Christmas Bonanza Megaways Slot Review

Christmas Bonanza Megaways Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits

The Christmas Bonanza Megaways slot utilises the Megaways mechanic created by Big Time Gaming. With 6 reels and up to 117,649 ways to win, every reel will display between 2 and 7 symbols each. Randomly determined on each spin, more symbols per reel will result in more ways to win. A winning combination is formed when 3, 4, 5 or 6 identical symbols appear on consecutive reels beginning from the leftmost reel.

Bet levels range from 20p to £10 a spin. Look for the ‘Stake’ box to the right of the reels (may be underneath on a mobile device) and use the arrows to change. For non-UK players, there is an Auto Play function where you can choose up to 100 autospins with loss and single win limit options.

The Christmas Bonanza Megaways RTP is 96%. This is average for an online slot game. As expected, the volatility is very high (10/10). The hit frequency rate is 37.45% (a win every 2.67 spins on average).

In terms of payouts, the most you can win is 26,000 x your total bet per spin. This will come in the free spins to the increasing win multiplier. In the base game, the maximum payout is 5,400 x your total bet.

Theme – make Santa’s list

With a Christmas/mining theme, the Christmas Bonanza Megaways slot is the festive version of the iconic Bonanza Megaways. Set on hills with huts and waterfalls (like the original game), snow covers the landscape to give it a festive feel. Graphically, it doesn’t vary much from the original slot which will please fans.

The soundtrack has also been changed with an upbeat/Christmas feel as opposed to the hillbilly style track used in the original Bonanza.

Most of the symbols are the same as you will come across A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9 royals. The 3 gems and diamond have been replaced with green, blue, red and purple gifts. The purple gift symbol is the highest paying giving you 2, 5, 10, 25 or 50 x bet for 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 in combination.

You also have the dynamite wild symbol which substitutes for all symbols above. It only appears on the top reel (above reels 2, 3, 4 and 5). Then you have the G, O, L and D scatters (more details on this below). Below you will find a table displaying all payouts and information for all symbols:

Symbol	Payouts/Info
9	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 or 0.8 x bet
10	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.15, 0.25, 0.5 or 0.9 x bet
J	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.15, 0.25, 0.5 or 1 x bet
Q	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.2, 0.25, 0.6 or 1 x bet
K	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 or 1.75 x bet
A	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 or 1.75 x bet
Green Gift	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 or 2 x bet
Blue Gift	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 0.25, 1, 1.5 or 2 x bet
Red Gift	3, 4, 5 or 6 = 1, 2, 2.5 or 7.5 x bet
Purple Gift	2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 = 2, 5, 10, 25 or 50 x bet
Dynamite Wild	Substitutes for all symbols except scatter
GOLD Scatter	Land G, O, L + D triggers Free Spins feature

Christmas Bonanza Megaways Mobile

Created using HTML5 technology, Christmas Bonanza Megaways is available to play on all devices including mobiles, tablets, laptops and PCs. Optimised for play on iOS, Android and Windows devices, a bigger screen is always better in my opinion to benefit from the full experience.

Christmas Bonanza Megaways Bonus Features

The Christmas Bonanza Megaways slot comes with 4 bonus features. With Dual Reactions, you can expect free spins with an unlimited win multiplier. You also have the option of a Bonus Buy feature (not in the UK though).

Dual Reactions feature

What is different in the Christmas version is the fact it comes with a Dual Reactions feature. The usual reactions/cascading reel system has now been improved. Reels now cascade in both directions as opposed to just 1 direction. In theory, this gives you a higher chance of landing another winning combination.

When you get a win, the winning symbols disappear and are replaced with new ones. This allows for another opportunity to win again. The Dual Reactions keep on coming as long as new wins are formed.

Free Spins feature

The Free Spins feature is activated by landing the G, O, L and D scatters in any position. Awarding 12 free spins, you can land a 5^th and 6^th scatter (+5 scatter) for 5 extra free spins for each additional scatter. This can lead to 22 free spins initially.

Beginning with a 1x win multiplier, every reaction triggers the Unlimited Win Multiplier feature. The multiplier increases by 1 each time, with no limits.

There are also gold bar scatters which appear only during the free spins. 3 or 4 of these scatters will result in 5 or 10 extra free spins respectively. Like the multiplier, there’s no limit to how many extra free spins you can win.

Bonus Buy feature

Don’t want to wait to trigger the free spins? Buy your way into the Free Spins feature using the Bonus Buy feature. Not found in the original Bonanza Megaways slot, 90 x your total bet will give you 12 free spins. Press the gold Bonus Buy icon to activate.

Additionally, using this feature will see the RTP rate increase to 96.11%. This isn’t available to UK players though. Lastly, the Bonus Buy feature has been used in other BTG slots like Golden Catch Megaways.

Christmas Bonanza Megaways Summary – classic Megaways slot gets a festive makeover

As Bert Lance first said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, the Christmas Bonanza Megaways slot is basically like the original game with a festive twist. With slightly different graphics, there’s not much between the games at all. It feels like this has come from Evolution Gaming (who acquired Big Time Gaming in April 2021) rather than BTG themselves.

There is a Dual Reactions feature as opposed to the standard Reactions feature. For non-UK players, there’s the addition of the Bonus Buy feature for 90 x your total bet. Everything else is the same.

That said, the bigger wins will come in the Free Spins feature due to increasing and unlimited win multiplier. With 26,000 x bet max wins per free spin, the volatility remains the same.

What remains to be seen is whether slot players will take to the Christmas version as opposed to the original cult favourite. The Bonus Buy feature will surely be popular but this isn’t available to UK players.

Even though Bonanza Megapays is essentially the same slot, it does offer you the chance to win 4 progressive jackpots. The Mega Jackpot will guarantee a £300,000 payout at least but it’s much higher and stands at £657,026.33.

In summary, Christmas Bonanza Megaways doesn’t offer enough differentiation from the original slot. I would only recommend the festive version for players who like Bonus Buys or festive themed games.