Santa’s Reel Wheel Slot Review

The Holiday Season starts early with Real Time Gaming’s (RTG) unique Christmas slot offering, Santa’s Reel Wheel. So, it’s time to start playing, celebrating, and hopefully winning. The game’s singular mechanic has you playing on three levels. There are three different reels, one above the other, with just one row of symbols each. 

Play starts at the lowest level. Santa’s Reel Wheel is a pay-any-way game, and you need at least two identical combinations from left to right or vice versa. A winning combination on the lowest reel unfreezes the reel above, and so on. A winning combination on the top reel will trigger one of the four bonus features. The fireworks symbol can also unlock the reels on top.

Santa’s Reel Wheel Game Overview – A New Type of Level Up Game

What stands out in Santa’s Reel Wheel is the original concept of three different and separate reels with only one row of symbols in each. The majority of the screen is taken up by the backdrop, which consists of a mega logo with snow-capped fir trees in the background, and piles of snow in the foreground. A small snowman presides over the game rounds, occasionally blinking his eyes. 

Though the gameplay is simple, it can take a while to figure out the gameplay, unless you first read the rules, which we strongly recommend. You play to unlock the levels above with winning combos or the fireworks symbol. There is a white diamond wild that can substitute for all symbols, except the fireworks symbol. There is no scatter in the game, which has medium volatility.

How to Play Santa’s Reel Wheel

To begin with, select your bet size from 0.10 to 10. There are four premium yuletide symbols consisting of gift boxes, mistletoes, bells, and candy sticks. The decorated card suites are the low-value symbols. Play begins at the base level, where you spin to get at least two identical symbols from left to right or vice versa. You will mostly see only one or two symbols on the reels, and sometimes none at all. You simply go back to spinning.

The special symbols are the diamond wild and the firework rockets. You win when you get at least two identical symbols, with or without the help of the diamond wild. The win will also unfreeze the reel above. The upper reel will also be unlocked whenever the fireworks symbol lands and fires at the ice, under which the upper two reels are trapped. 

The process is repeated until you break through the topmost reel, and wonderful things begin to happen when you get winning combinations on this reel. Any win on the third level, or the appearance of one or more firework rockets, triggers Santa’s Bonus Wheel round, which may award instant cash prizes, the fireworks feature or Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel.

When Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel is activated, it can either reward you with the fireworks feature, which is better explained below, or up to 20 free games. Simply levelling up does not result in wins; you are paid if you get winning combinations on any reel.

As mentioned, Santa’s Reel Wheel is a fairly simple game. The game comes into its own at the topmost level when the bonus games are triggered. 

Level Up Mechanic

Three separate reels is an original way to play a slot game. There are games where you have to unlock levels and reels, but the main game consists of 3 or more reels with multiple rows. Here, the main gameplay takes place on the first reel level, which has only one row of symbols. However, this means that you cannot win across multiple rows. 

When you level up, you may get +1 symbols, which awards you a free spin. Try to get as many bonus symbols, multipliers, and as many +1 symbols, to get more spins and, hopefully, more wins.                

Both Ways Win

The both ways win feature is needed to augment your wins in the mid-variance game. You rarely get all three symbols to appear on the reels, identical or not. You mostly get two symbols, and if they are the same, they only pay when they’re on adjacent reels, either on the left, or right. Sometimes the centre symbol is missing; many times, the spin results in a blank reel. 

Santa’s Bonus Wheel

Any winning combinations or a fireworks symbol on the 3rd or topmost reel triggers the Santa’s Bonus Wheel. You will be awarded the fireworks feature, Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel, or any of the instant bonuses: Grand, Major, Minor, or Mini.

Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel

Santa’s Mega Bonus Wheel will either award the fireworks feature, or up to 20 free spins.

Free Spins

The free spins are played out on level two or the centre reel. You may activate Santa’s Bonus Wheel during the feature. It will either award extra free spins, or the fireworks feature. The free spins are played at the same bet level as the triggering spin. 

Fireworks Feature

When the fireworks feature is activated, the game-board changes to 15 winning positions, including the 1, 2, 3, reel levels. You are given three re-spins to begin with. Whenever firework rockets appear, they come as multipliers, and are held in position for the remainder of the feature. The re-spins reset to 3. 

At the end of the round, all prizes are awarded, including the bonuses, if any. Only the fireworks symbol is active in the feature. If all 15 positions are filled by firework rockets, during the re-spins, you get the Grand Bonus of 1,000 times your bet amount. 

Santa’s Reel Wheel Mobile

Santa’s Reel Wheel is also coded in HTML5,, which creates the mobile interface for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry devices. You can play on practically all smartphones and tablets that operate on these platforms. The game is primarily for online play, but you may be able to download a casino app which features the game.

Christmas always begins early at iGaming studios and the players that the games are created for. Santa’s Reel Wheel ushers in the yuletide cheer one month in advance. For all the time you will take to understand it initially, it is a pretty straightforward game. We’d give full marks to RTG for creating an original game mechanic with three separate reels and the level-up gameplay. 

Santa’s Reel Wheel is a family Christmas-themed game, which you might love to play at the fireside. It’s a far cry from some of RTG’s earlier Christmas offerings like Naughty or Nice. Wins may seem elusive at first in the mid-to-high variance game, but once you unlock the third level and trigger the bonus games, you can be on a different high. Enjoy playing and…Merry Christmas!