Winter Wonders
Winter Wonders is a 5-reel, 15-payline slot that revolves around Christmas and snowy weather. If you've played online slots for any measurable amount of time, you know that there are countless Christmas-themed slots. So what makes Winter Wonders different? Let's take a look by discussing this game's symbols, atmosphere, bonuses, and betting options.
Symbols and Theme
Rival Gaming's Winter Wonders opens with a title screen that shows two snowmen and falling snowflakes. Once on the reels, you'll see the same snowmen at the top of the screen along with snowy hills and leave-less trees. The holiday touch is added through light-bulb payline markers on the sides, and a Christmas tune playing during the game.
While the background might be a mix of the holidays and winter, the symbols are all about Christmas. You'll see Santa Claus (wild), a sleigh (scatter), silver bells, red candles, a turkey dinner, hot chocolate, tree bulbs, mistletoe, a gift, red stockings, candy canes, and a Christmas tree.
Santa Clause substitutes for all other symbols except the sleigh to form wins, and he multiplies payouts 2x. Santa also pays the most, offering 5,000 coins for a 5-symbol win. The next-highest paying icon is the silver bells, which offer 1,000 coins for 5 symbols.
The symbol graphics in this game look nice and do a great job of bringing the holiday spirit to life. But the background graphics don't offer nearly the same quality.
Winter Wonders Special Features and Bonuses
The sleigh offers both scatter payouts and free spins. The scatter prizes are a multiple of your triggering bet. This includes 2x (2 or 3 icons), 3x (4 icons), or 100x (5 icons) your bet.
You'll receive 10 free spins when you land 3 or more sleighs anywhere on the reels. This not only gives you free games, but also a 3x multiplier on wins.
Betting Options
This game offers very flexible wagering options. You can adjust coin size from $0.01 to $1.00, paylines from 1-15, and coins per line from 1-5. This makes the smallest-possible wager worth $0.01 per spin, and the max worth $65.00 when everything is turned up.
Other options include the Auto and Bet Max buttons. Auto lets you keep the reels spinning automatically with your wagering preferences, while Bet Max quickly turns coins per line and paylines to their highest settings. Note that if you want to move the coin size up, you'll still need to do this manually.
Final Thoughts on Winter Wonders
Winter Wonders doesn't reinvent the wheel when compared to other holiday-themed slots. In fact, it's a standard game that only has two features in scatter payouts and free spins. But this isn't to say that Winter Wonders is a bad slot. We like the festive music and symbol graphics quite a bit. It's also nice how Winter Wonders blends a winter theme into the holidays.
Again, this slot hasn't revolutionized the Christmas genre. But if you enjoy playing a variety of slots around the holidays, then Winter Wonders is worth slipping into your rotation.