Published: 23.12.2020, 17:06
4 min read
Continuing the trend of developers re-skinning old slots for Christmas is Yggdrasil with Carol of the Elves. If you are curious about the game the developer chose to revisit here, the answer is the Original Valley of the Gods from 2017. It is a good pick since most punters will not mind going back to an older winning formula dressed up in Christmas glitz.
Play Carol of the Elves For Free – Mobile & PC
Santa’s loyal helpers take over the handling of multipliers and extra lives from ancient Egyptian deities! Play Carol of the Elves for real money here or enjoy a free demo below:
Slot Features
- Return to Player: 96.2%
- Volatility: High
- Re-Spins
- Extra Lives
- Win Booster Multipliers
- Win up to 5800X!
- All Devices: Desktops, Phablets, Tablets, Smartphones, etc.
- All Browsers: Chrome, Mozilla, Opera, Explorer, Edge, etc.
Slot Design, Algorithm Stats, Rules, & Paytable
?You can hear the sound of hammer, tap, tap, tapping night and day. We are the elves in Santa’s workshop making toys for Christmas Day. Our voices strong sing out a joyful song! A song to make our work a snap, tap-a, tap-a, tap? So goes the carol this slot is named after, and the one that quite summarizes the current design replacing the ancient Egypt styling on the original.
As for the playing area, most would have wanted the revamped design from Valley of the Gods 2 that bragged up to 20160 winning ways. Anyways, old is gold, meaning that we are back to the expandable 5-reel grid, which starts with a default 1-3-5-3-1 format that could expand to a fully maxed out grid with 3125 winning ways.
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To the left and right are a green and red elf that now occupy the positions previously held by Anubis and Horus. They take over the modifier meters, which we will come to later. Below, we get the usual UI from Yggdrasil, which allows the player to select bets ranging from €0.10 to 150 before getting things going with the spin button or auto-spins setting.
As for the algorithm, every stat is the same as in Valley of the Gods. That means an above-average RTP rating of 96.2% coupled with a high volatility setting, meaning that sessions can be rough. A decent hit rate of 32.78%, however, keeps that much-needed breakthrough within reach.
Scoring a winner requires the player to land three or more of-a-kind on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost. Ten regulars are available, starting with blackjack fillers, followed by a smiley rabbit, pup, bear, and reindeer. The premium wins, which range from one to twenty times the stake, are where your focus should be.
Re-Spins
A winning round triggers re-spins, which only come to an end when new winning combinations cease. Re-spins play at the same bet as to when you triggered them.
Destroy the Ice Blockers
Instead of scarab-patterned blocker tiles, we get twelve ice blockers on the remake. Each winning combination releases stars corresponding to the symbol tally involved in the win that, in turn, destroy a corresponding blocker count. Essentially, the re-spins help you get rid of as many blockers as possible.
If all blocker tiles get destroyed, wins will start spawning red or green stars that will collect on the corresponding meters as they are already active.
Lives
You get one extra life for unlocking all grid positions. Stars from winning combinations involving the fox, reindeer, A, Q, and 9 then start feeding the red lives meter. An extra life is won each time you collect five red stars.
An extra life awards a re-spin on a non-winning re-spin, thus giving you a chance to extend the re-spins session.
Win Booster Multipliers
The second gift you get for unlocking the grid is an X2 multiplier. Stars from winning combinations involving the bear, rabbit, K, J, and 9 then start feeding the green multiplier meter. The multiplier increases by +1 each time you collect five green stars.
Carol of the Elves – Our Verdict
We have got to appreciate the choice Yggdrasil went with when selecting a slot to re-skin for Christmas. The original Valley of the Gods was a decent slot colored by a decent potential and original concepts that are yet to become obsolete.
Most of us would have wished for a fresh take all together, but what’s done is done. Who knows? The elves could end up bringing you more luck than the ancient deities did!
