Pragmatic Play has a new holiday-themed pokie just in time for December. It’s called Christmas Carol, and it’s based on the classic story from Charles Dickens.

The game has six vertical reels, as well as a special horizontal reel on top. With any luck, the player can win up to 20,000x their initial wager.

For more details, be sure to read the following review.

Where Can You Play Christmas Carol?

This pokie resides at all online casinos featuring games from Pragmatic Play. Of course, this will differ depending on which part of the world you live in. For Aussie punters, I suggest either Tangiers Casino or Woo Casino, with the latter having an especially impressive customer service department.

Level of Volatility

The level of a game’s volatility can go a long way in helping to determine if it’s right for you. For example, high volatility games require a lot of patience, while low volatility pokies constantly deliver small payouts.

A lot of designers don’t list the volatility level, but Pragmatic Play has done so for a long time. They use a lightning bolt scale, with five bolts indicating the highest level of volatility.

As it turns out, Christmas Carol is rated with five lightning bolts. This means that wins will often be spread out. But you have a higher chance of getting big wins close together.

RTP

This pokie has a variable RTP, depending on which elements of the game are currently activated. The maximum RTP is 96.58%, while the minimum is 96.47%. This means that for every $100 you wager, you’ll get back an average of $96.58 to $96.47.

Megaways

This pokie is part of the licensed Megaways series of games. So what does that mean?

For starters, wins are awarded for left to right adjacent symbol combinations of any size. Reels one and six can have up to seven symbols, while reels two through five can have up to eight symbols. When you include the independent top row, this results in a maximum number of ways equal to 200,704.

After each spin, the number of active Megaways will be displayed in the upper right of the screen.

Size of Wagers

Each spin, the player can decide how many coins to wager and the value of each coins. The number of coins range from one to 10, while the value goes from $0.01 to $0.50.

These wagers are then multiplied by 20 to achieve your final bet. This amount ranges from $0.20 to $100, making it ideal for most bankrolls.

Tumble Feature

After all winning combos have been paid, the winning symbols disappear from the screen. The remaining symbols fall downwards, thus filling in the missing spaces. This can lead to additional payouts, and there’s no limit to the number of wins.

Virtual reels on Christmas Carol pokie

Christmas Carol Paytable

This section deals with the game’s symbols and their payout values. I’m going to use a $20 bet as an example, but different wagers lead to other outcomes.

  • Queen, Jack, and Ten – These symbols pay $2 for three matches, $4 for four, $8 for five, and $20 for six.
  • Tiny Tim, Ace, and King – This trio of symbols is worth $4 for three matches, $8 for four, $12 for five, and $30 for six.
  • Bob Cratchit – This perpetually underpaid employee of Ebenezer Scrooge is worth $6 for three matches, $10 for four, $16 for five, and $40 for six.
  • Ghost of Christmas Past – An ephemeral spirit that shows visions of days gone by, it pays $6 for three matches, $10 for four, $20 for five, and $50 for six.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Present – This robust spirit of the modern era pays $20 for three matches, $40 for four, $50 for five, and $100 for six.
  • Ghost of Christmas Future – A skeletal vision of a bleak future, this terrifying spirit is worth $20 for two matches, $40 for three, $200 for four, $500 for five, and $1000 for six.
  • Pocket Watch – The game’s scatter symbol is represented by this golden timepiece. It appears on all reels, and four or more trigger the Free Spin bonus.
  • Ebenezer Scrooge – This famed literary miser is the game’s wild symbol and substitutes for everything besides the scatter. Appears only on the top row and reels two through five.

Free Spins Round

This bonus round activates when four or more scatter icons turn up during a spin. During this phase of the game, each tumble increases the win multiplier by x1. After each tumble, that payout is multiplied by the current win multiplier.

Depending on the number of scatters that triggered the bonus round, you’ll need to choose from one of four options. For example, let’s look at the options available for five scatters:

  • 19 free spins with a starting multiplier of 1x
  • 14 free spins with a starting multiplier of 5x
  • 9 free spins with a starting multiplier of 10x
  • A random number of free spins with a random starting multiplier

You can earn five additional free spins by getting three scatters on a bonus spin. There’s no limit to the number of times this can happen.

Ante Bet

The player can choose to alter the game’s bet multiplier. There are two options, which include:

  • 20x Multiplier – This is the default option.
  • 25x Multiplier – This doubles the player’s chances of getting the Free Spins bonus. This leads to additional scatter symbols on the reels.

Buying Free Spins

You can also pay to trigger the Free Spins round. The cost is 100x the current, which may be too rich for a lot of players. This feature is disabled when the 25x ante bet feature is activated.

Final Thoughts

I expected Christmas Carol to fall short in some area, but I was pleasantly surprised. This pokie offers a competitive RTP, but it combines that with a lucrative bonus round and lots of other features. While the theme makes it best-suited for the holidays, the overall gameplay is worth enjoying all year round.

Additional Reading

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