At this time of the year, Santa is probably still nicely tugged in bed, and snoring oh-oh-oh! Yeah, not the same as when he laughs, of course, and probably months more before he wakes up to start making toys! No kids will be reading this review, so you all know what the actual truth is! Hohoho. In real life...that's in reality...Santa Claus is awake each and every day...and he never sleeps! When you tell Santa "go to sleep"...then you switch off...Santa instantly pops up elsewhere in somebody else's computer! That's certainly a technological magic...or something like that! Hmmm...talking about Santa popping up elsewhere...he just did at mine! Hahahaha. "Ahhh Santa...please come in! Yes, I know, the weather is hot in this part of the world, but please don't take off your thick fluffy suit...don't want your tons of sweat in there to wet my carpet!" Poor Santa...I'll let him cool off while I write this review. He's in my fridge now...LOL.
Santa Surprise is a 20-paylines 5-reels slot game from Playtech. You don't have to wait for Christmas to play this game, neither should you play this game to wait for Christmas! Hehehe. Play it whenever you want, as often as you want, and I'll tell Santa to give you a Christmas present...when he comes out of my fridge! Aheeem, aheeem, lets move on. Oh, before that, I have a question for you. Have you played Santa's opposite game? Don't know what game that is huh? It's 'Desert Treasure', what else! Cold, hot, snow, sand...opposites right? If you have played Desert Treasure, and love it...then you'll love Santa Surprise too. These 2 games play almost exactly alike! In fact, I would think that only the graphics and sound effects had been swapped to create a new game! You think? No, Santa isn't telling either.
Symbols used in this game include a gift-box, a sock and a bell, the jingling kind. Yes, a jingle bell, that pays x500 line bet for 5-of-a-kind, which is half the usual x1000. Can't expect a better deal than that because Santa Surprise follows exactly Desert Treasure's paytable. Santa himself is the wild symbol, with the usual x10,000 line bet for 5-of-a-kind, and a house is the scatter symbol, paying x500 total bet for 5 of them anywhere on the reels. Now this is doubly better than some other games that are only paying out x250 total bet. 3 scatters anywhere on the reels trigger the free spins feature game, whereby 10 free spins are awarded, with x3 win multiplier. Ahhh...anything with a x3 or more win multiplier goes well in my books, despite the 10 spins. A decorated Christmas tree is the bonus symbol, getting 3 or more of these on any payline would trigger the Christmas Gifts Bonus game. The bonus symbols do not carry any win value, but cash prizes are awarded for each gift that you pick. 3 consecutive bonus symbols on any payline would award 3 picks, up to a maximum of 5 picks. Each gift carries a random cash amount, so luck plays a good role here in picking out the bigger cash prizes. As far as I could detect, the bigger cash prizes would appear in alternating fashion, from one bonus game to the next game. This may not be the case in each and every bonus game, but it could give some level of prediction on which the better bonus game would be.
On the whole, Santa Surprise is fun to play, at any time of the day. The bonus games could come quite frequently and not too far apart, and could even bring in good wins at the right time. The free spins feature games are much more difficult to get, but with a x3 win multiplier, super big prizes could be won from them, even 5-of-a-kind wilds! Yes, Santa Surprise is a game that you can keep coming back to play. :)
