Wonders of Christmas is a holiday-themed slot machine created by software company NetEnt. A Christmas reskin of an earlier game, Wonders of Christmas is a spinoff of Rome: The Golden Age like many before it. Many of these reimaginings of classic Christmas films have dubious histories. At other times, a shedload of snow is poured on the most unrelated topic and suddenly it’s a Christmas game. Since the earliest known Christmas celebration took place in Rome in 336 AD, on 25 December (of course), Wonders of Christmas makes a little more sense. Now that we’ve checked off that important historical connection, why don’t we see what else Wonders of Christmas has to offer?
The visual theme of the base game is that players are a group of carolers who knock on people’s doors and sing holiday tunes in exchange for money. The game’s 3-4-5-4-3 grid, together with some wreaths, snow, and glowing golden lamps, is shown on a door. When the bonus round is triggered, the scene shifts indoors to a room with a cozy armchair, a Christmas tree, and stockings just waiting to be filled with presents in front of a crackling fire. The finished product is pleasing to the eye, reflective of the spirit of the season, and conducive to getting work done.
Modern Christmas celebrations are light years removed from the Colosseum in popular imagination, yet the numbers for Wonders of Christmas haven’t changed much through the years. To start things going, you may place a bet ranging from 10 p/c to £/€50 on a game that is accessible from any device. It’s also somewhat unpredictable, with four different possible Return on Investment (RTI) models, the highest of which provides a return of 96.06%. There are 20 fixed paylines across the diamond-shaped grid, and the game switches to a hold and win format during the bonus round.
Until then, winnings are triggered by getting a certain number of identical symbols in a row, column, or diagonal. Stockings, winter globes, gingerbread homes, trains, and sleighs make up the high payouts, while 10-A royals make up the low payments. Five premiums (jacks, queens, kings, and/or aces) pay 1.2–5 times the wager, whereas five royals pay 0.4–0.5x the wager. In addition, wild symbols, which can occur on any reel, replace conventional playing tiles. If five Wilds form a winning line, the payout is five times the wager, much like the top paying symbol.
Christmas Astonishments: Slot Machine Functions
There are three separate aspects in Wonders of Christmas, and when they all go off at once, the results may be very breathtaking. Free spins, multipliers, and Frame Collections are all part of the package.
Collections of Frames
The Gift Symbol is one such indicator. When these collide, they create a boundary around the targeted area. Gift symbols have a chance of randomly upgrading to Golden Gift symbols, which can trigger their accompanying frames. On the next spin, this spot becomes a wild, and any adjacent framed spots also become wilds. After this happens, the frames are thrown away.
Multipliers
If a Gift Symbol is not in a Frame or an Active Frame, it adds one point to the total. They can gain one to four extra points if they land in a Frame or an Active Frame. The Multiplier for Free Spins is enhanced when 200 points have been earned. You may set it to 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100, 200, 300, 500, 750, or 1,000. The multiplier has no effect in the default game. It instead becomes relevant during the bonus spins feature.
No Risk Turns
The bonus game is activated by getting three bonus symbols anywhere on reels 2, 3, and 4. Any framed positions that did not become wild on the triggering spin are converted into sticky coins valued between 0.5 and 50 times the wager and the player is awarded 3 free spins. During the bonus round, only coins will appear on the reels, and hitting a new one will not only lock it into place but also return the number of spins to 3. When the grid is complete or no more spins are available, the bonus round will terminate. After adding up the values of each coin, the payout is multiplied by the amount won in the initial game. After then, the multiplier starts over.
Slot Machine Christmas Miracles
As you may have anticipated, your impression of Rome: The Golden Age will be roughly the same, if not identical, to your experience with Wonders of Christmas. For its holiday party, NetEnt has mostly stuck to the formula established in its Ancient Rome event. The biggest difference is the emphasis on Christmas instead of the ancient Roman aesthetic of the original game. Now, when the turkey roast supper finally arrives at the table, the only object that may possibly be hacked with a sharp tool is the meal itself.
With the exception of certain superficial changes, nothing has really changed. This means that there is a window of opportunity in which to initiate the bonus round without wasting the multiplier earned in the regular game. So, the longer you can keep fighting in the main game, the bigger the multiplier may be. Similar to previously, the multiplier can theoretically go up to an impressive x1,000. Naturally, climbing to such stratospheric heights is no easy feat; even constructing a tiny multiplier may take some time. Rewards of up to 100,000 times the stake at full whack are available, at least on paper (we have yet to see proof of a max win on this, or anything close to it). To get the most out of Wonders of Christmas, you’ll need a healthy dose of patience, courage, and luck, since it doesn’t seem like a game that provides catastrophic one-hit outcomes.
So NetEnt adds yet another reskin to the line of Christmas clones. Not terrible, especially if you’re searching for a holiday-themed slot with some flashy payouts. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever achieve Wonders of Christmas’ spectacular maximum victory, the potential is there in a game so saturated with holiday spirit.
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