Wonders of Christmas slot review
NetEnt released Wonders of Christmas, a festive reimagination of its popular Rome: The Golden Age title, in 2022. Despite a theme refresh, the highlights like the 3-4-5-4-3 grid and 19,000x max win remain in the mix.
Learn how it stacks up against similar slots by reading about its structure, paytable, features, RTP, volatility, and availability in US casinos in my Wonders of Christmas review below.
Highlights
Wonders of Christmas slot review summary
Wonders of Christmas is a holiday-themed NetEnt slot with classic Christmas imagery, from snow-covered windows with wreaths to a lit fireplace, decorated with garlands.
As expected, the graphics are pristine, leaning into the old-school picture book look. With subtle, smooth grid animations and uplifting jingle sounds, these Christmas scenes come to life and immerse you in the festive atmosphere.
The 96.06% RTP, medium volatility, and somewhat narrow betting range ($50) seem to target casual players more than high rollers. But the diamond grid structure, features like the progressive multiplier, and a max win of 19,000x keep it enticing for anyone who’s after a fun reel-spinning session with solid payout potential.
Pros
Unique 3-4-5-4-5 grid structure
6 special features
19,000x maximum payout
Cons
Unoriginal theme and visuals
$50 maximum bet size
Volatility appears much higher
Wonders of Christmas comprehensive review
To provide a full, unbiased take on this NetEnt slot, my Wonders of Christmas review will cover its RTP and volatility, features, symbols, and payouts. You will also learn how the game works and where you can play it.
RTP and volatility
Wonders of Christmas has an RTP of 96.06% and medium volatility. It plays on a 5×5 grid, with the unique 3-4-5-4-3 reel/row structure and 20 fixed paylines.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| RTP | 96.06% |
| Maximum win | 19,000x |
| Number of paylines | 20 |
| Volatility | Medium |
At 96.06%, Wonders of Christmas’ RTP falls right around the industry average, which did reflect in long-term play for me. However, its volatility felt a step above NetEnt’s proclaimed medium, regardless of the bet size I wagered.
The unusual 3-4-5-4-3 grid makes tracking win patterns a bit trickier, and the special symbols, like Gifts and Scatters, appear fairly often, which all gives an impression of an action-packed slot. But that doesn’t change the fact that wins remained infrequent throughout my spinning session, exactly what you’d expect from a higher-volatility game.
So, I’d stick to mid-range bets if I were you, as you’ll still catch a few big wins without burning through your bankroll too quickly.
Bonus features
The Wonders of Christmas slot comes with five bonus features: Frames, Wilds, Multipliers, Scatters, and Free Spins.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Bonus features | Frames, Multipliers, and Free Spins |
| Top features | Frames and Multipliers |
| Jackpot | N/A |
Frames and Wilds
Frames appear around all Gift symbols that hit the grid. Occasionally, they may turn the Gift symbols gold, in which case the Gift transforms into a Wild on your next spin. This Wild, then, turns all adjacent positions with a Frame into Wilds, as well, and helps create winning combinations by filling in for base symbols. The only symbols it can’t substitute for are Scatters, Gifts, and Golden Gifts.
Multipliers
The Progress Bar, which sits in the upper left corner of the screen, fills each time a Gift symbol shows up on the grid. It fills by 1 point when a Gift lands outside Frames and between 1 and 4 points when it lands within a Frame. When the Progress Bar reaches the 200 point mark, it upgrades the Free Spins Multiplier and resets.
The Free Spins Multiplier starts at 1x, and grows to 2x, 3x, 5x, 7x, 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, 30x, 40x, 50x, 75x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 500x, 750x, and 1,000x, in this order. It applies whatever figure you’ve reached from 1x to 1,000x to your total at the end of the Free Spins round.
Scatters and Free Spins
The Free Spins round triggers when you match 3 Scatter symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4. The game opens a new grid covered with blank spaces, where only Golden Coins with multipliers worth 0.5x to 50x can land. The Frames that didn’t turn Wild in the base game carry over and lock in on the same grid, featuring multipliers between 0.5x and 50x that can boost your returns.
