The Nice List

Lots of online casino software companies produce holiday-themed games, and The Nice List by Realtime Gaming is a good example. This slot uses a classic Christmas theme with graphics that look like they're straight out of a high-end Hallmark holiday card. This is a lot different than most other holiday-themed games that tend to have a little more flashy of an approach. The look for this game is detailed but subtle, and it helps to create a very warm and inviting experience for players.

General Format

The format for this game is pretty common for video slots today. It uses five reels with three rows, and all normal-paying symbols are essentially left-to-right scatters thanks to the 243-ways format. Basically, you can pick one symbol from each row, no matter the places, and as long as you go left-to-right, you can create winning combinations. This leads to a high hit-rate and lots of chances for multi-line payouts.

In terms of bet sizes, this is one video slot that has a lot of options for customizing how much you're wagering. You'll need to keep the number of paylines constant since this is a 243-ways format game, but you can bet multiples of the standard bet size and choose different coin sizes to really hone in on the bet size that works for you.

Symbol Set

You'll find two basic sets of symbols in this game in addition to the wild. The wild in this game is Santa Claus, which is fitting enough, but because he shows up grouped, you'll have a lot of chances for multi-line wins. This really ties into the basic 243-ways format of the game to assist with the gameplay, and it's one of the main reasons for the fairly high hit-rate in The Nice List.

Players will see the Nice List book that Santa keeps on the reels in addition to stockings hanging by the fire, cookies and milk out waiting for Santa and people opening presents at the high-end symbols. While these payouts might not be the largest in the world, they're balanced without being overly top-heavy. Combine that with the hit-rate in this game, and you'll see that it helps to generate low-volatility sessions for players.

The low-end symbols in this games are represented by the A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9 markers. However, instead of just throwing them up as an act of laziness, they're made into Christmas cards on the reels. They are very graphically-detailed, and this shows that a lot of thought was put into how to present every aspect of The Nice List, even the low-paying symbols.

Bonus Features

Unlike most RTG slots, this game does not have a random progressive jackpot. Instead, you'll get randomly-generated free spins after each spin. This is a pretty cool twist because you can get up to 10 free turns at a time with multipliers on your winnings for those free spins worth up to 10x.

Three of the scatter symbol will activate one of two additional features. One is a Present Pick bonus game that basically amounts to instant wins with multipliers, and the other gives you extra wilds on the reels. Both offers a lot of value in different ways, and it's cool to see so many different ways to win in The Nice List in addition to the regular paytable.

Overview

Something really interesting about this game is that Realtime Gaming has put a lot of effort into nuanced graphics and stuffing a ton of features into a game that actually has a surprisingly low volatility. This lower volatility is atypical of RTG since they tend to go for top-heavy pay tables for players who like to go big or go home. It's a really atypical way for them to go, but it's definitely something that players appreciate, and that's why this is a game that stands out in the holiday slot genre.