Santa Strikes Back is one of three slots from RTG that have a similar theme, which focuses on a turf war that’s taking place between Santa Clause and the famous reindeer called Rudolph. It’s a violent affair, with bruises, toxic gifts and elf helpers that seem to be innocent bystanders. In this game, the one that is the winner is Santa, but I recommend you give the other two titles a try as well, and you will see that Rudolph gets his revenge eventually.
Santa Strikes Back is a 25 payline game, where 5 reels play host to all the symbols and the action. Speaking of the action, it involves multiple types of features, among which my favorites would be the Santa symbol and the progressive jackpot it will offer. The game has its own significant payouts though, up to $10,000 through regular combinations, plus scatter symbols and features rounds that involve free games and multipliers.
Features of Santa Strikes Back
The entire series looks great, but the real attraction in each case seems to be the features. Here, we get two types of bonus games from the scatter symbols, but only after getting a scatter battle where the two main characters fight each other. I suggest you root for Santa, the prizes are much better.
The symbol with Santa holding a sword and preparing to attack is responsible for awarding the progressive jackpot. It’s also the wild symbol, so when it doesn’t make its own combinations, it tries to help you by contributing to others. Even if you don’t have all five wilds needed for the progressive prize, the symbol is generous and offering up to $5,000.
The battle between Santa and Rudolph is immortalized in the two scatter symbols that appear in the game. The first one shows us Victorious Santa, while the second one is with Victorious Rudolph. In each case, we see the victor towering over his victim, in the aftermath of a cane or baseball bat strike to the head.
I suggest you root for Santa here, as his scatter symbol awards the bigger payouts. Rewards start here at 2x the bet for two Victorious Santa symbols, then going up to 500x the bet when there are all five.
If you get Victorious Rudolph instead, you will find that payouts start at three scatters instead of two, and that they go up to 100x the bet when you have all five.
You need a minimum of three identical scatter symbols, in order to trigger the slot’s feature games.
Santa Strikes Back Free Games
With a minimum of three symbols where Santa is the winner, the reward is 7 free spins and a starting multiplier of 1x. As you spin the reels, you will notice that the symbols with Rudolph and Santa come with Candy Cane backgrounds. If you get one of these symbols with Candy Canes on a reel, the star placed at its top of that reel will light up. Get all five reel stars to light up before the free spins are done, and you get an additional 7 free spins and a multiplier that goes up by 1x.
What’s impressive here is that you are allowed to reset the feature a maximum of 19 times. That means getting multipliers of up to 20x, with up to 140 free spins winnable through these resets.
Rudolph’s Revenge Free Games
This is the feature game triggered with the help of Victorious Rudolph. You also get 7 free spins here, but the payout multipliers work differently. During each round, the game takes the base 2x multiplier and adds to it a number that’s equal to how many Santa symbols are present in that round. For example, if there are three Santa symbols, the total round multiplier will be 5x (2x+3x). Retriggering this feature is possible whenever 3+ scatter symbols appear.
Betting options and jackpots
This is one of the more expensive titles of the series, using coins of up to $5 on each of the 25 lines. You always wager with 25 coins, so the denomination is the only one that can be changed. The resulting betting range is from $0.25 to $125.
Normally, the progressive jackpot is the one you’re after here. If that one doesn’t pan out, you can hope for a 2,000 coins payout, worth $10,000 in the base game. It might not seem like much, but multipliers in this game go as high as 20x.
Design and symbols
The design has never been an issue for the titles from this series. Though everything looks like it’s been through a war, battered and bruised, the colors and the quality of the graphics allow you to enjoy the game. It’s a Christmas themed slot, though not a conventional one, so it plays great during that time of the year.
Symbols: Santa (wild, progressive jackpot), Victorious Santa (scatter, 500x the bet), Victorious Rudolph (scatter, 100x the bet), Defeated Rudolph (2,000x), Mrs. Santa (1,500x), Voodoo Elf (1,000x), Toxic Gift (500x), Ice Trapped Elf (500x), Ace/King/Queen (250x), Jack/10/9 (200x).
Is It Worth Playing?
Santa Strikes Back is an impressive slot machine, a title where RTG developers outdid themselves. From graphics, to features and payouts, the game does well in each case and it should be a lot of fun come Christmas.
This Santa Strikes Back slot is offered by all online casinos with RTG software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
