Play The Elf Wars for Free

The Elf Wars by Real Time Gaming is a 5-reel, 50-payline slot – 50 fixed paylines to be precise. While the concept behind the slot doesn’t completely correlate with the name – what’s war got to do with it all? – the symbols are recognisable enough. These include a scroll of Santa’s naughty list, a Christmas pudding and a sign welcoming visitors to the North Pole.

As for the war element, there’s a series of military aircraft and tanks depicted above the reels along with bombs and barbed wire. Who’s fighting who here? Is it Santa and his elves versus the US military? Or has there been a coup in the North Pole and now the elves are battling Santa to assume control of Christmas?

The betting system for this slot is extremely unusual. For one thing, the left hand button raises the bet while the right lowers it, which is the opposite of how it is with every single other slot you’ll play. The other interesting thing is that as you lower the bet all the way down to the minimum 0.5 coins per spin, the feature guarantee metre also drops to 0%. So you can play this game with a lower bet level if you like, but you’ll forfeit the prospect of getting on the feature. Crank the bet up to the maximum 5 coins per spin and you’ll learn that you have a 5.9% chance of making the feature. It will also show you the number of spins before you’re guaranteed to make the feature – 135.

The playing card symbols appear as gift wrapped presents and are worth between 125 and 150 for 5. After that, the next tier of symbols are worth 250 for 5 and include a bucket full of sweets with the words Frog Food printed on it, randomly. The Xmas pudding and naughty list symbols also feature here. Next up is a selection of Christmas toys worth 750 and then a snowman scene at 1,000 for 5. The North Pole sign comes in at 1,500. The Elf Wars is an unusual game in that it has two scatters and two wilds.

The wild symbols in this game are worth 2,000 for 5 and comprise one of Santa and one of Rudolph dressed as a military general with artillery in the background. This reindeer means war. These symbols will substitute for all others except for the good and bad elves who are the game’s scatters. You’ll earn an 8x multiplier for four scatters and 100x for five. You’ll also trigger a respin if you land two or more good or bad elves appearing left to right on the board. Land three or more scattered elves anywhere on the board to trigger the feature, be it Santa Strikes Back or Jackpot Spins. There’s also Rudolph’s Revenge and Rudolph’s Rampage to choose from.

The Elf Wars is a medium variance game with an RTP of 91% to 97% which is in line with RTG’s other releases. This game handles similarly to Marilyn Red Carpet, an odd slot from Novomatic which has just 10 paylines and awards 10 free spins. The Elf Wars in comparison will dispense anywhere between 5 and 50 spins accompanied by multipliers of as high as 5x. Wall St Fever by Playtech is another game which warrants a closer look, despite having only 5 paylines.

The theme for The Elf Wars is a little muddled, which makes it less than clear who’s meant to be warring against who. This could have been easily solve if RTG had used a background image that provided more clues instead of just stuffing it with tanks and planes. In terms of playing, The Elf Wars handles well and is a lot of fun, with plenty of bonuses and features built in.

It’s a game that you can play for free or play for real money and it’ll work on Android and iPhone just as well as it will on desktop. It’s just a shame that the graphics are so average, lacking in detail or clarity. As a result, The Elf Wars is only half the game it could have been.