Santa King Megaways | Inspired Gaming ᐈ Free Demo & Slot Review

Santa King Megaways slot review

Once again Inspired Gaming gets inspired to drop yet another title to complement the Reel King slot series. Santa King Megaways is a direct heir to Reel King Megaways, or to be more precise, a restyled copy. There are way fewer differences between the games than you might have thought, and the only major change is the setting shift to a more holiday one. The king himself dons a Santa suit and stocks up a few sacks with presents to create winter festive vibes.

Santa King Megaways Reel Screen

Santa King Megaways - Slot Outlook

The Reel King slot series has become legendary on the land-based casino market, and thanks to Greentube's and Red Tiger's adaptations rapidly caught the hearts and minds of online slot enthusiasts. Inspired Gaming has also contributed to the success of Reel King by transferring it to the Megaways engine. Once released, it was a huge hit, which not only provided its entry to the mainstream audience, but also paid homage to the original by implementing classic features, design, and sounds. However, it seems to be the final point in Reel King's legacy. Santa King Megaways doesn't bring any innovations or boast any other changes to the gameplay, being just an old slot in a new package with cosmetic adjustment, so those who have ever tried the above-mentioned Inspired's brainchild won't find any reasons why they should switch to a newer version.

The first thing that catches the eye is a new background and some of the Christmas decorations are scattered all over the screen. The wallpaper kept the blue color, though, now it's the snowflakes that are ornaments here. One more thing is that soundtrack has switched to a Christmass jolly one. Other than that, everything remained untouched.

True to Megaways' style, the actions take place across a 6-reel grid with 2-7 symbols in height each. The number of rows is determined at the beginning of each spin, thereby, the number of paylines is also different on each spin, varying from 64 to 117,649. An extra 4x1 sized row sits above the main reel set, though, it does not affect the number of ways to play.

When it comes to the figures, most of them are identical to the Reel King Megaways slot, while the RTP has nosedived to 95.56%. Not sure why, but seems that Inspired Gaming are about to rip players off during winter celebrations. A gift to themselves, if so to speak. The slot features the same high volatile math model with the common Megaways betting range, allowing players to place wagers from 0.2$ to 20$ per spin. The maximum potential is still decent, offering 10,000x of the bet as a top prize.

Heading over to the paytable reveals recognizable icons, though, with a touch of styling applied to give them a dash of personality. We mean some snow on top of each symbol. The pay symbols include in ascending order cherries, plums, watermelons, 9-A royals, and sacks full of coins. You'll require at least 3 symbols on a line to score a win, while the top-paying symbol needs only two. Fruits and card royals are worth from 0.8x to 7.5x of the bet for a 6-of-a-kind combo, while sacks award 50 times the stake. The last is Wild symbols, acting as a substitute for any other regular symbols, though, it can only land onto the upper reel.

Santa King Megaways - Bonus Features

As alluded to earlier, the feature set is identical to the one found in the slot's older sibling. Santa King Megaways might seem complicated at the first glance, though, you'll quickly figure out what's what. Anyway, let's sort our everything in order.

On any winning spin, the Cascading Wins feature comes into play. It removes all winning symbols from the grid to allow new ones to tumble down and fill empty spaces. The feature continues up to the moment when no new winning combos could be made, allowing players to launch chains of consecutive wins.

The Cascading Wins feature is partially linked to the next bonus, namely Lit Reels. On any spin during the base game up to 6 reels can light yellow, plus each cascade turns one extra reel yellow. Achieving 6 lit reels leads to the Reel King Feature. The next cascade after that will activate the Super King feature, and one further - the Mega King feature.

Once activated, Reel King himself will show up on the reels with a mini 3x1 slot, as well as the Free Spins Trail will appear above the reel set. Depending on the activated entry feature, the number of Reel Kings and possible Free Spins displayed on the trail are the following:

• Reel King - 1-2 Reel Kings / 8 - 15 Free Spins.
• Super Reel King - 2-3 Reel Kings / 8-20 Free Spins.
• Mega Reel King - 3-6 Reel Kings / 8 - 25 Free Spins.

Each Reel King spins its mini-slot, awarding cash prizes for win combos and advancing on the Free Spins Trail. Blue, yellow, and red sevens can land on those slots, awarding 2x, 5x, and 10x of the bet respectively, while mixed combo awards 1x of the bet. The reels on those slots can also be lit. In case 3 turn yellow, players advance one position further on the trail. Reel King disappears if a non-winning combo with unlit reels lands.

Once all the kings fade, players proceed to the Gamble feature, where they have an opportunity to win more spins. Losing a gamble will end up in returning to the base game while winning a gamble can award up to 25 spins.

As soon as the Free Spins round begins, the progressive multiplier feature becomes activated. The bonus game kicks off with a 1x multiplier, and each cascade increases it by 1x without any limitations. Each cascade also lights the reels, this time red color, and lit reels do not reset between the spins. Once 6 are achieved, Reel King will show up and grant extra 1-3 spins and add up to 3x to the total multiplier.

Santa King Megaways - Slot Verdict

Inspired Gaming obviously has taken a lazy approach while developing this one. Too little effort has been made into Santa King Megaways, so it surely struggles to have any originality and somehow differ from its older brother in something other than the design and cut payback percentage.

According to the above, fans of Reel King Megaways are unlikely to get hooked onto this version, unless they're going to spin it on the New Year's Eve while holding a champagne glass in the other hand.