Santa's Xmas Rush Slot Review

Santa’s Xmas Rush Slot Overview

Santa’s Xmas Rush is a casino slot from Pragmatic Play and the provider’s first Christmas release of 2024, although its understudio Reel Kingdom is already underway with two of them. 

We write this on the 23rd of October, giving us two months to start prepping for the big holiday, and in this industry, the plethora of themed slot games that come with it. We honestly enjoy it. It gives off a familiar feeling, and we associate it with the good times that are about to be had. We’re aware that not all people associate Christmas with happy times, which is really sad, but we hope that you can still find some joy in it, whether it be with family, friends, or some banging games. Santa’s Xmas Rush is an interesting one with a 3x bonus bet that is very Hacksaw/ELK-esque. Also, don’t make the same mistake as we did and worry that this is a Sugar Rush re-skin; it’s not.

Santa’s Xmas Rush is a video slot from Pragmatic Play with 6 reels and 6 rows. A Cluster of 6 or more matching symbols is needed to make a winning combination. Players can choose between making a Min.bet of 0.20 and a Max.bet of 240. The game has a default RTP of 96.51%, but there are also versions of 95.58% and 94.48%. It has a hit frequency of 27.78% and a free spins hit frequency of 1 in 395.84 spins. Lastly, Santa’s Xmas Rush is played at high volatility and can net you a max win of 10000x the bet, with a max win frequency of 1 in 50,000,000 spins. 

Mechanically, we believe that Pragmatic was inspired by their own previous release, Heart of Cleopatra. It’s no copy tho, as it works quite differently after all. The features of Santa’s Xmas Rush are Tumble, Xmas Rush Feature, Free Spins, Feature Buy, and Extra Bets. 

Santa’s Xmas Rush Slot Information

In terms of presentation, it’s one of those games that looks great but doesn’t make any great leaps in slot production innovation. Sharp graphics, smooth animations, and a nice jingle go a long way, though. 

Santa’s Xmas Rush can be played on most common mobile devices and desktops. A winning combination is made by landing a cluster of 6 or more matching symbols. 

The lower-paying symbols include Christmas baubles colored blue, purple, green, and red. A cluster of 6 with one of these pays 0.25x-0.5x the bet. The higher-paying symbols consist of reindeer, gingerbread, and Christmas stockings. Six-of-a-kind with these pays 1x-2x the bet. Scatter symbols, Santa symbols, and Snowflakes will also be present, but more on that in a bit.

Santa’s Xmas Rush Slot Features

What is the max win in the slot Santa’s Xmas Rush?

You can win up to 10000x the bet.

What features are available in the slot Santa’s Xmas Rush?

The features of Santa’s Xmas Rush are Tumble, Xmas Rush Feature, Free Spins, Feature Buy, and Extra Bets. 

Tumble

Each symbol part of a winning combination will be removed from the grid, allowing new ones to drop down.

Xmas Rush Feature

In the base game, randomly at any spin, 3 to 8 random positions can be marked with a snowflake. If you land a Santa symbol, the snowflakes will start spinning after the tumble is over, revealing a prize value of 0.5x-2500x, or a Respin. Santa will collect all prizes, and if you land a Respin, the prizes are collected, and the symbols spin again. If more than one Santa symbol is on the screen, the prize values are multiplied by the total amount of Santa symbols. 

Free Spins

Landing 4, 5, 6, or 7 Scatter symbols awards 10, 14, 18, or 22 Free Spins, respectively. During Free Spins, each winning combination has a chance to add a snowflake mark on a random position, and it will stay there throughout the feature. Thus, the goal is to get as many snowflakes as possible and land Santa symbols to collect the prize values. 

Feature Buy

The Free Spins feature can be bought at a cost of 120x the bet.

Extra Bets

The following extra bets are available:

1.5x = Gives you a 3x higher chance of triggering Free Spins.

3x = Gives you an 8x higher chance of triggering Free Spins.

Santa’s Xmas Rush Slot Conclusion

Although we told you to not worry about this being a re-skin, Santa’s Xmas Rush also lacks innovation. Landing a specific symbol to collect prize values is one of the most common mechanics in the industry, and even though Pragmatic makes it feel a bit different in this game, that’s really all it is. With that said, it still works. It’s not boring or bad whatsoever, it’s just not very innovative. And we believe that it features this one mechanism that games like Sugar Rush and Heart of Cleopatra thrive from; position building. There’s something satisfying with these types of games where every connection increases the potential of the bonus, as it makes it intriguing and satisfying to follow. But the visual presentation of that specific part could be better. In the games we just mentioned, the backgrounds of activated positions are lit up and have an increasing multiplier, whereas in Santa’s Xmas Rush, it’s just a pale snowflake that can’t be upgraded or anything like that. If we had a say in it, we would make it so that snowflakes could be upgraded and reveal better prizes depending on which level they were at.

So, a big part of this game feels like many other Pragmatic releases. The quality of graphics and animations is top-notch, the core of the game is simple but works, it just lacks some innovation. However, there’s one thing that excites us a lot. The 3x extra bet is the first of its kind that Pragmatic makes. They usually stay around the 1.25x-1.5x area, but they’ve upped it a lot here, giving you an 8x higher chance of triggering the bonus, which creates fast-paced gameplay with plenty of bonuses. Hacksaw has been using this for a long time now and it has worked wonders, so it’s actually about time that Pragmatic gives it a go as well. Whether it’ll be available in upcoming releases remains to be seen, but we sure hope so. Some players will prefer to play without it, but the fact that it’s now an option is great.

Santa’s Xmas Rush from Pragmatic Play takes you to Santa’s village, where the provider treads new waters with an extra bet that’s sure to create thrilling sessions.