Santa's Stack Dream Drop™ Slot Review
Santa's Stack Dream Drop is a new video slot from Relax Gaming that was released on December 1, 2022. The location of Santa's Stack Dream Drop is on a winter square, which has bright lights on the fronts of the houses as well as snow on the rooftops. The eight by eight grid can be seen in the center of the square, which is surrounded on all sides by green twigs and twinkling lights to represent the holiday season. The only thing that distinguishes this game from Santa's Stack is the Dream Drop Jackpot counter that is located on the left side of the screen. This counter indicates how much money is now in each of the progressive pots. There is no music, just some simple sounds that take you back in time to the days of the first video games. Read our review to see whether this slot is the one to play during this holiday season.
Santa's Stack Dream Drop™ by Relax Gaming Video Review
Santa's Stack Dream Drop™ General Characteristics
1. Cluster Pays
2. 8 reels and 8 rows
3. High Volatility
4. Return To Player 94%
5. Hit Frequency 19.93%
6. Bet Amount 0.2 - 50 EUR
7. Maximum Win Multiplier x20,000
8. Maximum Win Value 1,000,000 EUR
9. 7 Main Symbols
10. Additional Symbols: Wild Symbol, Scatter Symbol, Mystery Symbol, Bonus Symbol
Santa's Stack Dream Drop Bonus Features
Secret Santa Re-Spin Feature
The Secret Santa feature is activated if a winning cluster has a Wild symbol as one of its components. After the feature has been activated, the winning cluster will be replaced with Mystery symbols, and a free re-spin will be granted with the mystery symbols remaining in their original positions. Each time a win happens next to a cluster of Mystery symbols that has already been generated, that new winning cluster likewise transforms into mystery symbols, and the player receives an extra re-spin as a reward. The re-spins will come to a stop when there are no additional winning clusters produced that include a Wild symbol or that are next to Mystery symbols. At this point, all of the mystery symbols will display the same symbol.
Free Spins
When 3 or more Bonus symbols appear anywhere on the reels, the Free Spins feature is activated. When 3 Bonus symbols appear, the player is awarded 5 Free Spins, and each subsequent Bonus symbol awards an additional Free Spin. During the free spins, the Secret Santa feature will be active, and there will be a 100% chance that a wild symbol will appear at the beginning of each play. The probability of landing one or more Wild symbols grows by one with each spin, beginning with a single Wild symbol in the very first spin of the game. During the free spins, if you manage to land Bonus symbols, you might win one of these three prizes:
+1 Extra Spin
+ 1 Multiplier
+1 Extra Spin in addition to the +1 Multiplier
Dream Drop™ Bonus
The Dream Drop Bonus may be randomly activated before any regular spin on the slot machine. You have the opportunity to win one of these five jackpots: RAPID, MIDI, MAXI, MAJOR, or MEGA. During the Dream Drop Bonus, you will be given 15 different choices to select from, and the goal is to uncover 3 of the identical Jackpots. The Jackpots may be revealed by clicking on any of the available options. The Jackpot round will come to a close after all three of the identical Jackpots have been found, at which point the reward will be paid.
The beginning amounts for the Jackpot are as follows:
- RAPID = 1 Euro
- MIDI = 5 Euros
- MAXI = 100 Euros
- MAJOR = 25,000 Euros
- MEGA = 500,000 Euros.
There is an absolute certainty that the MAJOR prize will be won before the total reaches 50,000. The MEGA jackpot is guaranteed to be won before reaching one million euros for the first two times it is played; this amount is boosted by half a million euros for the following two times it is played, and it is further enhanced by half a million euros. The maximum amount that may be won at the guaranteed level is €10,000,000; once this amount is won, it will stay at this level permanently thereafter.
Our Experience Playing Santa's Stack Dream Drop™
We were welcomed with a reelset that was reminiscent of an old-school 8-bit console game as we began the game. It's possible that the absence of a soundtrack would come across as unfavorable to some individuals, but we found that it contributed positively to the design as a whole. It seems that the retro-style design is becoming more popular in the slot machine market, and we were interested in determining whether or not this slot machine could differentiate itself from the competition. To test this we resorted to our usual procedure of depositing 200 Euros, setting the bet to 1 Euro, and giving this machine around 300 spins. The first one hundred spins were filled with a large number of spins that did not result in a payment, and the only two payouts that could be considered satisfactory were 15 and 30 times the initial wager respectively. As a result of the first attempt, we lost around 30 Euros. During the next one hundred spins, we triggered the Dream Drop Bonus feature, but we managed to win only the Rapid Jackpot which resulted in 2.32 Euros payment. In addition to that we had one great Free Spins bonus round that paid us 83x our initial wager. Thanks to that generous payout during the Free Spins, and a few decent payouts during the main game ranging from 15 and 30x the bet we managed to bounce back and were 10 Euros ahead. The final one hundred spins were disastrous for us in terms of winnings, we did not see so many dead spins in a while playing slots. Overall, after 300 spins, we lost 40 Euros and left the game with mixed feelings.
Santa's Stack Dream Drop™ Verdict
The overall experience of playing this slot is pretty enjoyable. However, because of its high volatility, the game may sometimes play a cruel joke on you, as was the case with our playthrough. The payouts during the Free Spins have the potential to be quite substantial, but they do not come that often. During this holiday season, there are other slot machines, such as Christmas Bonanza, that we believe deserve your attention more than this one does since they are superior to this one in a number of ways. However, if you are a fan of 8-bit retro style, you may give this slot a shot, and maybe you will be luckier than us.
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