NetEnt’s Santa vs Rudolf – Win While You Help Santa Get His Hat Back

NetEnt’s Santa vs Rudolf is a great slot game with a magical Christmas theme. Although for Santa, the scene is not so magical because Rudolf took his hat. Santa is waiting to deliver gifts and does not want to leave the North Pole without his hat. Spin the reels and see if you can help Santa get his hat back from Rudolf.

There are some excellent bonus features in this game including wild substitutions, shifting wilds, and free spins. Symbols on the reels include a the Wild Rudolf, Wild Santa, a sleigh, gift packages, a Rudolf snow globe, and a letter to Santa. Low value symbols are the 10, J, Q, K, and A designed in the style of red and white striped candy canes. The slot has five festive reels, three rows, and 20 fixed pay lines. Coin values range from 0.01 to 20.00. This gives you a betting range of 0.20 up to 400 per spin.

How Much Can You Win?

The slot has a number of bonus features including two wilds with re-spins and free spins. You are likely to make your bigger wins during the free spins rounds, however, the wild re-spins can also be lucrative. The game has both way pays and a RTP (Return to Player) of 96.35%, which is quite good for players. Regular game symbols come with a top payout of 500x the line bet for five sleigh symbols. The maximum win in the game is 270,000 coins found in the Rudolf Spins feature.

Symbols and Bonus Features

Santa and Rudolf Wild Re-Spins

Both Santa and Rudolf are the wild substitute symbols. When one or both of the wilds appear on either the 1st or 5th reels, any wins are awarded and the wilds then shift one reel over. Santa appears on the 1st reel and moves towards the right, while Rudolf appears on the 5th reel and moves towards the left. The reels then re-spin automatically until the wild symbol falls off the end of the reels.

If the Santa and Rudolf wilds appear on the same row and end up in the same position on the reels, the wilds merge into each other and lock into place on the reels. When the spin ends, any wins are paid, and the free spins round reactivates if there are other wilds on the reels. The wilds that triggered the free spins disappear while the other wilds left from the free spins round continue on their way until they fall off the end of the reels.

Free Spins Feature

When Santa and Rudolf merge with each other during the base game, they trigger 10 free spins. Since there are three rows, and it is theoretically possible that Santa and Rudolf could merge on all three rows at the same time, it is possible to trigger up to 30 free spins at the same time.

During the free spins round, the Santa wild and the Rudolf wild can appear in any position on the reels. Should Santa and Rudolf merge during the free spins round, they add an additional four free spins. When the wilds activate the free spins, they disappear as they do in the base game.

When playing free spins, you will see two meters on top of the reels. These meters keep track of Santa and Rudolf. Each time Santa or Rudolf fall off the reels, one space in the relevant meter is filled. When all eight spaces on one of the meters is full, this triggers a bonus feature. The bonus features are Santa’s gifts and Rudolf Spins. Only one meter can fill up during the free spins round, which means you can only trigger one of the special features at a time. If the meter is full before the free spins end, you continue free spins play and enjoy the special feature after you complete the free games round.

Santa’s Gifts Bonus Feature

Three sets of five items appear on the screen. The three items you might reveal are a coin win, a multiplier, or a feature end symbol. When you pick a coin win, the value is added to your slots win total. You can then pick another item in the same set.

Rudolf Spins Bonus Feature

This bonus feature includes three spins during which five Rudolf wilds are seen on the reels. The wilds appear in different random positions for each of the three spins.

Play Santa vs Rudolf On the Go

You can play Santa vs Rudolf while on the go without adding any gaming apps or extra software to your mobile device. The game plays using the HTML5 technology, which means you can play through your device’s browser.

Simply go to your chosen casino’s games lobby, tap the Santa vs Rudolf icon, and the game loads in your browser. You can play this slot on your iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones, and tablet devices.

What We Think about Santa vs Rudolf

This is a great slot with a theme that adds a twist to the regular Christmas themed games. We love the special features, and the wild re-spins feature triggers fairly regularly. All the other special features depend on the free spins feature which triggers less frequently. The game comes with the potential for big wins and is great fun to play. While the music adds to the atmosphere, you may wish to switch it off after a while. We do miss the a progressive jackpot and the gamble feature. However, this NetEnt slot is definitely worth playing, and is a great addition to NetEnt’s holiday season slots.