Santa’s Stack

Santa’s Stack Overview

Created by Relax Gaming, Santa’s Stack is an exciting new cluster pay slot game with a fun retro 8-bit style and a few choice features. This game is similar to a product that Nintendo might produce in the late ’90s on Gameboy. Mechanically, it is an eight-by-eight grid with cascading wins and a reasonable RTP of 96.27%. The maximum win is 20,000x the stake, and the volatility is very high. This means that players who intend to play here may find bigger wins, but they will be very few and far between. If you are unsure of the potential of this game, we recommend that you play the demo version first. This will also give you a feel for the game and let you know if you like it before you start risking your own money.

The features included here start with the cascade feature; this feature is triggered every time there is a win. It blasts the winning symbols off the reels and replaces them with a new set, giving players the chance to win multiple wins from one spin. Secondly, there is the Secret Santa Re-spin feature. It is triggered when a wild icon becomes part of a winning cluster. This cluster then transforms into mystery symbols, and a re-spin is granted. Each symbol in the cluster is then wrapped in Christmas paper until the mystery symbols are revealed. Finally, there is also free spins game and a bonus buy feature.

Theme and Symbols

The theme for this game is a hybrid of an 8-bit old school video game and Christmas. The name is especially clever as Santa’s Stack has a double meaning. The most obvious is that Stack refers to the money that you can win during the game. However, the other meaning is that old game cartridges – such as those used in 8-bit Nintendo games are called ‘stacks’, giving a hint to the gaming aspect of this game. Seeing Santa, his reindeer, and the various Christmas characters in this style is very novel, and we found it a lot of fun.

The background for this game in the base game is a snowy town square at dusk with Christmas lights decorating the various facades of the buildings. Despite being in the chunky and pixelated 8-bit style, the level of detail achieved here is quite remarkable. When players move through to the bonus free spins game, however, the background changes to the interior of Santa’s workshop, which, from the empty halls and tidy floors, is set in a post-Christmas time frame where the madness of creating toys have ebbed away.

The board for this game is a large square wreathed in a thick border of fairy lights and tinsel, looking very festive indeed.
The symbols for this game are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the different coloured Christmas lights. These start with the blue, then the green and finally the red. The red is the most valuable, paying out at 1,250x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the higher value symbols are the reindeer, elf, Mrs Claus, and Santa. Santa is the most lucrative of these, paying out at 10,000x the stake for the top combination. Finally, the specials are the big red W wild, the tree bonus icon, and the mystery present box icon.

Game Play

Santa’s Stack is played on an 8-reel, 8-row cluster pays machine. This means that to win combinations, players must land clusters of matching symbols in groups of five or more.

The betting range for Santa’s Stack is 10p to £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 rated in the very high range. The return to player percentage for Santa’s Stack is 96.27%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 20,000x your stake.

Features

The main features for this game start with the Santa re-spin feature, triggered when a wild symbol becomes part of a winning cluster. This cluster will then transform into a group of mystery symbols. A re-spin will then be granted. Every icon in the cluster is then wrapped in Christmas paper until the mystery symbols are revealed. These mystery icons stay in place on the reels.

Following this dynamic, when a winning cluster is formed next to a group of mystery symbols, this new cluster also transforms into a group of mystery icons, delivering yet another re-spin. This dynamic does not stop until a new cluster is not formed.

The other main feature of this game is the free spins round activated when players land three or more of the Christmas tree bonus scatters on the reels at the same time. Five spins will then be awarded. Every additional scatter that falls onto the reels during this round delivers another spin. Various other symbols also offer a range of modifiers. These are explained below:

Blue Christmas Tree: +1 additional spin.
Red Christmas Tree: +1 multiplier.
Blue & Red Christmas Tree: +1 additional spin & +1 multiplier.

Finally, this game has a bonus buy feature, which lets you buy your way into the free spins. However, this option is not available in the UK.
Remember that this is a cascading game, so winning clusters will trigger cascades that give you more chances to win from the same spin.

Conclusion

Nintendo would be proud to see its iconic style used in such a fun and innovative way. Let’s hope that more slots start using the 8-bit animation style. Apart from that, the RTP and top prize both look promising here in terms of potential. However, volatility is very high, so you might have to wait a while for any of those bigger wins.