Aloha! Christmas Edition slot review (Netent)

Aloha! Christmas Edition online slot (Netent) – A disappointing remake with limited new additions

Slots with a Christmas theme are usually clones of existing slots. The likes of Netent, Pragmatic Play, and Play’n GO need their Christmas slots. But, as players only play these slots around Xmas, the investments are limited for these kinds of slots.

It’s not different here: the slot doesn’t add much to the likeable Aloha! Cluster Pays slot. The issue is that the latter is already a 4-year old slot. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen so many better grid slots on the market. So what used to be a fantastic grid slot has now become an average grid slot.

In short, I’m not too enthusiastic. And I don’t want to be too blunt today!

SLOT: ALOHA! CHRISTMAS EDITION | SOFTWARE: NETENT   Number of paylines: 6×6 grid slot (cluster pays) RTP and variance: 96,0%, Low to Medium variance Maximum win: Unknown Betting range: $€0.10 – $€200 Bonus features: Free spins (Tiki Bar and Tiki Bar MAX) Casino Hipster verdict: Not! A remake of the old Aloha! Cluster Pays slot, but with a lower RTP.

Aloha! Christmas Edition slot – Gameplay and Features

Aloha! Christmas Edition is a 6×6 grid slot. The original Aloha! Cluster Pays slot has a 6×5 grid, so that’s indeed a small difference!

You aim to make clusters of at least 9 adjacent symbols.

The four premium symbols are the Tiki-like symbols, and the four lower-paying symbols are Purple Water Lillies, Blue Shells, Coconuts and Tropical Fruits.

Multiplier Wild Symbols and Mystery symbols

Often, you see symbols with a question mark. These are the Mystery symbols, and at the end of a spin, the symbol is revealed.

Some of these question marks transform into a Multiplier Wild if you’re lucky. These Multiplier Wilds replace all symbols except Scatters and Starfish (I’ll come back to these in a minute).

Sticky re-spins feature

Sometimes, you get a free re-spin after a winning combo. The winning symbols remain on the screen, and you can increase the size of the winning cluster thanks to this sticky re-spin feature. Netent introduced this attractive feature with the Jack Hammer slot.

The feature stops once you fail to expand the winning cluster. 

The Free Spins: Tiki Bar or Tiki Bar MAX

You trigger the free spins once you spin 3 Scatters symbols.

The free spins are similar to the main game, but with the difference that you have Starfish (with a Santa Hat).

If you collect 3 Starfishes, you get the Purple Water Lillies to disappear. The following 3 Starfish get the Blue Shells to disappear. Afterwards, the same happens with the Coconuts and the Tropical Fruits).

As a result, there are fewer different symbols in play (and in the best case, you’re left with the premium symbols only).

Yes, I guess it’s needless to say that it becomes way and way easier to land winning clusters afterwards! And as a bonus, you also get 2 extra free spins for every 3 collected Starfishes.

There are two types of free spins to choose from:

• With the Tiki Bar option, you get 10 free spins, and you have chances to land Multiplier Wilds with multipliers of x2, x3 or x4.
• The Tiki Bar MAX option is the riskier option. It gets you 6 free spins and Multiplier Wilds with multipliers of x4, x5 or x7.

Payout percentage (RTP)

The RTP of Aloha! Christmas Edition is 96.0%, and, sadly, it confirms that Netent is lowering its payout percentages since 2020.

At Aloha! Cluster Pays, the payout percentage is 96.42%. So why would you want to play this remake? I guess online casinos won’t object.

Aloha! Christmas Edition slot – the variance is low to medium

Netent has not yet officially announced the variance, but I assume it’s low to medium. It depends if you choose to play the Tiki Bar or the Tiki Bar MAX free spins.

The top wins will be around 500x.

Pros en Cons Advantages: √  Cheerful √  A great bounty feeling at Xmas time.  √  You don’t take too much risk, and you can minimize the risk by choosing the Tiki Bar instead of the Tiki Bar MAX free spins option. Disadvantages: χ  Aloha! Christmas Edition adds little to the original Aloha! Cluster Pays slot. χ  The RTP of 96.0% is a bit disappointing. χ  You won’t land a life-changing win. So, who’ll like the slot? And who won’t? Aloha! Christmas Edition works well if you prefer a friendly-looking slot and if you’re happy to play for a couple of tenners. It gets you plenty of decent wins. The composed gamblers, aiming for much more massive wins, need a more volatile slot.

 

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