Santa’s Wild Ride
Launched in December 2010, the Santa’s Wild Ride is another Christmas themed online slot from the well-known game’s developer Microgaming. Not quite as up to date as their Secret Santa slot but much better than their Santa Paws, this time round good old St. Nick has swapped his normal sleigh for something with a bit more horsepower!
Santa’s Wild Ride by Microgaming is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot that offers 243 possible winning combinations. The game has some usual and unusual features including a Free Gift Bonus on reels 2 and 4, a wild symbol that can randomly award a x2, x3 or x4 multiplier and a scatter symbol to activate the free spins bonus round with 3 features to choose from. Santa’s Wild Ride has a top jackpot prize of £95,000.
How to play Santa’s Wild Ride Video Slot
When you have loaded up the game you will find a very fun looking and vibrant coloured game board which has a snowy night time scene as its backdrop and a mixture of Christmas colours for the reels, symbols and text such as reds greens and white. There are twinkling lights around the edges and a very jolly Christmas feeling tune playing in the background.
The Santa’s Wild Ride video slot does not have any standard card type symbols. Instead, you have all things associated with this time of year. You have sugary biscuits, mince pies, a Christmas sandwich, a pint of beer and a Christmas pudding. These are all the lower valued symbols. Next, you have a sign for the North pole, a mechanic who looks after Santa’s new wheels, Santa himself and also his Misses. The game logo is the wild symbol and a set of motorbike keys with baubles as a key ring act as the scatter symbol.
Before you join Santa on his wild ride, make sure you set your cost per spin and that this is at a level you are comfortable with. Using the + and – buttons at the bottom of the game screen, you can set the coin size at 1p, 2p and 5p. There is also a coin per line button so you can decide how many of the coins you wish to bet at a time. This can be anything from 1 to 5. The game also has a x30 multiplier so 1 coin at 1p would mean a 30p cost per spin. Adjusting these options will allow you to set the cost per spin from 30p up to a maximum of £7.50.
To start playing Santa’s Wild Ride you just need to select the large red button on the bottom far right of the screen which says ‘Spin’. There is also an ‘Auto Play’ button along the bottom section of the game screen. Clicking the AutoPlay feature allows you to have the game spin the reels automatically. You can set the number of spins from 5 up to 100 or use the pre-set buttons for 5 or 10 spins. You also have a bet max button which will spin the reels at the maximum cost per spin based on your current coin level.
The base game for Santa’s Wild Ride sees you looking to match symbols in columns rather than pay lines so that as long as they are adjacent to each other anywhere on the next reel you will have a win. This is boosted by the Wild symbol which also offers up a multiplier to your cash prize of up to x4. In the base game, you also have the Mystery Bonus awards that can land on reels 2 and 4. If any of these extra Christmas presents from Santa land then they will instantly give you a cash reward and are not reliant on any other matching symbol.
If you manage to land 3 or more of the scatter symbol then you will activate the free spins bonus round. You will be awarded 25 free spins with all wins being doubled. You will have to make a choice though of what feature you would like during your free spins. There are three to choose from.
The free spins features include Stacked Wilds where the wild symbol becomes stacked on all 5 reels. There is the Expanding Wild where a wild can expand to fill the entire reel and finally, Trailing Wilds where the wild can create a trail of wilds as it slides down the reel. Once your free spins have concluded you will be returned to the base game.
Santa’s Wild Ride Video Slot Tips
On the bottom left-hand side of the game screen, you will see a button labelled ‘View Pays’. Selecting this will reveal a series of 3 screens that give information about the game including the main features as discussed above. You can also view the coin payout levels for the number of matching symbols. These screens are useful and help familiarise you with the game and what you need to do to get the best wins possible.
If you are new to playing the Santa’s Wild Ride video slot, then it would be worth your while to try out the game for free at one of our recommended online casinos. This facility allows you to learn how the game plays and see the features in action before parting with your hard earned cash. You can switch to real cash play at any time. If you would like to play Santa’s Wild Ride for free then you can at Mr Green Casino. You can also get a welcome bonus at this casino so you can have even more time to try out this online slot.
Is Santa’s Wild Ride the right video slot for you?
The Santa’s Wild Ride Slot by Microgaming has a theoretical RTP (return to player) of 96.47% giving a house edge of up to 3.53%. We tested the game over 100 spins at a £1.50 cost per spin and found this slot to be a medium to high variance game. Wins did not come as frequently as we would like and our longest dry spell was 12 spins without a win.
Occasionally we would hit a decent sized cash prize and the odd mystery box, however, these tended to be only for £1.50 or £3. It was the free spins bonus round that made the biggest difference. The Santa’s Wild Ride would suit you if you are using a free casino bonus and looking to wait it out and enjoy the benefits of the bonus round rather than using your own cash. You do get a decent enough gameplay time as well with the multiplier wilds helping to lift the low sized prizes.
