Iron Dog Studio: Santa’s Big Bash Megaways

Get a glimpse of Santa and his friends in this slot that is wrapped with festive features and Megaways. Santa’s Big Bash Megaways is a dynamic game from Iron Dog Studio that can give you the Christmas you’ve been waiting for. With 25,000x the stake maximum win, this highly volatile slot can give you a merry day with Santa!

This is not the first time the game provider is playing santa, as they are also behind the game called Christmas Megaways, released in 2020.

Santa’s Big Bash Megaways slot design

Megaways are pretty popular in slot games for a reason so Iron Dog Studios took advantage of its perks in this slot. As its name suggests, Santa’s Big Bash Megaways has a Christmas theme that is incorporated with Megaways. This game is set in a living room that is full of Christmas decorations and twinkling colorful lights. There is also a view of the open fire on the left side of the reels that can warm you up.

The game also has that festive soundtrack that will remind you of the usual Christmas movies while spinning.  Santa’s Big Bash Megaways is a full-packed modern slot with high-quality graphics and a very Christmassy vibe. Thus, its symbols are also very seasonal starting with its 10 to A Royals that are covered with lightbulbs. Meanwhile, its premium symbols include the Pixies, Gingerbread Man, Ebenezer Scrooge, Jack Frost, and of course, Santa himself!

For more entertainment, there are also Christmas Gifts and Magic Baubles that represent the Wild and Scatter symbols.

Santa’s Big Bash Megaways features

Santa’s Big Bash Megaways is one of the few Megaways slots that stand out from the crowd with its mechanics and varied game features. From its 6 reels and 2 to 7 rows, this slot can generate a random number of symbols on the reels on each spin. In addition, this slot uses the Tumble mechanic together with other features like the Wild symbol, Rudolf the Reindeer, Bonus Spins, and more. To know how interesting this game can be, let’s find out what its features can do on each spin.

Tumble Symbols

One of the primary features in Santa’s Big Bash Megaways is the Tumble feature that can help you boost your winning potential. This feature is triggered each time you spin the reels and form a winning cluster on a single spin. This eliminates all winning symbols that are part of the winning cluster to make way to new symbols.

Once the winning symbols are eliminated from the reels, new symbols will fall and fill all vacant positions. Thus, new winnings can be formed with the new additional symbols. The Tumble will remain active as long as there is a new winning combination that is formed on each round. Therefore, the Tumble will automatically end if there is no new win. The sum of all wins is also calculated and paid after the final sequence of the Tumble Win.

Wild Symbol

The Wild symbol in this game functions as a substitute to other standard symbols on the reels except for the Magic Baubles. As a common job of Wild symbols, this symbol comes in handy in creating more winning combinations. It is represented by the Christmas Gift symbol with a huge WILD logo in front of the box. This special symbol can land on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th reels only during the base round and bonus round.

Magic Baubles

Aside from the Christmas Gift Wild symbol, Magic Baubles can also appear on the reels as another special symbol. This functions as the game’s Scatter symbol that can land on any position on the grid. It can appear during the base game while the Tumble feature is active. But depending on your luck, the maximum amount of the Magic Baubles is up to 3 only.

Each Magic Bauble symbol that you land can activate 1 to 3 Bauble positions that are hanging on the Christmas Tree. Once the Magic Bauble occupies its positions on the Christmas Tree, all Scatter symbols will be eliminated from the grid. Thus, the Tumble feature can be triggered to drop new symbols on all vacant positions. Moreover, all occupied positions on the Christmas Tree will reset on the following spin.

Rudolph the Reindeer

Each time you play the base game, Rudolf the Reindeer can be triggered and trigger 1 of these 4 extra features:

• Wild Symbols = this feature will add 1 to 4 Wild symbols on the grid
• Win Multiplier = this feature will give you a multiplier that can be up to 5x the stake
• Baubles = this extra feature can light up to 3 Baubles that are hanging on the Christmas Tree Trail
• Respin = triggering this extra feature will give you a chance to Respin without losing the Trail position.

Activating Rudolf the Reindeer is also possible during the bonus round. But instead of triggering 1 out of 4 extra features, this feature can only offer 3 extras during the bonus round such as:

• Wild Symbols = Rudolf the Reindeer can add up to 4 Wild symbols again on the grid
• Win Multiplier = this feature can be a 3x Multiplier that is applied to the total Win Multiplier
• Bonus Spins = once triggered, this extra feature can give you 4 extra Bonus Spins

With these extras, Rudolf the Reindeer can give you a win-win experience throughout the game.

