Inspired Gaming: Merry Christmas Megaways

Prepare your winter clothes for the holiday and catch Santa leaving your gift under the Christmas tree! Merry Christmas Megaways is a remake of Inspired Gaming’s existing game that also features a dynamic reel. It has a slightly lower RTP and high volatility but it has unlimited Multipliers and retriggers cool opportunities.

As its reels escalate, you can enjoy more ways to win that can increase up to 25,000x your stake. With its Megaways mechanic, expect to see continued Cascades if you’re lucky and additional Bonus Spins for each extra Scatter symbol you land. So, hang up your red stockings now and join us as we check out the full details of this slot review.

Merry Christmas Megaways slot design

Merry Christmas Megaways is another Christmas-themed slot that is packed with that seasonal cheerful vibes. The kind of visuals in the game are as we expected with its decorated tree and Santa’s chair on the side. There are also hanging red socks on the fireplace, ribbons, garlands, and Christmas lights. But since it is built with the Megaways mechanic, you can already expect its common features in the gameplay.

Regardless, its holiday soundtrack that plays in the background is there to keep you in the gameplay. Even its frameless game area is topped with different kinds of decorations and icons related to Christmas. Its low-paying symbols include the Royals: J, K, Q, A, 9, and 10. Its medium-paying symbols include the Christmas Bell, Gift Box, and Santa’s Sleigh.

There are also the Christmas Lights and Santa’s Sack as special symbols.  Then there’s Santa Claus himself who gives the highest payout throughout the gameplay to make more players smile.

Merry Christmas Megaways features

To join the celebration of Merry Christmas Megaways, you will spin the reels that are set on a grid with 6 reels. Its grid can change from displaying 2 rows that can escalate with up to 7 rows. This means that its escalating reels can also grow its pay lines during any spin. Aside from these dynamic reels, you can enjoy some treats as you spin more and trigger the features below.

Wild Symbols

This slot comes with a special symbol that is represented by the Christmas Lights symbol on the reels. This Wild symbol functions as a substitute for all symbols on the grid except for similar Wild symbols and Scatter symbols. It can also land only on the extra reel on top of the reels so you can expect it to replace symbols there. 

Scatter Symbols

Now that we’re done with the Wild symbol, let’s take a closer look at the Scatter that is one of the special symbols. The game’s Scatter appears as Santa’s huge Sack that is filled with presents which can trigger the bonus round. This symbol also displays the BONUS logo so it is easy to spot on the reels.

Mystery Symbols

Another special symbol to spot on the reels is the Mystery symbol. If there are Christmas Lights and Santa’s Sack that is filled with presents, there’s also the Christmas Crackers as the Mystery symbol. The Mystery symbol can land in view on any position on the reels whether it is during the base game or bonus game. This means that you can also expect it to pop on the horizontal tracker.

Once the Mystery symbols appear, the reels automatically stop and all symbols that are in view will explode to reveal matching regular symbols. Except for the Scatters and Wild symbols, the rest of the symbols on the paytable can be randomly selected to be transformed. This sequence will continue as a normal spin once all the Mystery Christmas Cracker symbols are revealed.

Cascading Reels

Since this is a Megaways, Merry Christmas Megaways offers Cascading Reels or Cascade features that are triggered whenever a winning combination is formed. Thus, all winning symbols are paid and removed or popped off the grid to leave vacant spaces for new falling symbols. New symbols drop from above the reels and fill all vacant positions for more opportunities to create a winning combination.

At the same time, this increases the potential for more Cascades and winnings to trigger. Thus, the feature will continue running as long as there is a new winning cluster that is formed.

Bonus Spins

The way to trigger the Bonus Spins is by landing 4 or more Scatter symbols in the base game. Triggering this bonus feature will reward you with 12 initial Bonus Spins. In case you land extra Scatters, you will get 2 additional Bonus Spins for each extra Scatter. During this bonus feature, each winning Cascade will also increase your Win Multiplier by 1x.

The great thing about this Win Multiplier is that it can be increased with an unlimited chance of retriggers. But that’s not all since you can also extend this bonus feature with additional 5 or 10 Bonus Spins. You just have to land 3 or 4 Scatter symbols on the same spin and get up to a maximum of 80.

Spin Chance

In case that the balance of players drops below the current spin’s cost, Merry Christmas Megaways offers a Spin Chance. Once accepted, a pointer will spin the wheel and give you 1 more chance to spin if it stops in the green zone. The pie chart indicates your odds of winning in the gamble.

Once you are ready to gamble, simply click the Play button and the market will start to spin. It is always a win whenever the marker ends in the green zone. Still, you can always click No and return to the game if you don’t want to proceed and stick to your remaining balance.

Merry Christmas Megaways RTP, betting and prizes

When it comes to betting and prizes, Merry Christmas Megaways offers huge ways to win that range from 324 to 117,649. As the rows in the grid increase, the number of pay lines and ways to win also increases. The winning combinations are formed with 2 to 6 matching symbols on the same spin and are paid from left to right.

You can play this festive slot on desktop, tablet, or mobile devices with two types of modes. One is the Regular mode while the other one is the Fortune Bet mode. On the Regular mode, this slot can be played with a bet that ranges from £0.20 to £10 only. But with the second mode switched on, this increases by 50% to triple the potential of landing the Bonus.

As for the level of risk you should expect, Merry Christmas Megaways has high volatility. It also has a 95.50% RTP that is slightly lower than most slots with an average return. Still, hitting the maximum jackpot in this slot can pay you up to 25,000x your total stake. This win cap is worth £250,000 which is decent enough to satisfy some players who prefer this type of slot.

Its least paying symbols consist of the Royals reward £0.10 to £1.75 for matching 3 to 6 similar symbols. Medium paying symbols reward £0.25 to £7.50 for matching 3 to 6 similar symbols as well. Of course, the highest paying symbol in the grid is Santa Claus himself who rewards £2 to £50 for landing 2 to 6 matching symbols. Its Wild symbol can also land on the extra top reel to help you boost your winning potential.

Conclusion

As an addition to the Christmas slots we reviewed, this release from Inspired Gaming can be a nice addition. It has nice visuals that give that festive vibes from its symbols on the reels up to its backdrop. Merry Christmas Megaways is also one of those games that maintained the traditional style of Megaways and traditional Christmas slots. This means that Inspired Gaming did a good job of creating it based on the original Megaways blueprint.

It is also very similar to Gimme Gold! Megaways which is another slot from Inspired Gaming. This means that there is nothing much exciting to expect from its gameplay since you already know what’s coming. Still, it’s worth pointing out that Merry Christmas Megaways has a set of features that works well and leads to some snowball moments. The rewards get better as you trigger more bonus features and increase your winning potential but the return is still below average.