You start the Free Spins round with 3 respins, but that number resets each time you hit a Golden Coin. The round ends either when you’ve filled all positions with Coins or when you’ve run out of spins.
The total value of Coins adds up. It is then multiplied by your Free Spins Multiplier and credited to your game balance at the end of the Free Spins round. If you were lucky enough to fill the whole grid with Gold Coins, all Golden Coin values are also multiplied by 2.
Wonders of Christmas overdelivers on the bonus feature front, much like its Roman Empire-inspired predecessor. From Frames and Wilds to Progressive Multipliers and Free Spins, it covers all the bases to keep you engaged. Unfortunately, they don’t amount to much in terms of returns.
Gift symbols popped up often enough for me, but hitting the 200x point mark in the Progress Bar still took a long stretch of play, so Multiplier Upgrades felt too few and far between. The same happened with Wilds, which triggered only three times during my session. The biggest reward was $156 with a $30 bet.
And then there were the Free Spins, which seemed easy to trigger on paper because Scatters appear so frequently. In practice, they turned out to be anything but.
I did notice Scatters growing more common past the $40 bet mark, but it took a stubborn run with the max $50 bet to unlock the Free Spins round just once. The bonus paid out around 25x my bet, which would have been a solid win had my bankroll not been hanging by a thread by that point.
Symbols and paytable
Wonders of Christmas has 9 base and 3 bonus symbols. Low-paying ones are card-faces, 10, J, Q, K, and A, which pay from 0.10x your bet for a three 10s combo to 0.90x your bet for a five As combo.
High-paying symbols, including the bonus ones, are all holiday-inspired. The stocking, snowglobe, gingerbread house, toy train, and Santa’s sleigh offer between 0.40x and 5x your stake. The Golden Gift (Wild) pays 5x, but only for a 5-symbol combination, while the Christmas Tree Scatter matches don’t offer any returns.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Theme | Christmas |
| Reel layout | 3-4-5-4-3 |
| Highest paying symbol | Santa’s sleigh and Golden Gift |
| Adjustable paylines | N/A |
| Visuals | Old-school cartoonish |
| Sound | Classic Christmas jingle |
| Mobile quality | Excellent |
The 3-4-5-4-3 grid counts symbol combinations from the leftmost to the rightmost reel, and only pays the highest win per bet line. With the maximum wager of $50, without any special feature help, the largest possible payout is $250.
Wonders of Christmas doesn’t break any new ground theme-wise, but its sharp graphics and warm visuals feel like a treat for holiday lovers. Paired with the fun grid structure, the imagery easily offsets the lack of originality.
The $0.10 minimum bet is low enough to allow players of basically any budget to play, which is another plus in my books. Though, I do wish the betting range ($50) and maximum win without special features ($250) were a bit closer to some of NetEnt’s other slots.
After all, this provider is behind slots like Guns N’Roses and Jack Hammer, whose highest paying symbols offer respective returns of $7,500 and $8,000, thanks to their $200 and $250 max bet options.
Thankfully, Wonders of Christmas’ special features help push its max win to 19,000x for that extra punch you don’t get from the paytable.
How to play Wonders of Christmas
To play the Wonders of Christmas, you need to adjust your bet size first. Press the stacked coins button in the bottom left of the screen and choose between 32 options, ranging from $0.10 to $50. When you’re ready, select the big arrow to the right of the coins button, and the reels in the grid will spin.
The game will drop a random combination of symbols onto the grid and reward you each time you match 3 to 5 of them across one of the 20 preset patterns. If you want to speed up the spinning, select the double arrow before pressing the spin button to activate the turbo mode.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Min bet | $0.10 |
| Max bet | $50 |
| Autoplay | Available |
| Turbo mode | Available |
| Game history | N/A |
You can also put the game in autoplay for 10 to 1,000 spins, with win, loss, and Free Spins limits, by selecting the circular arrow on the left of the main spin button.
Game rules like these can be found in the section that opens through the hamburger menu (three vertical lines) in the far left corner and the Wonders of Christmas paytable, which is available through the button with the letter i located right next to it.
