| Software Company | Nucleus Gaming |
| Game launch date | 2021 |
| Cluster | 25 |
| Free spins | Yes |
| Reels | 5 |
| RTP | 95.99% |
| Minimum bet | $0.25 |
| Maximum bet | $100 |
| Scatter symbol | No |
| Wild symbol | Yes |
| Auto-spin feature | Yes |
| Progressive jackpot | No |
| Volatility | Low |
Nucleus Gaming is not among the most renowned game providers but is gradually becoming a force to reckon with in the iGaming industry.
It boasts a wide collection of premium content, including games that cater for all tastes. They are known for richly developed themes to drive over 120 visually intense, three-dimensional games.
Their library includes 3D slots, Classic Slots, Table Games and Video Poker.
Their most popular 3D video slot titles include Wrath of Thor, The Quest of Azteca, Book of Christmas Eve, Wings of Victory, and Goals of Glory. These games possess high quality graphics, catchy themes, and interesting bonus features like free spins, multipliers, and pick bonuses.
Another of their games, and the subject of this review, is The Christmas Journey slot, which was released in 2021. The display is 5 reels and 5 rows plus a cluster pay system.
The minimum bet you can place in The Christmas Journey is $0.25 and the maximum is $100, giving it a betting range that will appeal to all players. Also, it’s a low-volatility slot with an RTP of 95.99%. While not the highest RTP slot, it does meet the requirements for the industry average.
We’ll discuss everything you should know about this game in our Christmas Journey slot review, so keep reading to learn more.
Nucleus Gaming has designed several slots, both high-paying and simple penny slots, with stunning graphics and a wide range of themes, but as you’d expect from the name, Christmas Journey is about the festive season.
Once you load the game, you’re greeted with the image of a snowy field with Christmas trees set in a cartoon style. The game has a wooden grid laid on a snowy backdrop, perhaps alluding to traditional Christmas toys.
It evokes familiar nostalgia about the festive season, conjuring memories of family holidays that can be enjoyed throughout the year.
The soundtrack is soothing, slow jazz music, which ensures that the gameplay is relaxing to experience. If we compare it to similar Christmas-themed slots we have reviewed, we would definitely praise Christmas Journey’s theme above most.
Christmas Journey has different symbols populating its reels. The low-paying symbols are the high cards from a deck, A, K, Q, J, and 10, as many readers of online slot guides will know. However, players will be crossing their fingers for the lucrative symbols which include reindeer, candies, cookies, gift boxes, and snowmen.
Here are the payouts of these symbols:
Santa Claus represents the wild symbol, which substitutes for all other symbols. The wild will never pay on its own (only substituting for paytable symbols in clusters). It’s important to note that the slot doesn’t have a scatter symbol.
There are several special features and the most common is the cluster win. Any cluster of 5 or more matching symbols counts as a winning cluster.
Winning clusters disappear from the 5×5 grid, leaving empty positions behind. Any symbol touching the winning clusters can then fill these positions, potentially creating more winning combinations. This process repeats until there are no more winning clusters or until the grid is filled with a single identical symbol.
To trigger the free spins feature, you need to get a winning cluster of every symbol except Santa, in order from the lowest value to the highest value, filling a holiday meter.
When all 10 cells of the Holiday Meter are full, you will win 10 free spins. During free spins mode, the central column of symbols on the grid will always be identical symbols, offering a guaranteed win. However, symbols do not grow into empty positions during free spins mode.
Each free spin also earns a growing multiplier. The first awards a 1x multiplier which progresses towards a maximum 10x multiplier on wins for the final free spin in the sequence.
Each spin during this mode pays for a single cluster with the highest payout. Free spins are played at the bet level and amount of the triggering spin.
You can play Christmas Journey for free or real money at top online casinos.
To play this game for free, first sign up to the casino site and then choose the game you want to play for free in demo mode.
Once the game loads, you can select your stake before spinning the reels. Remember that this is effectively a practice game and you can’t withdraw actual money in this mode.
The good thing about playing for free is that you don’t have to risk real money while playing and can get a feel for the slot or try out any staking strategies before deciding whether to commit to the real thing.
You can also play this and other Nucleus Gaming slots for free on the game provider’s site. However, if you want to play for real money, we would recommend you familiarize yourself with the slot machine laws in your state. Otherwise, you might get in some trouble.
As well as demo mode, you can play the Christmas Journey for real money at top casinos.
To play for real money, visit a reputable casino site and click the “Join Now” button if you don’t have an account already. You’ll be redirected to the casino’s registration page and you can provide your personal information. Some information you need to provide is your name, number, email, and country.
Next, you head to the cashier’s page to fund your new account with real money from the range of deposit methods available. Once the money reflects in your account, you can start playing the game.
If you know how slots work, you won’t be surprised that the game pays on clusters, which multiply by the bet amount to determine your win. The highest win per cluster pays.
Multiple clusters that are not adjacent to each other pay separately. Winning symbols in the holiday meter are only accounted for once and not multiple times.
Payouts are dynamically reflected on selected bets. Changing the bet level will reset the current holiday meter progress.
Christmas is perhaps the most popular festive season worldwide. Many of the top game providers subsequently designed Christmas-themed slots with exciting gameplay and fantastic bonus features to tap into the holiday spirit when gaming.
These new slots include the Book of Christmas Eve, The Naughty List, Reindeer Wild Wins, and A Christmas Carol.
You can play Christmas Journey for real money on top online casino apps.
Simply create and fund an account with real money and select your bet amount. Then, you can start playing. Hopefully, you will win and can then withdraw your funds.
Yes, you can play this slot on any smartphone that has the required specifications to run it. The game provider designed its slots with HTML5, which makes them compatible with desktop and mobile devices.
The RTP of this online game is 95.99%, which is low compared to other slots from the game provider.
Yes, you can play this slot with no download or registration on iOS and Android devices. Just launch the game in your preferred mobile browser, and you’re all set.
No, Christmas Journey doesn’t offer a progressive jackpot. However, you can activate fantastic bonus features in the base game like free spins.
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