A Christmas Tree Trail

The Christmas Tree Trail is the feature that provides the route in the Bonus Spin round. Each time you trigger a Tumble Win, one position on the trail will light up. The Magic Bauble Scatter symbols can land during the Tumble wins round only and light up to 3 positions on the trail.

As mentioned above, even Rudolf the Reindeer feature can help you light up some positions in case it lands on the grid. This Trail consists of13 positions wherein lighting up 8 positions will lead you to the Bonus Spins round. To know all perks you can trigger for lighting up the required positions, check out the following:

• 8 Lit positions = this will give you 8 Bonus Spins
• 9 Lit positions = this will give you 9 Bonus Spins
• 10 Lit positions = this will give you 10 Bonus Spins and a 2x Multiplier for a start
• 11 Lit positions = this will give you 11 Bonus Spins and a 2x Multiplier for a start
• 12 Lit positions = this will give you 12 Bonus Spins and a 3x Multiplier for a start
• 13 Lit positions = this will give you 13 Bonus Spins and a 3x Multiplier. At the same time, your chances of triggering Rudolf the Reindeer feature becomes higher

Aside from the mentioned bonuses above, you can also get extra Bonus Spins by hitting 4 or more Tumble Wins. This is also possible if you will take advantage of the Rudolf the Reindeer feature. But if you get an extended grid with up to 7 rows, it will remain extended until you use up all your spins.

Lastly, each Tumble you create will boost your total Win Multiplier by 1x your stake. On your final Bonus Spin, locking any reel will give you an additional 1 Bonus Spin that can be retriggered as well.

Bonus Buy

Santa’s Big Bash Megaways also comes with a Bonus Buy which is a handy feature if you want to trigger Bonus Spins instantly. This feature comes with 7 options that you can choose from and pay according to the following:

• 70x = this gives 6 instant Bonus Spins
• 100x = this gives 8 instant Bonus Spins
• 130x = this gives 9 instant Bonus Spins
• 150x = this gives 10 instant Bonus Spins with a Win Multiplier that starts at 2x
• 180x = this gives 11 instant Bonus Spins with a Win Multiplier that starts at 2x
• 210x = this gives 12 instant Bonus Spins with a Win Multiplier that starts at 3x
• 250x = this gives 13 instant Bonus Spins with a Win Multiplier that starts at 3x.

Similar to the final lit position in the Bonus Spins, this final option can also increase your chances of triggering Rudolf the Reindeer.

Santa’s Big Bash Megaways RTP, betting, and prizes

When it comes to the betting and prizes, Santa’s Big Bash Megaways can be played with up to 117,649 ways to win. This game has a flexible grid that increases as you trigger features, so it’s no wonder that it has a lot of pay lines. To start playing, you can bet a minimum of £0.20 or up to a maximum of £100 on each spin.

Each reel can hold 2 to 7 symbols, its number of ways to win starts at 64. Its winnings come from connecting 3 or more matching symbols from left to right using the standard symbols. But with the top-paying symbols, you can already hit a winning combination with 2 or more matching symbols. Santa’s Big Bash Megaways has a Tumbling symbol mechanic which is also known as the Cascading mechanic that can trigger more wins.

But when it comes to its RTP, take note that this slot can be played with different levels of returns. Its default RTP is set at 96.04% but other operators may offer this with lower versions like 94.07% or 88.24%. Thus, players can expect returns to be slightly lower than most slots with an average percentage. Regardless, this RTP is paired with the high volatility that can generate huge winnings at any time.

The lucky players can hit a win that is worth up to 25,000x the bet on a single spin. So, watch out for its low-paying Royal symbols that pay 12x to 15x the stake. Its high-paying Christmas-related symbols on the other hand pay 4x to 50x the stake. The Wild symbol and Scatter symbol in this game don’t have separate values but they are the key to the bonus features.

Conclusion

Nothing beats the festive feeling in games especially if it is about the Christmas season. Iron Dog Studios nailed it in this slot by incorporating the Megaways and other exciting features. Some of its used features may seem familiar already since they were used in Iron Dog’s previous releases.

Still, Santa’s Big Bash Megaways came up with fun gameplay that can put a smile on your face. Despite its high volatility, it has a high maximum win that makes it worth a try. After all, you can try this game with a demo mode so you can test it free before playing with real money.