Casinos where to play Wonders of Christmas
If you’re ready to give Wonders of Christmas a try, here are some of our casino recommendations:
| Casino Logo | Rating | Bonus | Go-to-casino button | Show more | T&C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
91/100
Expert rating
by Denise M.
84%
Playscore
based on
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100% bonus back up to $1,000
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Play now players accepted |
|
|
2
|
86/100
Expert rating
by Vule P.
85%
Playscore
based on
|
Bonus Money reload up to $500
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
3
|
94/100
Expert rating
by Sophie P.
85%
Playscore
based on
|
Up to $1,000 Lossback in Casino Bonus after your first 24 hours
|
Play now players accepted |
|
Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital, LLC. All Rewards issued as non-withdrawable site credits. 24-hour Lossback period starts when player makes first cash wager on slots only. Up to $1,000 back in casino bonus if player has net loss on slots after first 24 hours. Casino Bonus credit has a 1x wager requirement and expires after 14 days. NJ Only. Bet with your head not over it. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER |
1
|
94/100
Expert rating
by Sophie P.
81%
Playscore
based on
|
50,000 Gold Coins + 1 Sweeps Coin
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
2
|
94/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
91%
Playscore
based on
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1.5 million WOW Coins + 35 free Sweepstakes Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
3
|
93/100
Expert rating
by Sophie P.
79%
Playscore
based on
|
50,000 Gold Coins + 1 Sweeps Coin
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
4
|
89/100
Expert rating
by Sophie P.
77%
Playscore
based on
|
50,000 Gold Coins + 1 Sweeps Coin
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
5
|
89/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
81%
Playscore
based on
|
10,000 Gold Coins + 2 Sweeps Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
6
|
89/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
79%
Playscore
based on
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25,000 Gold Coins + 2.5 Spree Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
7
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89/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
87%
Playscore
based on
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Up to 120,000 Gold Coins + 10 Sweeps Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
8
|
89/100
Expert rating
by Vule P.
79%
Playscore
based on
|
500 Gold Coins + 3 FREE Sweeps Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
9
|
89/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
89%
Playscore
based on
|
Up to 650,000 Gold Coins + 1,400 Fortune Coins
|
Play now players accepted |
|
|
10
|
88/100
Expert rating
by Paul P.
96%
Playscore
based on
|
250,000 Gold Coins + $25 Stake Cash
|
Play now players accepted |
|
Expert verdict
Wonders of Christmas recycles one of NetEnt’s successful slot designs (Rome: The Golden Age) but in a classic, holiday style. With the familiar, festive visuals and audio, as well as the diamond-shaped grid and coin-collect bonus round, it doesn’t bring much novelty to the table.
But I must give credit where credit is due. The pristine graphics and high-quality software make spinning the reels smooth and fun, no matter your gaming device. The frames, wilds, progress bar, multipliers, and scatters keep the gameplay dynamic, although wins don’t land as often as I’d like.
The 19,000x maximum win certainly gives you something to chase, whether you’re a tight-budget player who comes at it with the $0.10 minimum bet or a high-roller going all in with the highest $50 bet. It won’t be easy to hit, but you may come close if you manage to upgrade the Multiplier a few times and trigger the Free Spins round.
FAQs
What’s the RTP of Wonders of Christmas?
The Wonders of Christmas’ RTP is 96.06%, which is around the industry average.
What’s Wonders of Christmas’ betting range?
Wonders of Christmas’ betting range stretches from $0.10 to $50, which makes it one of the less flexible slots in NetEnt’s portfolio when it comes to tailoring stakes.
Does Wonders of Christmas have a progressive jackpot?
No, Wonders of Christmas doesn’t offer a jackpot of any kind. But the biggest win you can hit while playing is 19,000x your bet, which comes to $950,000 with the highest bet size.
How do I trigger free spins in Wonders of Christmas?
You can trigger free spins in Wonders of Christmas by matching 3 Christmas Tree Scatter symbols across one of the fixed paylines.
Is Wonders of Christmas a high-volatility slot?
No, NetEnt lists Wonders of Christmas as a medium-volatility slot. However, the spaced-out wins you get while playing may make it feel more like a high-volatility game.
