Ding Dong Christmas Bells Slots
We have time for singing and dancing, so let's get Xmassy in this seasonal slot. It’s not just a snappy title. It’s the humble bell-like that few other slots have ever celebrated, and it’s bell ringing that gives you access to the game’s bonus round. That’s quite a good tee-up because it’s a fairly unusual game, and if it sounds odd already, that’s probably right. Some may love its spirit, and some may hate how twee the whole thing is.
What’s it about?
Imagine stumbling upon an Xmas pop-up shop that could open a few weeks before Xmas, where people can shop for ornaments or decorations to spread cheer across the house. A type of shop that consumers either love to lose themselves in or do their darndest to avoid. Sorry, taking the game seriously at first is a tad hard. I mean, the whole premise was just so darned nice it kinda was a little silly. Triggering free spins where bells will become shaped like Xmas decorations and let you ring the bells alongside premium to wild transformations (where applicable)? You’re not going to find many slots like this outside of the individually creative minds of Reel Kingdom, which places them in the same section of the brain as wacky slots.
Game Theme
It was a bit hard to say where, but definitely Ding! Dong! Christmas Bells may be set. Either it's up at the North Pole, where Santa and the Elves are working and playing, or somewhere else, someplace as Christmasy as you can get, all snowy near the end of the year at such a time when the days get shorter and the weather colder. It's wherever we are, but we're somewhere pretty cute and corny, with those five happy bells sitting at the top of the reels, making a sound as the high pay symbol related to them comes to sit.
Game Symbols
The five higher-value symbols are called ‘Bell’ symbols. Each chime is colored and matches one of the character bells above the reel. Candy-caned card royals are under the bell symbols in value. A hit on a line of 5 card rank frees 4 to 16 times the bet, and five premium symbols return 30 to 200 times the bet. The wild symbols don’t exist on the base game but trigger free spins, and they get injected into the round.
Bell Symbol
A part of the slot’s unique offering will be how it will trigger the free spins for you. When you notice the bell symbols go on to form the highest-paying combinations, you will find that the same bells can be seen on the top status of the top five reels. When the bell symbols land, they will ring, and their sound travels to the bells above. These bells are a random trigger for free spins, but that’s not a promise. Randomly, musical notes can activate bells that haven't been activated yet at the start of the round. Should two or even more bells get activated on a solitary spin, you win just 5 bonus rotates.
Free Spins Bonus
A Fiori wild symbol is created when free spins are triggered, and pays of bell pay symbols are changed into wild symbols (any bell may be changed into wild symbols). It depends on how many bells were randomly activated when the trigger occurred. During free spins, these wilds substitute for all symbols and are worth up to 30 times the bet when we get a 5 Oak hit. The win of line wilds is part of free spins and has an x2 multiplier on each wild.
After the first 1,000x win, the inner critic was silenced to a degree. First, the mix of premiums to wilds and multipliers can pull some cool shenanigans off. And yes, it probably doesn’t hurt that half of the 5 wins are solid values. However, that one large result was over double the maximum achievable, 2,100x the bet win potential. It’s a little too silly to take seriously. Everywhere, those bells and musical notes flew about. The game can perform, though; who knows? With this being its unusual presentation and lightwell charm, it could easily fling itself right into the hearts of the Reel Kingdom fanbase. At the very least, maybe we can be thankful it isn’t another Christmas.
It’s a traditional Christmas-themed slot, but they did it differently. It’s one of the cute holiday-themed slots that we tend to get time after time from most developers. It’s being released by Pragmatic Play, and what’s cool about that is that they’re using the bells as a central motif. It's a little different, and maybe that'll be enough to make it interesting heading closer to the holidays.