The originalSpinionswas a beach party slot released by Quickspin back in 2016, and it disappeared down the memory hole years ago. The revived Xmas versions, Spinions Christmas Party, is pretty much a reskin job. However, all the yellow/orange happy creatures do make it stick out in a positive way from the glossy, commercialized Santa-centric releases we see tons of each year.
The transparent reels are set in a snow-covered village with a frozen lake in the background, and there are plenty of Spinions outside keeping a keen eye on everything you do. Each win is celebrated like it’s the second coming, and you can look forward to plenty of back to back wins when the Sticky Wild Respin feature goes your way. All wilds are sticky in the bonus round, and this can lead topayouts up to 1,876xin total.
The premium symbols pay between 5 and 8 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, and theSpinion Wildsteps in for all pay symbols to help complete winning combinations. The Wild is also the most valuable symbol in the game, awarding 20x your stake for 5 on a payline. The wilds can land on all reels, and it plays an important part in the game’s two features.
TheSticky Wild Respins featuretriggers when you land2+ Spinion Wilds at the same time. The triggering wilds become sticky, and the remaining reel positions spin again. If you land a wild on the respin it becomes sticky as well, and you get another respin. The process continues as long as you land new wilds, or until the screen is filled with wilds. The latter pays 500x your stake.
The Xmas Party Bonus Round triggers when you land3 scatters on reels 1, 3 and 5, and this awards10 free spins. All Spinion Wilds that land remain locked in place for the duration of the bonus round, and there is no way to retrigger the feature or get extra spins. The Respins feature described above will not trigger during free spins.
We won a lot more via the base game sticky wild respins feature than we did when the bonus round finally triggered (a quick glance at the RTP allocation explains why). The latter happens at 3:28 into the 4:18-minute highlights video, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
Truth be told, we would much rather indulge ourselves with a charming and lighthearted release like Spinions X-mas Party to get warm and fuzzy during the Holidays season, instead of being stripped of whatever Christmas spirit we’re still capable of by some unforgiving math model that’ll most likely rob us blind with jingle bells playing in the background. The volatility is said to be medium to high in this release, but we got plenty of decent wins from the base game sticky wild respins feature.
It’s fun to see a whole village of smiley face Minions-like creatures being engaged in what you’re doing, and raising their tiny arms in the air to celebrate each win. The sticky wild respins feature can rack up plenty of back-to-back wins when luck is on your side, and we found it to be more engaging than the sticky wild bonus round. The1,876x potentialmight be a deal-breaker for some, but this is a game to enjoy and relax with during the festive season more than anything else.
Pros
Cons
Fat Santa- is an Xmas reskin of Push Gaming’s classic, Fat Rabbit, but it comes with a higher potential and lower max bet than the original release. The volatility is also paradoxically lower, and it’s all about fattening up the Santa wild during the bonus round. This can lead to 6,405x payouts, which is solid for a medium volatile title.
Santa vs Rudolf- is a NetEnt Holidays release that’s charming in a different way than the game at hand. It takes you right into the middle of a conflict between Santa and his previous favorite reindeer, and these are walking wilds that clash to trigger the bonus round. The feature comes with more frequent walking wilds, and you can win up to 1,000x your stake.
Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special- is last year’s Xmas contribution from Quickspin, and it’s basically a reskin of their most iconic and award-winning release. The Wolf looks far more scary with the Santa hat on, and he’s still engaged in blowing down the little piggies’ houses to the tune of 1,268x your stake.