Santa’s Wild Ride Pokie
Father Christmas on a motorbike is the fun theme of this 5-reel pokie from Microgaming that’s another in their range that uses the 243 Ways to Win layout and does away with regular paylines.
It will seem like Xmas when the bonus features are delivered, with players being treated to random wild multipliers, a free spins game with bonuses of their choice and special free gifts awarded at random during the game.
Presented in a pleasing cartoon style, Santa’s Wild Ride can continue to spin up some decent wins throughout the year, not just in December.
Riding Along With Santa
The reels are lit by Xmas lights and behind them is a typical snowy image with the Northern Lights twinkling away, while underneath the game are the control buttons that players use to bet from as little as 0.30 per spin up to 30.00 each, which is a fairly low maximum stake that could put some people off.
Because this game uses the 243 Ways to Win system, where winning lines are created each time matching symbols land on adjacent reels running from left to right, there’s no option to place a tiny bet just to see how it works and all positions are active at all times.
The lower paying symbols consist of various delicious types of food that we associate with Xmas, starting with icing topped biscuits, then there’s mince pies, beer, a huge sandwich and a Christmas pudding.
Santa's Wild Ride
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Higher value symbols consist of a letter box at the North Pole, Santa’s motorbike called Blitzin’, an Elf with a power drill, a very attractive Mrs. Claus and of course, Santa himself, looking very happy as he zooms around on his bike.
There’s a sackfull of bonus features here, with the keys to Blitzin’ being a scatter that pays multiples of the total bet rather than the line bet that’s paid by other symbols. Up to 50x is awarded when it lands, and being a scatter it can stop anywhere on the reels to be worth a prize.
The game logo is a wild symbol that both pays out some of the biggest wins when making up a line on its own and also helps to make up winning combinations by acting as all except the scatter symbol. As a nice extra present, it will multiply the value of any lines it completes by a random 2x, 3x or 4x.
If a red or green Christmas present stops on reel 2 or 4, then it will award an instant prize, which usually isn’t very much, but it’s a nice little extra anyway. The main feature however, is the free spins round, during which players can win the game jackpot of up to 1,900,000 coins if they land the perfect combination.
Triggered by 3, 4 or 5 scatter symbols, players will be given a generous 25 free games and before they commence, a choice of 3 wild features is presented to them.
They can choose stacked wilds, where anytime one appears it will fill some of the relevant reel for a greater chance of making up a winning line or 2, or they can pick expanding wilds that do much the same thing, but will be filing a whole reel at a time. The third option is for the trailing wilds, where any wild will slide down the reels, leaving others in its wake.
Although the end result is pretty similar, it can be fun to pick the different wild features, just to see what happens, but whichever is chosen any wins throughout the free spins round are doubled in value.
The Verdict
With an interesting theme that will appeal to anyone who like Xmas and motorbikes, Santa’s Wild Ride is a rewarding pokie that can be extra rewarding during the bonus round. The 243 Ways to Win format can bring lots of smaller payouts to players, and the free gift bonus while not huge, is a welcome extra.
It’s the free spins with a multiplier of up to 7x that are the real stars here, although in practice the wild features that are in play throughout themare quite similar, so it doesn’t really matter that much which one is picked, the payouts will be very much the same.
Coming from Microgamingthough, it’s a given that fair play and reliability will be practiced in this fun seasonal pokie.