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19 June 2024 
Santa’s Stack Slot Review 2021
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and no slots were spinning. Players were sleeping soundly and silence was far and wide, when all of a sudden a voice cried out “We must play Santa’s Stack!”
Join the Christmas Crew in Relax Gaming‘s festive release Santa’s Stack, where the festivities begin on an 8×8 grid, entwined in an ‘old school’ style Winter Wonderland. For players who just love a Cluster Pays mechanic, Santa’s Stack is the gift that keeps on giving!
Santa’s Stack is Relax Gaming’s first Christmas inspired slot title this year and we’re confident it won’t be the last in the years to come. Relax Gaming is a very well known and loved slots provider, bringing us certain titles such as Cluster Tumble, Top Dawgs and Iron Bank.
We’ve seen first-hand the amount of effort Relax Gaming puts in to ensure their slot games are top quality, so we can’t help but get a little excited about this one!
Grab yourselves a cup of mulled wine and get into the Christmas Spirit as we jump straight into the festivities!
Santa’s Stack Theme
Relax Gaming has truly done a superb job with the theme for Santa’s Stack. The 8-bit style graphics really makes it stand out, and despite the difference in theme it makes us reminisce about the smash hit that was Hellcatraz.
Behind the reels, you’ll see a Christmas Square littered with snow and adorned with Christmas decorations. This town square may look empty, but the sound of cheery townspeople can be heard clearly in the background. When you start spinning the reels you’ll be greeted to the sweet sound of ‘chiptune’ music which reminds us of an old video game.
If you’re more SNES than Xbox Series X, then you’ll definitely appreciate the retro theme Relax Gaming has opted for here.
Realistic graphics have their place, but sometimes its great to see the glorious return of an older style. Who would have guessed that we’d still be pining for some 8 bit pixel graphics all these years later?
Santa’s Stack is certainly one of the more cheery Christmas Slots we’ve seen so far. Others seem to opt for a cosier theme, with a quiet Christmas evening and the warmth of a fireplace, but we definitely prefer the more lively style seen here.
Santa’s Stack Betting and Symbols
Santa’s Stack has a selection of betting options for players to choose from. For those who prefer a lower stake, the minimum bet available is £0.10 per spin. For those who prefer a higher stake, the maximum bet available is £50 per spin, with plenty of options in between the two.
The highest paying regular symbol in Santa’s Stack is Santa, followed by Mrs Claus, the Elf and Rudolph. Lower paying symbols are in the form of Red, Green and Blue Baubles.
Wild symbols substitute for all symbols except Scatter symbols.
Santa’s Stack Base Game and Features
Santa’s Stack is an 8×8 Video Slot with a Cluster Pays mechanic. To form a win you will need to connect 5 or more of the same symbols, either Horizontally or Vertically.
Relax Gaming has always done Cluster Pays Slots well, and Santa’s Stack is no exception. 5 of any symbol doesn’t exactly give you anything exciting, but as the numbers start growing the pays increase exponentially, which makes for an exciting experience which puts on you on the edge of your seat.
Some of the upper levels of 50+ and 60 symbols aren’t exactly attainable on any regular spin, but magic becomes possible thanks to some of the features.
Secret Santa Re-Spin Feature
During the base game, the Secret Santa Re-Spin feature can only be triggered when a Wild makes up part of a winning combination.
All winning clusters (including Wilds) will convert into hidden Mystery symbols and a Re-Spin will be issued.
Any winning clusters that are adjacent to Mystery symbols, will also transform into Mystery symbols and an additional Re-Spin is awarded.
If Mystery symbols are surrounding an area where a win cannot be formed, that section will then be converted into Mystery symbols.
All Mystery symbols will reveal the same symbol at the end of the Re-Spin.
The Secret Santa Re-Spin feature will end when there are no new winning clusters on the screen.
Santa’s Stack Free Spins
Landing 3 or more Scatters anywhere on the grid, triggers 5 Free Spins. Each additional Scatter that lands during the initial trigger, awards an extra +1 Free Spin.
During Free Spins, the Secret Santa feature is always active and Wild symbols are guaranteed to land at the start of each Free Spin. The number of Wilds guaranteed to land, increases by one each time, starting with 1 Wild in the first Free Spin.
Landing Scatter symbols during Free Spins will award one of the following prizes.
- Blue Scatter – +1 additional Free Spin.
- Red Scatter – Increases the Multiplier by +1.
- Blue and Red Scatter – +1 additional Free Spin and +1 Multiplier increase.
Santa’s Stack Bonus Buy
For players who are a little impatient when it comes to opening presents, Santa’s Stack has a Bonus Buy option for those outside the UK.
Santa’s Stack Free Spins can be purchased for 100x your total bet.
The theoretical RTP for a Bonus Buy increases from 96.27% to 97.00%.
Santa’s Stack Our Verdict
We feel as if Christmas Style slots are all or nothing. We can think of good ones, and we can think of bad ones, there just doesn’t seem to be an in between. When it comes to Santa’s Stack, we can whole-heartedly say that it’s a GREAT one.
We really love the visual aesthetics in Santa’s Stack. The older style really gives it a sense of personality, and we think it really grabs your attention like nothing else would. Imagine the same slot with graphics like those seen in any other slot and it just loses its appeal as far as we’re concerned. Perhaps we’re just old school, but we’d bet that many would agree with how great Santa’s Stack looks.
It’s just really happy like a good Christmas slot should be. A lot of slots certainly opt for serious and even dark themes, so Santa’s Stack would do well into bringing you back into good spirits once you load it up.
When it comes to gameplay, things look great yet again. Relax Gaming are partial to a good mystery symbol feature, and they’ve added it here too. We think it works well, but anyone who knows the feature will also know that it can fall flat sometimes. This feature will also be paramount in the Free Spins, which we think is rather simple.
There’s no grandiose Cluster Game features which you might expect from a Cluster Pays Slot, just Wilds, Multipliers and additional Free Spins – but its enough.
Sometimes the complicated nature of some Cluster Pays slots sows confusion, but Santa’s Stack can truly be enjoyed by all.
Statistics wise, Santa’s Stack is said to be capable of 20,000x wins. Whether this is just a theoretical one or a realistic one remains to be seen, but we still don’t doubt how well Santa’s Stack can perform even if it’s maximum win is unrealistic. Big Clusters, big Multipliers and lots of Wilds could well make your Christmas wishes come true, and if it goes off then there would certainly be a spending spree for Christmas soon after!
Overall, we think Santa’s Stack is great. It’s a shame that the longevity of Christmas Slots only extend from November-December, but we hope it makes an impression that’s good enough for people to revisit it next year too.
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