The days are shorter, the nights are longer – and getting increasingly colder here in South Africa. And as the CasinoPlay crew huddles down around our heater in the office, we’re looking for some fast-paced, action-packed slots to bring the heat this winter.
We’ve got our slippers. We’ve got our fluffy blankets. We’ve put the marshmallows in our hot chocolate – now it’s time to find the online casinos and online slots games that will warm our little gambler’s hearts as the wintry chill takes hold.
Weirdly enough (although still understandable considering that a lot of the Northern Hemisphere games developers equate winter with the Christmas festive season) a lot of our wintry choices seem to feature elves and reindeer and Xmas decorations. But we want games that feature ice and snow and cold – and we weren’t disappointed! There are some awesome games out there and picking five was not quite as easy as we thought it would.
And that was before the we decided to throw in a wild card just for fun.
So, snuggle up, get the hot beverage boiling, put on your warmest PJs and spend a cold evening playing the hottest winter themed games we can find for our South African online slots fans.
Ice Ice Yeti is a fun and fast game from Nolimit City that is really well designed with cute and playful artwork. The frozen tundra is definitely winter-centric and we found ourselves getting totally into the game.
Why?
Because Nolimit City has given us a ‘cool’ feature that keeps us spinning: the usual 5×3 reels setup also features an interesting extra set of rows above and below that are encased in ice. Periodically through the game, the screen gives a bit of an earthquake shake (the Yeti Shake) and shatters random blocks of ice to reveal extra symbols and increase your winning chances from a 5×3 game to a 5×7 (theoretically opening revealing up to 16807 paylines!).
The game looks simple enough, but this added feature really got us trying our best to get those darn ice blocks to break away.
Ice Ice Yeti doesn’t have a lot of bonus features but does have a Yeti Wild that breaks through the ice and re-spin and sticky symbols features.
Game: Ice Ice Yeti
Provider: Nolimit City
RTP: 96.16%
Paylines: Up to 16807
Features: Wild, re-spins, sticky symbols
Scatters: No
Multipliers: No
Bonus game: No
We’re not gonna lie, playing Age of Ice Dragons is like trying to walk up a hill made of ice – you’re never quite sure if you’re doing it right until you get to the top.
If you thought Game of Thrones was convoluted and confusing (but you were hooked anyway) then this 5-reel title from Kalamba is sure to melt your icy heart.
Age of Ice Dragons is epic. There is so much going on that newbies to the modern slots world will probably want to try this out in demo mode before putting down some real cash. There are Wilds, there are Scatters, there are Free Spins, there’s a weird bar that grows every time you land Wild symbols – and there’s some interesting settings you can choose to unlock ‘missions’ from bronze to platinum, which affect autoplay spins, number of wilds and prize amounts.
Kalamba is famous for bringing us challenging and unique games and gameplay features and they don’t disappoint with Age of Ice Dragons. We would urge you to maybe do some research on how best to play this game though or you’ll be more lost than John Snow on the other side of The Wall.
Game: Age of Ice Dragons
Provider: Kalamba Games Studios
RTP: 97.2%
Paylines: 40
Features: Wilds, Scatters, Free Spins
Multipliers: No
Bonus game: No
When we started playing Spinomenal’s Queen of Ice we weren’t really expecting much – it looked like a solid 5-reel slot with crisp graphics and fast action and the usual basic Wilds and Free Spins.
But them we started hitting those bonus features.
Spinomenal have done an amazing job of bringing some heat to a chilly game. There are features galore here. Wilds, Stacked Wilds, Expanding Wilds, Scatters, Free Spins, Synced Reels, and our favourites: Bonus Games and Gamble features.
It just goes to prove that there are hidden depths below the frozen surface, and we ended up spending many an hour trying to unlock all that this game had to offer.
Game: Queen of Ice
Provider: Spinomenal
RTP: 95.8%
Paylines: 25
Features: Wilds, Scatters, Synced Reels, Bonus game, Free Spins, Buy feature, Gamble feature.
Multipliers: No
Ice Wolf from ELK Studios is a stunningly beautiful game that features an icy Viking/Nordic theme. But beautiful graphics aside, this slot really got our attention just because it has some very interesting features.
Like the Ice Ice Yeti game, Ice Wolf has a frozen section above the main reels that is unlocked when you hit wins. The ice chips away to reveal extra reels and symbols to boost your winning chances – but it’s not easy!
The screen is divided into three sections: the bottom section is where the standard reels spin in a 6×3 format, the middles section is revealed when you hit wins below and is also a 6×3 format, and the top section is a single line that features +1 free spins and x2, x3, x5, x10 and, x50 multipliers.
This game really has you on the edge of your seat. Watching the symbols stop, hoping to break through that icy barrier to get more chances and unlock Free Spins and Multipliers, cheering as you win again to break away more ice, and then groaning in despair as you don’t hit a winning combo and the extra symbols and reels all freeze over again – it’s a proper rollercoaster of a ride.
And when you hit the Ice Wolf symbol and the pack charges through, smashing ice aside and bringing up a whole row of Wilds…
Sjoe!!!!
ELK Studios are also unique in the way they give you the chance to play a normal slots game or choose a pre-selected ‘Betting Strategy’ to up your game: Optimizer, Leveller, Booster or Jumper. The Bet Level selector can really change how you place your bets and how your wins and losses affect your bankroll so make sure you know what you’re getting into you before choosing your strategy. If you don’t choose a strategy, you can play just like you would normally play on any other slot game.
Game: Ice Wolf
Provider: ELK Studios
RTP: 96.1%
Paylines: 729 but that can increase to 74088 if you break through the ice
Features: Wilds, Free Spins, Multipliers
Scatters: No
Bonus game: No
All these chilly reels got us worrying about frostbite – so we took a turn to the tropics to thaw out our shivering bones!
If you want to take a break from the winter chills, then Aloha! Cluster Pays from NetEnt should be your destination of choice. A fun, colourful and WARM Hawaiian-themed slot that brings a yearning for hot summer days on the beach, cool drinks with an umbrella in them, and a bit of gratitude to our Tiki head hero for a ray of sunshine in our dreary winter.
But what make Aloha! Cluster Pays a hot offer is the intriguing gameplay and extra special features. Cluster Pays gives you the chance to match symbols in clusters, vertically and horizontally, to bring in those big wins. Add in Free Spins, Substitute Symbols, Wilds, and Scatters and you have the perfect game to chase away the winter blues.
And it has a super-chill Hawaiian music vibe as well!
Game: Aloha! Cluster Pays
Provider: NetEnt
RTP: 96.42%
Paylines: N/A
Features: Wilds, Substitutes, Sticky Wins Re-spins, Free Spins, Stacked Symbols
Multipliers: No
Bonus game: No
