
- RTP of 96.50%
Christmas Carol Megaways Theme and Background
Here’s a little bit of a disclaimer. Christmas Carol Megaways isn’t as fresh as Pragmatic Play would have you believe. It’s actually a clone of an existing game by the same name, except that this time it’s been overlaid with the Megaways mechanic. The theme is just as thrilling as the original version.
Nevertheless, the theme remains equally enjoyable the second time around. Three Christmas Ghosts will pay you a visit, each carrying the potential for both wisdom and wins. The setting is the snow-filled streets of Victorian London, so don’t expect glamour or glitz.
Based on the Charles Dickens novel, you’ll be assisting with the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge, as a line-up of ghosts attempts to spook him into socially acceptable behaviour. The grid is visually larger than the average, which is an inevitable consequence of the Megaways makeover.
Across six reels you’ll discover a series of well-designed symbols, all contributing to the overall theme. These include the iconic characters from the story, combined with a few traditional Christmas icons to lift the dark vibe. The most foreboding of all is a hooded figure, who threatens to cast gloom over everything that the festive season holds dear. Overall the design is classic but pleasing, you won’t encounter any fascinating special effects, but it still manages to hold your interest.
Christmas Carol Megaways Pros
- Megaways offers hundreds of thousands of ways to win
- Multipliers all the way up to 10 x
- Tumbling Reels give you the chance at free re-spins, every spin
Christmas Carol Megaways Cons
- The theme isn’t new to Pragmatic Play
- The Free Spins bonus game can’t be re-triggered
- High Volatility means you’ll encounter some dry spins
Gameplay and Special Features on Christmas Carol Megaways
If you played the original Christmas Carol slot then you might consider skipping over this section. The features have pretty much been copied over, with very few changes. This isn’t necessarily a negative, because the original was packed full of exciting features, and my philosophy is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That means you’ll have access to Free Spins, Ante Bets and Tumbling Reels. For those craving newnesses, the Bonus Buy feature will be a welcome introduction.
Tumbling Reels
Tumbling Reels are an often overlooked bonus feature. Every slot that’s rocking these kinds of reels essentially gets the chance at a form of free re-spin on every paid spin. Tumbling starts when a winning combination appears. The win is paid out and the winning symbols disappear. The empty reels positions are then filled with the tumbling symbols from above. As long as winning combinations continue to appear, the tumbling will also continue. It’s technically unlimited and can really boost base game prizes.
Ante Bet
This feature is a little different because it’s optional and not automatically applied to your gameplay. One optional extra is the Ante Bet function. Engaging it increases the bet by 25%, though symbol values remain the same. The benefit is additional scatters are added to the reels, upping the prospects of triggering free spins. In fact, it actually doubles the chance of winning free spins.
Free Spins
Scrooge’s pocket watch is the Scatter symbol, and this is your key into the very lucrative Free Spins round. You need four Scatters to kick things off with 15 Free Spins, and any further Scatters will add another four Free Spins. Before things kick-off, you’ll be given four options:
- 15 free spins with a 1 x starting win multiplier
- 10 free spins with a 5 x starting win multiplier
- 5 free spins with a 10 x starting win multiplier
- Random selection of 5 – 15 Spins with a 1 x – 10 x multiplier
The benefit of risking it all for the random selection is that you could find yourself spinning with 15 Free Spins and a 10 x multiplier. Of course, things can go in the other direction, and you’ll find yourself worse off and pretty darn ticked off.
During the Free Spins, all Scatters remain in play. However, they’ll only land on the bonus reel up top. Three pocket watches will earn you an additional five Free Spins. There’s no limit on how many extra spins you scoop up.
The cherry on top of the Christmas cake is the progressive win multiplier. with no limit to the number awarded. A big part of the potential of Christmas Carol Megaways is the fact that this progressive multiplier is unlimited. It starts on whatever level was initially awarded, then increases by +1 after each winning cascade. This feature of the Free Spins round will be mostly responsible for your prize money.
Bonus Buy
No time to wait around? Skip the queue and buy your way into the Bonus feature. You’ll essentially fast-track yourself to a guaranteed Free Spins round. Of course, presents don’t come cheap, and you need to be prepared to lay out some costs. It’s fairly pricey, as players will need to provide an outlay of 100x the bet. If you’re happy to splash out, then you’ll immediately be awarded a minimum of four guaranteed Scatters on your next spin. This will trigger the Free Spins round.
What are the Payouts and Wagering Limits for Christmas Carol Megaways?
As with all Pragmatic Play games, Christmas Carol Megaways is accessible to all budgets. You can start spinning the themed reels from as little as $0.20, climbing all the way up to $100 per spin. The came comes with very high volatility, scoring a five out of five on Pragmatic Play’s scale.
As all Slots do, Christmas Carol Megaways come with a default RTP. Due to the Ante Bet feature, the RTP will vary between 96.48% – 96.58%. Either way, the numbers are decent, and players should feel confident about the distinctly non Scroogey math model.
The really exciting win potential can be accessed within the bonus features, helped along significantly by the Megaways mechanic. On each spin, two to seven symbols land on each main reel so when factoring in the extra reel, up to 200,704 ways to win is possible.
The symbols each carry decent value, so you could be seeing a couple of substantial wins even during the base game. Starting at the lower end of the paytable are 10-A royals, backed by the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future, plus Bob Crachett, and Tiny Tim. Each of these characters will bring in a profit ranging from 1.5 to 50 times the bet for six of a kind.
Scrooge, the star of our show, acts as the game’s Wild. When he shows up on the bonus reel, he’ll stand-in for any of the symbols to form a winning combination. Altogether this game offers players the potential to score an astounding 20,000 times the bet.
The final verdict on Christmas Carol Megaways
The fun thing about this game is its familiar theme. A Christmas Carol is an integral part of the Santa Season and the eerie nature of the story will reel you in. Scrooge has been a pop culture character for over 100 years, and now he’s immortalised at SkyCity Online Casino.
With prizes up to 20,000 times the bet, and unlimited extra Free Spins and Increasing Multiplier, there’s a lot to feel cheerful about.
Christmas Carol Megaways is a great way to kick off the festive season. And who’s to say it’s a little early? The graphics are intriguing and the gameplay is rewarding. When it comes to the Megaways mechanic, you either love it or you hate it. But if you’re leaning toward the latter, just play the original Christmas Carol slot instead.
