Play New Year for Free

The location of this slot machine is out on a frozen lake, a decorated town twinkling in the distance as you create small lines in the ice as you make you way back and forth. It’s a stunning fictitious setting, and one that warms the heart, even despite all that snow.

Baubles on either side of the matrix illustrate the number of active paylines to help guide your way to the money. Some of the baubles have been left blank, while others are numbered, the numbered ones can be hovered over, with the winline showing up across the grid to help you out if you’re stuck. A simple feature, but one that we find most helpful for it saves opening the paytable and faffing about when all we want to do is open those presents.

The only aspect of the game that lets the cheerful nature down is how the game is presented. The rest of the screen isn’t festive at all – in fact it’s a plain backdrop that is so different to all that colour on the grid that it immediately breaks the illusion of the title. It’s a small price to pay for such a good quality real cash slot, but we can’t help but feel the controls could have been better implemented.

As already commented upon, there’s plenty of variance lurking on the 3x5 matrix, with the Scandinavian blonde haired woman being one of the bonus icons; land between three and five of her and a mini level will appear.

A Santa of white and blue is on one side of the screen, while our beautiful snow covered angel is on the other. Gamers will fish for prizes and be rewarded with cash gifts as they do so; it’s a straightforward dynamic, but it feels more interesting due to the aesthetics and execution of the round.

There’s also a large Christmas tree lined with several sacks of presents underneath it that need to be opened later on during New Year, which again gives you a chance to keep totting up your prize fund. Not bad considering the highest paying tile on the paytable awards you 1,500 credits, which for a total bet of 9 isn’t that bad at all.

Aside from the curious decision to call the slot New Year, this is one of the best holiday themed slot machines we’ve ever played. Often they feel cheesy and tacky, titles best left for that specific time of the year, but with this one from Playson, you can get enjoyment from it even in the middle of summer. Maybe it’ll even help cool you down.

As we commented on earlier, the controls and their layout/appearance let the tangibility of the game down, but other than that you have a medium to high variance title that has a low to medium volatility.

The wins aren’t huge, but they’ll be more than good enough if you’re wanting to bank some extra cash before Christmas. And for such a reasonable bet size, who minds base totals of over 1,000 credits!