Santa Paws is a modern slot machine from Microgaming, whose theme is indeed inspired by Santa Clause, but with the main characters in its story being various creatures from the colder regions of our planet. With polar bears, penguins, orca whales and other creatures of the two poles, Santa Paws looks like a decent enough choice, though graphics wise it’s not going to seem like a very modern game. The features will probably be the ones to influence you the most, but more about them below.
In Santa Paws, players will discover a 5 reel slot which has up to 20 win lines. The game has free spins with multipliers that can reach 7x, scatter symbols and wilds. There are also prizes of $20,000 for you to go after.
Features of Santa Paws
There are two wild symbols, one of which is only available during free spins. There are scatter symbols, triggering prizes and free games, plus multipliers of up to 7x for the latter.
The base game wild is represented by the Polar Bear. This symbol gives you a chance to win a 4,000x jackpot, if you manage to form a combo of up to five Polar Bears on the same line. When it works as a wild needs to, meaning that it can substitute for others if that gets you a new prize, the Polar Bear has to land in the exact right spot where it’s needed. The wild may substitute for any other symbol, with the exception of the Penguin scatter.
We have the Penguin next, the scatter symbol of Santa Paws. You see the Penguin carrying a gift in the image, and this symbol indeed comes with some very good prizes that it offers. Simply for having two or more scattered Penguins on the reels, you’re going to receive a prize between 2x and 100x the triggering bet.
Free Games Feature
A total of 12 free spins are awarded when the requirements are met, meaning that you have at least three scattered Penguins present. You don’t just get a couple of rounds for free though. You also have a second wild in place to help out, plus there are multipliers of up to 7x.
The second wild symbol, the one that only the free spins get, is represented by the Orca Whale called Rudolf. It has its own prizes to offer, and it can replace any other symbol, the Penguin scatter being again the only exception.
Betting options and jackpots
The bets you place in this game will use up to 200 coins, but you can spin the reels with as little as 1 coin if you want to. For each coin you select, you also have the denomination to think about, the range being $0.01 to $0.50. You can use a maximum of 10 coins per line, their total value being up to $5. As for the maximum wager, with 200 coins of $0.50 it would have a total value of $100.
The slot offers a top reward of 4,000x, awarded with the Polar Bear wild’s help. It’s going to give you up to 40,000 coins, their value going only up to $20,000.
Design and symbols
The game’s design is not as much about Santa, as it is about the cold regions where the action takes place and the creatures which inhabit it. There are polar bears, white owls, penguins, arctic rabbits and so on. Everything has snow around or on it, including the playing cards. The Santa theme is visible mostly in the few presents offered in symbols, in the reindeer horns wore by the whale, or the Santa hats that all the animals are wearing.
Symbols: Penguin (scatter, 100x bet), Polar Bear (wild, 4,000x), Rudolph Orca Whale (1,000x, wild), Arctic Fox (750x), Seal (500x), Arctic Owl (400x), Arctic Rabbit (300x), Ace (250x), King (225x), Queen (200x), Jack (175x) and 10 (150x).
Is It Worth Playing?
It’s a different kind of Christmas themed slot, and that saves it somewhat, even without it offering the kind of great looking design that I’m used to seeing in these titles.
This Santa Paws slot is offered by all online casinos with Microgaming software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
