Stay Frosty!

Stay Frosty! Overview

It's that time of year again when slot designers are starting to leverage the season's natural optimism to create some games that tap into our festive spirit and draw players out. Online slot games are probably one of the primary forms of gambling that benefit from this time of year, as they don't require you to leave your home or your hot chocolate yet still provide a fun level of chance with plenty of Christmas cheer. BetSoft, in this instance, is no different, creating Stay Frosty!, this snowy release to attract some of the yuletide enthusiasts. Mechanically, this is a game with five reels and four rows and 100 fixed pay lines.

The features included in this game include a wild bonus. This bonus pertains to the snowman symbol, which can substitute for all regular symbols on the board. Furthermore, if the wild forms part of a win, it will remain sticky for the following two spins. The other main feature in this game is the free spins round, triggered when players land three to five reindeer scatters. The more scatters you land, the more free spins you will be granted into the round. Players can also benefit from sticky wilds during this game. Finally, there is also a bonus buy feature available. All features will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Stay Frosty! Theme and Symbols

The theme for this slot is the magical and all too brief Christmas period. This means that the screen is covered in snow, populated by presents and lit up like a Christmas tree. This particular take on the Christmas theme is centred on the main character in this game- Frosty the Snowman. You will see him (hopefully) reasonably regularly, as he is the wild symbol. Players have been invited to his natural home – Lapland, to enjoy some festive fun spinning reels that contain, amongst other things, delicate snow globes, sleighbells and stockings. The picture BetSoft creates is one of complete joyful wonderment. This is definitely a game to get you into a festive mood.

The background for this slot is an exterior shot of Santa's grotto, located in the snowy forests of Lapland (it must be Lapland as there are no trees at the North Pole). All around, thick snow blankets the ground and trees. Reflecting off of this snow are the dancing colours of the aurora borealis – the Northern Lights, which look stunning in their purple and green hues. To the right-hand side of the reels is Santa's little cottage, which looks much like an idyllic gingerbread house with bright lights decorating the eves and crossbeams of the exterior. There is also a cosy light emanating from the window that looks very inviting. The playing window looks like a shop window, dressed lavishly in bright white lights all around the frame.

The symbols for this game are comprised of low-value, high value and special symbols. The lower value symbols for Stay Frosty! are the 10, J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. Each of these is decorated either in a candy cane design or with Christmas lights filling up their interior. The most valuable of these symbols is the ace which pays out at 0.32x the stake for five in a row. On the other hand, the higher value symbols start with the present, the golden sleighbells and the snow globe. The snow globe pays the most out of these at 1.2x the stake. The stocking then follows these, and the two father Christmas characters, the one with the red hat, is the most valuable in the game. Finally, the specials are the frosty the snowman wild, and the reindeer scatter symbol.

Game Play

Stay Frosty! is played on a 5-reel, 4-row machine with 100 fixed pay lines. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The betting range for Stay Frosty! is 25p to £112.50 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is unknown. The return to player percentage for Stay Frosty! is 96.21%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 922.48x your stake.

Stay Frosty! Features

The most common bonus feature that you will encounter in this game is the wild bonus. This bonus pertains to the snowman symbol – the wild. This symbol can substitute for any other regular symbol on the board to help form more wins. However, the wild will also become sticky if it forms part of a winning line for the next two spins.

The next feature is the free spins round. This bonus is triggered by players landing three or more of the merry reindeer scatters on the reels at the same time. When this happens, you will first be given an initial payout proportionate to the number of scatters that you land to trigger the feature. The most you can win is 50x the wager amount for five scatters. You will then receive a set of free spins again determined by the number of scatters that you landed. Sticky wilds are also available during these spins.
The final bonus in this game is the bonus buy feature, which for a price, will allow you to buy your way into the free spins round, so you don't have to wait to trigger it naturally.

Conclusion

Festive spinning fun is the name of the game for Stay Frosty! and it certainly delivers that. The features are also neat and provide enough additional gameplay levels to keep things interesting as you progress through the spins. RTP is also reassuringly high for a game of this design. The volatility not being released is a bit of a worry; however, our experience playing probably indicates that it is fairly high.