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21 June 2024 
Christmas Bonanza Slot Review 2024
Big Time Gaming has given their beloved Bonanza a festive makeover in Christmas Bonanza!
The legends behind the Megaways mechanic are back with a new take on their beloved Bonanza, but will it be a Christmas blessing or a curse? Those of you who are familiar with the original will know that Bonanza isn’t easy to bonus, but when it finally does it can go one of two ways.
Christmas Bonanza looks like more of a reskin than a sequel, having taken on a chillier look with snowy rocks. Gifts for high-paying symbols and an adorable little winter cabin to the left are other obvious differences, but will there be more than meets the eye?
Bonanza first graced our screens in 2016 and immediately it won the hearts of players. Another variant was long overdue, but will it live up to expectations?
Blood, sweat and literal tears were needed to land the elusive ‘D’ scatter, but will Christmas Bonanza go easy on us in the spirit of Christmas? Tis the season for giving after all!
Christmas Bonanza Base Game and Features
Christmas Bonanza is a 6 reel slot with up to 117,649 ways to win. Winning combinations are formed when 3 or more of the same symbols (or 2 or more of the highest paying symbol) lands from left to right, starting from the left-most reel.
The minimum bet available to players is £/€0.20 per spin and the maximum bet available is £/€40 per spin, with plenty of other betting options in between the two. Christmas Bonanza has a theoretical RTP of 96.00% and a max win capacity of 26,000x.
Christmas Bonanza features Cascading Reels. Each time a winning combination forms, all winning symbols will be removed from the reels and new symbols will drop down from above, filling all empty positions.
In addition to this, there is also an additional Sliding Reel atop the reel set. If any of the symbols in the sliding reel are used as part of a winning combination, they will also be removed and all remaining symbols will move one position to the left and new symbols will appear from the right-most reel.
In terms of symbols, the highest paying regular symbol here is the Purple Gift, followed by the Red, Blue and Green Gifts. Low-paying symbols are standard Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine.
There is also a Wild symbol present which appears only in the additional Sliding Reel and substitutes for all other symbols except Scatters.
Like the original, the base game in Christmas Bonanza is lacking in any exciting features or modifiers, but as we know from experience the excitement comes from the Free Spins round.
Christmas Bonanza Free Spins
Landing 4 Scatters that spell out ‘Gold’ across the reels triggers the Free Spins round, awarding 12 Free Spins. Any additional Scatters after the initial 4 will award an additional +5 Free Spins.
During the Free Spins round, an increasing Multiplier comes into play, starting at x1. Each time a winning combination is formed and a Cascade occurs, the Multiplier will increase by x1.
Landing 3 or 4 Scatters in the Sliding Reel awards an additional +5 and +10 Free Spins respectively.
Christmas Bonanza Bonus Buy
For those of you who are outside the UK, you will benefit from a Bonus Buy option.
Big Time Gaming has granted players access to the Free Spins round for a total cost of 90x your current bet. (RTP 96.11%)
Christmas Bonanza: Our Verdict
What can we say about Christmas Bonanza? Well, it’s Bonanza basically, but with a Christmas Skin, or so it would seem at first glance. Behind the scenes statistics would suggest that Christmas Bonanza is superior to its non-christmas variant with a maximum win cap of 26,000x. A stark contrast to Bonanza and it’s 12,000x potential.
Bonanza is one of those famous Megaways slots. It’s hard to pinpoint why it’s so infamous compared to other Megaways slots, because feature-wise it’s as conventional as they come. Perhaps Bonanza was just in the right place at the right time, and to carry on its legacy for a Christmas special comes the festive variant.
The biggest difference apart from stats is the ability to buy the bonus in Christmas Bonanza. This won’t matter to UK players of course, but it could be a seller for those within bonus buy territory. This is significant considering Bonanza’s reputation for being hard to bonus. In fact, the original became meme material with Big Time Gaming themselves joining in for some banter about the absence of the ‘D’ scatter. Some even jokingly questioned the existence of the ‘D’ itself because of the games reluctance to drop it.
In other areas, Big Time Gaming has kept Christmas Bonanza true to the original with graphics that are almost identical to the original with the exception of the snowy landscape. The music is identical too with not a Christmas Jingle to be heard anywhere, which we’d have liked. Then again, the Bonanza music is so iconic for fans that its absence could be sorely missed.
Overall, Christmas Bonanza isn’t a massively different game, but the potential has been increased to keep up with the modern trajectory and it’s good to see an old favourite reborn, even if it is just seasonal.
Welcome Bonus
