Side City Studios and NextGen Gaming attempt to deliver some festive treats in Jolly’s Gifts. This Christmas-themed video slot is played using a 5 reel, 40 payline game engine and goodies on offer include mystery transforming symbols, stacked wild re-spins and free spins. Play on your desktop, tablet or mobile device from between 30p and £30 per spin.
Visually, Jolly’s Gifts is very nicely put together – yes, it’s a little schmaltzy but the actual imagery is pretty good. The snowflake-backed reels include heart, diamond, club and spade symbols. They’re joined by a toy train, a gingerbread man and a toy soldier.
Most rewarding of the standard symbols is the reindeer which awards 200 coins if you land 5 on a payline. Jolly the child is the wild – land 3, 4 or 5 of these on a payline and you’ll pocket 20, 150 or 750 coins. The wild takes centre stage in arguably the game’s best feature.
Jolly’s Wild Re-Spins feature – this extra can hit on any spin in both the base game or the free spins (more of which shortly). Jolly can expand and turn into a stacked wild. In the process, she’ll award up to 5 re-spins. The stacked wild moves 1 position to the left with each re-spin. Look out too for between 1 and 3 floating wilds which are also added on each re-spin. The re-spins continue until Jolly reaches reel 1. You’re guaranteed to win on your final 2 re-spins.
Jolly’s Mystery Gifts feature – stacks of gift box symbols can land anywhere on the reels. Whenever they hit, they will transform into the same standard symbol and a new payout is then made with the improved combination.
Free Games feature – 12 free spins are on offer when you land the kitten scatter on reels 1, 3 and 5 on the same spin. You’ll also pocket a 150-coin award. You can also retrigger to give you 24 free spins altogether. As we mentioned above, you can land Jolly’s Wild Re-Spins feature during the free spins too which is where the bigger wins will come from.
Like many Christmas-themed video slots, Jolly’s Gifts is a saccharine-filled affair. The slightly cheesy theme certainly won’t appeal to everyone. If you can see past the schmaltz, there’s some decent extras hiding here. The wild re-spins certainly offer some very decent potential, especially if you manage to land them during the free spins round.
Jolly’s Gifts is probably best enjoyed in small doses. Get lucky with the stacked wild re-spins and it can deliver some jolly impressive Christmas cheer. If you like the Christmas theme and want something more hard-hitting, NetEnt’s Secrets of Christmas is a great option.
