Released: 3 Dec 2020

★★★★★

Aloha! Christmas edition might come as a surprise, mostly because Christmas is not associated with a Hawaiian beach festive atmosphere. Surprisingly, many of us would surely prefer to spend the winter holidays down on the beach, dancing along with the Hula dancers and having a blast. This is what NetEnt is giving us precisely – a different experience than the one you’d typically expect.

Aloha! Christmas Edition Slot Review

Game supplier NetEnt steps forward to give a festive makeover on one of their older slot titles. Who says we can’t celebrate winter in a Hawaiian style? You probably guess – the Hawaiian Tiki-themed Aloha! Cluster Pays slot is here to introduce its winter remake-Aloha! Christmas Edition. It’s been four years since the release of the official title, and this one will take you on a different seasonal celebration. This Christmas Edition is a perfect example of how festive themes do not have to be predictable when it comes to their design.

About Aloha! Christmas Edition

This slot game comes as a 6x6 grid slot with cluster pays and a maximum of 1,750x your bet. This time, it introduces us to a new part of the island. Tiki is also here, wearing a Santa hat and bringing lots of Christmas presents. This festive beach atmosphere comes with plenty of features, including mystery symbols, multiplier wilds and re-spins. If you manage to trigger the main feature, you’ll be able to pick one of the two free spins features. Both of them offer a combination of free spins and multipliers. It is considered as a medium volatile slot with an RTP of 96%. Bets may be set between £0.10-£200 per spin.

The cluster pays system stays the same as in the first Aloha! sequel. For those who’re not familiar with the setup, 9 vertically or horizontally matching symbols form a winning cluster. The three premium tiki symbols are worth 70-250x your stake for more than 22 clusters. There are no wild symbols here, even though you can create one via the features.

Design, Symbols and Graphics

If you fancy the look of Aloha! Cluster Pays, then the Christmas Edition will feel more or less the same. Even though the scenery is changed, symbols remained relatively similar, with few festive modifications we’re sure you’ll find charming. The top-paying Tiki symbols (red, blue and green Tiki) now have Santa hats, as the Starfish during free spins round Other than these, you have the same pack of symbols like coconut, pineapple, shell and pink flowers).

The game feels quite easy-going, and visuals are quite simple with very bright colours. Even though Aloha! Christmas Edition might look relatively simple; a lot is going on in terms of the gameplay. Sticky win re-spins and many wilds are just part of the highlights in this game. More about the features as we progress further with the review.

RTP, Variance and Payouts for Aloha! Christmas Edition

RTP stands for Return to Player, and it’s a ratio used to describe the percentage of all wagered money that the slot game or machine will pay back to the players over time. The Aloha! Christmas Edition’s RTP is 96% which is considered rather average. The variance is medium, meaning you’ll win fairly frequently in the base round. The maximum win is 1750x your bet per spin, with the potential of 7x multiplier.

Gameplay and Features on Aloha! Christmas Edition

In the Aloha! Christmas edition slot, mystery symbols and features are slightly upgraded from its predecessor. During the base and bonus games, they can appear in random positions, only to transform into the same instance of a randomly chosen symbol. Bonus features include mystery symbols, wild multipliers, free spins with extra wilds and sticky win re-spins.

Mystery symbols

Whenever there’s a question mark on your grid, know that behind it sneaks a mystery symbol. They can appear both the base or free spins rounds. When the spin is over, all mystery symbols collide in one symbol, making a new calculation to your score. Moreover, one of the mystery symbols can turn into a multiplier wild that delivers 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 7x in the base game.

Sticky re-spins

This feature is triggered in any spin round that forms a winning cluster. Then, the winning combination and matching symbols placed elsewhere on the grid turn sticky, allowing a re-spin. If you get a new, matching symbol during the re-spin, it accompanies the winning cluster. The re-spin rounds continue until no new matching symbols land. An up to 7x multiplier can be applied for 36 matching symbols in a single cluster.

Free spins

If you land 3 or more scatter symbols on the same spin, you’ll trigger the free spins feature. Land 4, 5 or 6 scatters, and you’ll get a bonus prize of up to 50x your stake. Then you’ll have to pick one out of 2 free spins choices:

Tiki Bar Free Spins – 10 free spins and up to 4x mystery wilds
Tiki Bar Max Free spins – 6 free spins and up to 7x mystery wilds

Aloha! Christmas Edition on Mobile

The Aloha! Christmas Edition slot really stands out on mobile. The colours of the symbols are vibrant, and their design is quite sharp-as we all expect when it comes to mobile versions. The 6x6 grid type works really great on both iOS and Android versions. Having all these things on mind, rest assured you won’t miss a thing.

Other NetEnt Group Slots

NetEnt is known as one of the leading iGaming suppliers in the past decade. They’ve maintained its reputations in the industry for creating the slots that have stood out from the competition. Here, we must mention Starburst as one of their most successful titles. However, as we can see with the Aloha! Christmas Edition, they’re not afraid to experiment, test and surprise the audience when it comes to upgrades. A perfect example for that is their freshly squeezed Fruit Shop Megaways sequel, twisting the well-known Fruit Shop slot released back in 2011.

We move from fruits and vitamins onto jungle adventures with their Jungle Spirit release. This slot game is entirely different from what we’ve seen when it comes to NetEnt’s artistic expression, and we’re sure you’ll find the setup quite vivid. And last but not least, if you’re up for a more traditional Christmas celebration, explore Secrets of Christmas. Here, there is no secret that the maximum possible payout might be 350,000 coins.

SlotsWise Verdict

Aloha! Christmas Edition is as festive as it can be when it comes to celebrating Christmas at the beach. The clusters feature delivers continuous action on the reels, and you can expect mystery symbols at regular intervals. The features are intelligently upgraded, and we’re sure the NetEnt fans will appreciate the multiplier wilds and high-volatility option on free spins. Even though this is not your typical festive slot design, it’s great that this game supplier provided a warm and sunny Christmas option.