Christmas Themed Slots

Christmas themed slots are in a way, one of the most mood-setting online slots available. Although some of the titles are available to play all year around, most only tend to rear their jolly old heads around that special time of the year.

The ability to play Christmas slots only once a year is seen by many to be a luxury or a privilege. Furthermore, the fact that you can only play the majority of these Christmas themed titles for a few weeks every year means that most gamers seldom get bored of them. Some Christmas slots are here to stay and re-appear every year, but some only ever do the rounds once.

Why offer Christmas themed slots?

Why give any particular slot machine a themed? You have slots which have Easter themes, gangster and crime themes, sports themes and money themes; so, why not Christmas themes? Christmas themed slots tend to be quite popular with the public, and because they only occur every once in a while, they tend to be fairly anticipated titles.

Christmas is a period of joy and celebration, so the online casino software developers have tapped into that, and used it peddle their titles a little bit more. Aiming a slot with a much loved theme, at an audience that wants it is marketing, plain and simple! It’s all about marketing. But if they weren’t popular, the developer’s wouldn’t make them.

The gamers who play Christmas themed slots

You will probably ask yourself, who plays Christmas slots? The answer is, pretty much everybody. As one of the most mood setting of all slots, Christmas themed slots have a superb ability to put everybody in a happy mood. Perhaps some gamers may play them to pick up a massive windfall before they have to go spend a fortune on presents for loved ones?

Or perhaps they are just having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. There could also be a thousand other reasons for playing Christmas slots. Whatever reason they have, Christmas slots are the most popular seasonal themed titles, and people do keep playing them, it is a fact. If we delve a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of Christmas themed slots though, surely we can see what they offer that makes them so enjoyable?

The types of icons

The icons in Christmas slots play a major role in establishing the theme. Your typical Christmas slot will probably not contain any high-playing card icons (which is a welcome relief, as most slot games contain them).

Any slots that do have these symbols, will shove stockings on the end of them, or cover them in snow, to blend them in with the overall theme. Most icons though, are far more Christmassy in nature.

Examples of Christmas themed icons include reindeer, elves, gingerbread houses, presents, baubles, the Christmas tree, Christmas wreaths, snowmen, candy canes, presents, and of course, Santa himself.

Christmas bonus rounds

It has to be said though, that most Christmas themed slots tend to offer the same type of bonus round. To most children (and to a large part, adults), the overriding event at Christmas, is the present opening.

Therefore, such a powerful event of course means that it has to be featured in the slot somewhere. In the case of most Christmas themed slots, this event is represented in the bonus round. Most players will find that the bonus round in Christmas themed slots consists of a pick and win feature.

In this pick and win feature, players must choose from a number of presents, picking up coins and wins with each present that they open. Often you will either get to pick a total of 3, from a series of presents, or on occasions, you may make as many picks as you wish, until you find a collect sign. It is a rather basic bonus round, but one that has proven fantastically popular; hence why it is present (no pun intended) in nearly every Christmas themed slot in existence!

Promotional tie-ins

As we’ve said; by and large, most Christmas themed slots are only available at a specific time of the year. This opens up the possibility that Christmas themed slots can be tied in with promotions, running at the online casino sites.

For example, most online casinos run a Christmas calendar promotion, and it bodes well that they will also offer things such as free spins or competitions on their chosen Christmas themed slot, to go with that offer. It is one way of promoting their Christmas slot, and at the same time, allowing gamers to enjoy yet more goodies from these seasonal sensations.

Is it worth playing a Christmas themed slot?

If you are the Scrooge type of fellow (i.e. – you lack Christmas spirit), then you’re probably not going to be over the moon with Christmas slots. To some people, there is such a thing as too much Christmas spirit.

However, for the vast majority of winter gamers, the ability to play something new (or something that they haven’t played for 330 days), is too good an opportunity to turn down. Offering you a break from your normal slot games, Christmas themed slots are perfect for the gamer seeking something different.

The best known Christmas themed slots

A number of top Christmas themed slots exist, featuring both standard and 3D graphics. There is no such thing as the Christmas themed slot setup, so every slot is different (save for that bonus round that we mentioned earlier).

Microgaming’s Deck the Halls, RTG’s Santastic and Playtech’s Ghosts of Christmas and Santa’s Surprise slots are all worth a look. Some of these are also available throughout the year!