El Cartel Navidad Slot Review
A snow-dusted street, a brick wall with a red “Merry Christmas” sign, and a man in a Santa suit holding a briefcase like he’s here on business rather than charity. El Cartel Navidad, a 3×3 reel game from MGA Games, treats its wins the same way: they’re raw material to be fed back into the machine, not payouts to walk away with.
The hand-drawn look is warm and a little gritty, with string lights running down the reel frame, and it suits a game built around a two-tier structure. Stakes go up to the level where the game returns its best 95% RTP, and there are sister titles in the same catalogue, including Chiquito Medieval and Los Piratas Golfetes, alongside Mono Jungla.
The 3×3 Reels and What They Pay
Three reels, three rows, and a prize ladder that pays in multiples of the total bet. The top of that ladder is steep for a game this size: the white and blue diamond is worth 500x for three of a kind. Below it, the pays fall away quickly.
- Diamond (white/blue) – 500x for three
- Diamond (pink) – 100x for three
- Diamond (green) – 40x for three
- Mixed fruit and money row – 20x for three
- Mixed fruit and money row – 16x for three
- Mixed fruit and money row – 12x for three
- Mixed fruit and money row – 8x for three
- Mixed fruit and money row – 4x for three
- Any three matching – 2x
The ladder has a long tail. More than half of its steps are mixed fruit and money rows, which is where the frequent action sits, and even the floor pays: any three matching figures still return something. It’s a structure borrowed straight from the bar-top tradition, where the bottom of the plan exists to keep the counter ticking over.
The WILD combines with any figure. There’s no scatter in the traditional sense. Instead, the special symbols feed the systems that sit on top of the reels.
Plata and the Upper Game
Plata is the game’s second currency, and it’s the reason El Cartel Navidad doesn’t play like a standard three-reeler. Plata symbols accrue into a counter in the top bar during play, at a rate of one for a single, two for a double and six for a triple. Triples are where the counter genuinely moves.
That balance is spent, alongside credits, to enter the upper game, and entry needs both. Credits alone don’t open the door, which turns plata from a side reward into the thing you’re actually collecting for. A Risk/Plata option also sits on the menu, so the balance can be pushed rather than hoarded.
Two further symbols sit alongside it. The FREE GAME sleigh icon appears in the legend bar, and the vertical lines symbol increases the vertical lines counter used in the upper game. The more of those collected in the base game, the more the top half has to work with when you get there.
In the upper game, every prize except a Blue 7 can be risked in portions or collected, portion by portion, until none remain. Risking a portion either doubles it or converts it into plata, which feeds straight back into the loop. The Blue 7 prize is the one exception: it banks with no gamble offered.
It’s a structure that rewards patience. Small base game wins become currency, currency becomes upper game entry, and the upper game is where the ladder’s upper steps live.
Risking a Prize
The main game has its own risk mechanic on every prize. Press play and the win is gambled: it either steps up one level on the prize plan or converts into plata. Press collect and it banks.
Once the three-bells line is reached, the gamble changes shape. From there the possible prizes move up or down the plan rather than simply climbing, so a risk can hand back a smaller step than the one you started on. It keeps the ladder tense at exactly the point where the pays get interesting.
Then there are the nudges. Four numbered bell icons, one through four, sit on the control bar alongside NUDGES buttons; no further rule text is shown for them.
One thing to know before staking: the return isn’t flat across bet levels. The 95% figure applies at the top stake of 15, with the 10 and 5 levels returning 90%, and both the 1 and 0.20 tiers dropping to 80%. On a game where the prize ladder’s best steps are multiples of stake, playing below the top tier costs you both ceiling and return.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 6.4/10
Playing this is less like spinning a slot and more like running a small operation: you collect, you bank a little, you push the rest back in and wait for the counter to say it’s time. That collecting loop is the reason to pick it, and the snowy street outside barely interrupts it.
The strength is that nothing here is wasted. Even a two-times nothing win can become plata, and plata is what the good half of the machine runs on. The weakness is the low-stake return: at 80% the small bets aren’t worth touching, which is a poor welcome for cautious players on a game this size.
It’s for players who enjoy the old bar-top rhythm of nudges, risk buttons and slow accumulation, and not for anyone who wants a bonus round to arrive on its own. If that’s you, the man in the Santa suit has been keeping something in that briefcase for you.
El Cartel Navidad FAQs
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What is the RTP of El Cartel Navidad?
The RTP is 95% at the highest bet level of 15. The 10 and 5 stakes return 90%, and the 1 and 0.20 tiers return 80%, so the stake you choose has a direct effect on the return. -
What is the grid size of El Cartel Navidad?
El Cartel Navidad runs on a 3×3 grid with three reels and three rows, in the style of a traditional bar-top machine. -
What does the WILD symbol do in El Cartel Navidad?
The WILD combines with any figure, so it can stand in for any symbol on the 3×3 grid. -
What is Plata in El Cartel Navidad?
Plata is the game’s secondary currency. Plata symbols add to a counter in the top bar, one for a single, two for a double and six for a triple, and the balance is spent alongside credits to play the upper game. -
How does the risk game work in El Cartel Navidad?
Every prize in the main game can be risked or collected. Risking it either steps the prize up one level on the prize plan or converts it into plata. Past the three-bells line the gamble turns into an up-down game, where the next possible prize can sit above or below the one you hold. -
What do the nudges do in El Cartel Navidad?
Four numbered nudge options, from one to four, appear on the control bar, alongside NUDGES buttons. No further rule text is shown for them. -
Can every prize be gambled in the upper game?
No. Blue 7 prizes are collected automatically with no risk offered. Every other prize in the upper game is split into portions, and each portion can be doubled, converted to plata, or banked until none remain. -
What does the vertical lines symbol do in El Cartel Navidad?
It increases your vertical lines counter in the top game. The counter builds during base game play, so the more vertical lines symbols you collect, the more lines the upper game has to work with when you enter it.
