Microgaming Holly Jolly Penguins Slot Review and Free Play

If you’re looking for a video slot that offers some festive cheer without overdosing on schmaltz then Holly Jolly Penguins might fit the bill. It’s a 5 reel, 45 payline game from Microgaming that comes with classy cartoon visuals and a potentially exciting bonus round that awards infinite free spins. Play this low to medium variance game on your desktop, tablet or mobile devices from between 50p and £125 per spin.

Visually, Holly Jolly Penguins lives up to its name and the design is bright and colourful. The polar setting has been given a few festive flourishes and you’ll see trees, gift boxes and igloos with fairy lights illuminating the polar landscape.

Those reels feature lower value royal symbols and a gang of cheeky cartoon penguins. They include Rudolph the red-nosed penguin, Tania the snowball thrower, Sven the tree decorator, Ole the tree trimmer and Quasi the bell ringer. Look out too for the 2 penguins in snow globes as both of these symbols are wild.

The pair of sledding penguins (Larry and Darryl if you must know) feature on the scatter symbol. These can land stacked 2 high on reels 2 and 3 which becomes important when considering the Free Spins feature. Land 3, 4 or 5 single scatters from reel 1 and you’ll receive 5, 10 or 20 free spins.

Land a 2-high scatter among those 3, 4 or 5 scatters and the number of free spins is doubled. For example, if you land scatters on reels 1, 2, 3 and 4 with a 2-high scatter on reel 2, you’d get double the usual 10 free spins. The perfect scenario is to land a full 7 scatters with 2-high symbols on reels 2 and 3. That happy circumstance awards a bumper 80 free spins. You can re-trigger more free spins infinitely from within this round too.

Many Christmas-themed video slots are aimed at casual players and have volatility to match. That’s certainly the case in Holly Jolly Penguins where the variance is in the low to medium range. This game certainly lives up to the Jolly part of its name. The bright and bold imagery is nicely done and the soundtrack has a festive feel. It doesn’t drown in saccharine though which is definite positive.

There’s nothing especially innovative on offer here. It’s a simple game that combines easy on the eye design with a potentially exciting bonus round. Throw in a few festive flourishes and it adds to a perfectly solid Christmas title – I do prefer Jingle Jackpot from Novomatic and Holiday Season from Play ‘N Go which are more volatile.