Introduction
Now this is how you celebrate the season. Not only does the Megaways format mean that Santa King Megaways has not five but six reels, and a magnificent 117,649 ways to win (though not on every spin), but there are different levels of free spins rounds with various multipliers and cascading reels. As online pokies go, Inspired certainly were Inspired when they designed this one.
Theme, Graphics & Soundtrack
In a blue and icy world encrusted with snowflakes, with a festive soundtrack and the occasional jingle of a sleigh bell, you’ll find the Christmassy reels of Santa King Megaways. Many of the symbols are those of the classic fruit machine - watermelon, plum, cherry - or equally traditional card symbols, but each has its own little dusting of snow. The lack of any actual appearance by St Nick before the bonus rounds may be a little disappointing, but it’s still an atmospheric pokie.
Santa King Megaways RTP and Variance
Santa King Megaways comes with a 96.56% RTP, which puts its returns just a little below average. The volatility is high.
How to Play Santa King Megaways
You don’t have to fly all the way up to the North Pole to enjoy this pokie:
1. Under the reels you’ll see three displays - Balance, Win and Stake. That means it’s easy to keep track of your game, and more importantly, your money.
2. There are three main buttons to the right of the reels. The top one is “Stake” and represented by a stack of coins. Click on it and you can choose your preferred bet amount.
3. The bottommost button is a settings gear and when you click it you’ll be given lots of options. These include “Game Info” (paytable and rules), “Game History”, “Sound”, “Left Hand Play”, “Turbo” and “Go to Lobby”.
5. Back on the main screen there’s only one more button between Stake and Settings. It’s Spin, which you can click once to turn the reels once or hold down to open autoplay options.
6. Autoplay comes with 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 spins as well as the ability to set loss limits or a single win limit, again helpful when you’re playing responsibly.
7. Other displays above and to the left of the reels include the changing number of ways to win and the meter showing your progress towards the Reel King, Super King and Mega King features.
Bet & Win Sizes
The minimum stake is 0.20 and the highest possible stake is 20.00, meaning a maximum win of 250,000. The top prizes for each symbol, with your bet at its lowest level, are as follows:
Cherries - 0.16
Plum - 0.18
Watermelon, 9 - 0.20
10, J - 0.35
Q, K - 0.40
A - 1.50
Bag of Presents - 10.00
During the Reel King round the Reel King awards as follows:
Any three mixed presents - 0.20
Three Blues - 0.40
Three Yellows - 1.00
Three Reds - 2.00
Santa King Megaways Bonus Features & Free Spins
Cascading symbols
After every winning spin in the base game or during Reel King Free Spins, your winning symbols will disappear and new ones will cascade to fill their place, potentially meaning extra winning combinations.
Dings
As you play, your reels may light up in gold with a “dinging” noise. Every time you cascade another reel will turn gold. Six of them triggers the Reel King round, another cascade on top of that triggers Super King and yet another cascade could lead to the Mega King feature.
Reel King
The Reel King is a little Santa with a crown on his red hat and a single row, three-reel pokie in his hands. You’ll receive between one and six Reel Kings. Every time the King’s reels light up, you advance another step on the Free Spins Trail, until he has a losing spin and the lights disappear. You’ll be awarded the number of free spins stated on your current space. The Super King and Mega King are similar, but with a different number of steps along the trail and a different number of spins awarded:
Reel King - 0, 0, 0, 0, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Super King - 0, 0, 0, 0, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 14, 16, 20
Mega King - 8, 8, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 25
Free Spins
Every cascade in the free spins round adds an extra one to the unlimited multiplier. Turn all six reels red and the Reel King will appear again bringing one, two or three free spins and a multiplier of zero, one, two or three.
Free Spins Gamble
After the Reel King you can gamble your winnings for up to 25 extra free spins. This is a Wheel of Fortune. If the arrow lands on green, you win, if it lands on red you lose.
Spin Chance
If your credit is higher than zero but still too low to play, you’ll automatically trigger Spin Chance. Again it’s a Wheel of Fortune where you win on green and lose on red. Risk your remaining credit to try and secure one more spin.
Santa King Megaways Review
This is definitely a game for the winter months, unless you’re one of those Christmas devotees who starts celebrating in July. It’s definitely not just a fruit machine, despite the very traditional symbols. This is a thematically strong pokie with a complex range of free spins and multipliers in its bonus rounds. There’s a lot more to it than first meets the eye.