‘Tis the season for generosity, but in the realm of online gambling, it’s also the season for familiar faces. Pragmatic Play gifts slot enthusiasts another offering with Xmas Spark, a seasonal clone of Candy Blitz. This installment features the return of a scatter-paying slot adorned with a special multiplier reel, free spins, and the option for a bonus buy. However, unlike its predecessor, Xmas Spark swaps out the sugary setting for a wintry landscape, transforming the sweet haven into a festive realm. Picture snow-covered landscapes, adorned trees, cascades of gifts, and charming little dwellings where Santa and his elves work diligently to craft toys for the world’s good boys and girls. While the Christmas references abound, it’s worth noting that Xmas Spark doesn’t deviate much from the standard slot themes and fails to introduce unique audiovisual elements to commemorate the holiday season.
As in its predecessor, Xmas Spark operates as a scatter-paying slot on a 6-reel, 5-row grid matrix. The game awards wins when 8 or more identical pay symbols land anywhere on the grid, without the requirement for them to be connected. Sporting a highly volatile math model, it boasts an RTP of 96.08% for bets ranging from 20 cents to $/€240 per paid spin. Alternatively, the RTP is slightly lower at 96.02% when opting for the free spins bonus round through a purchase.
The tumble feature plays a key role, removing winning symbols from the grid after a successful combination. The resulting empty spaces are promptly filled by symbols cascading down from the top. This tumbling action persists until no new winning combinations emerge. Unlike its predecessor, Xmas Spark bids farewell to candies on the pay table, introducing diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades as low-paying symbols, while a train, a teddy bear, Rudolf, an elf, and Santa take the spotlight as high-paying symbols.
Scoring a scatter win with 8 matching symbols triggers a payout ranging from 0.25 to 1.5 times the bet, and more lucrative scatter wins, featuring 12 or more symbols, are worth 0.75 to 50 times the bet. Notably, Xmas Spark does not incorporate wild symbols at any point to assist in forming winning combinations.
Xmas Spark: Slot Features
Xmas Spark seamlessly inherits all the features from its predecessor, Candy Blitz. This includes a reiteration of the multiplier reel, free spins, and the option to purchase additional free spins.
Multiplier Reel
Adjacent to the primary reels is a distinct multiplier reel. With every spin, five random multiplier symbols descend onto this reel, featuring potential values of x1 to x6, x8, x10, x12, x15, x20, x25, x50, x100, x250, or x500. The multiplier displayed at the bottom position of the multiplier reel determines the multiplication factor applied to all wins. Following a tumble sequence, the multipliers on the reel also cascade down by one position.
Free Spins
During the base game, landing 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols rewards players with 10, 12, or 14 free spins, respectively. Notably, in the free spins mode, the minimum multiplier is elevated to x2 compared to the base game’s x1. Besides this modification, the free spins round operates largely similarly to the base game. An interesting twist occurs when players hit 4, 5, or 6 scatters during the free spins, triggering an extension of the round and awarding an additional 5, 8, or 10 free spins.
Buy Free Spins
At a price of 100 times the bet, players have the option to purchase the free spins round, ensuring the immediate activation of the feature with 4, 5, or 6 scatters landing on the reels.
Xmas Spark: Slot Verdict
Well, well, well, Xmas Spark had its turn in the spotlight, following closely in the sugary footsteps of Candy Blitz. While not exactly kicking the game around, the warm reception of Candy Blitz, released just months prior, lingered in players’ minds. Nevertheless, the world of online slots always seems to have room for one more Christmas-themed addition (or maybe a hundred more, who’s counting?), and here we are with Xmas Spark – for better or for worse.
Presumably, it’s “for better” for those with a hankering for a Christmas-themed scatter-paying slot. Xmas Spark isn’t the lone contender in this category, as Max Win Gaming recently dropped Christmas Multihops, another scatter-paying Xmas game. Although not an abundance of slots mix scatter pays with the holiday spirit, Xmas Spark steps up to the plate. So, perhaps that’s reason enough to justify its existence? It successfully fulfills its given brief, featuring scatter wins, substantial multiplier boosts, and a festive ambiance. A final gleaming detail is the star atop Xmas Spark’s tree, presenting a max winning potential of 10,000 times the bet.
In a nutshell, Xmas Spark is a Christmas slot delivering wins through a scatter-paying mechanism. As a clone donning this particular holiday-themed exterior, Xmas Spark may lack originality, but it dutifully accomplishes the task assigned by its creators.
Some of Dama N.V. Casinos where can play Pragmatic Play Slots: