Xmas Drop Demo: Free Play and Review
Xmas Drop · Hacksaw Gaming · RTP 96.22% · max win 12,500x · checked on the demo server
Released November 2023Demo client 1.21.0
Xmas Drop is a Christmas reskin of RIP City, released by Hacksaw Gaming in November 2023, 10 months after the original, on the same 5x5 grid with 19 paylines. Wild Santas stretch down their reels and turn the Wild Gifts under them into multipliers. Wins are capped at 12,500x the bet. Below, the studio's own demo is free to unwrap with no registration.
- Provider
- Hacksaw Gaming
- Released
- November 2023
- Grid and wins
- 5x5, 19 paylines
- Volatility
- 3 out of 5 (Hacksaw)
- RTP
- 96.22% default. Other versions: 94.27%, 92.32%, 88.02%
- Max win
- 12,500x the bet
- Demo bet range
- €0.10 to €2,000.00, starts at €2.00
- Buy menu
- 5 options, 3x to 200x the bet
- Same maths as
- RIP City: paytable, reel lengths, buys and RTPs match on the demo server
- Multipliers
- A Wild Gift under a stretched Wild Santa, 2x to 200x, added together
United States
Real-money play at Cafe Casino
Play Xmas Drop demo
The studio's own demo with virtual credits. No account, deposit or download.
Ready to play for real?
Cafe Casino is our real-money partner for players from the United States, with a welcome bonus for new players:
300% up to $2,000 + 150 FS 18+ · T&Cs apply · check the RTP in Game info · the demo stays free
18+Demo mode uses virtual credits and pays nothing out. Real-money play is for adults only.
Santa stands to the right of the reels, and the low symbols are toy blocks from 10 to A. The client is version 1.21.0 (RIP City runs 1.34.7) and loads €5,000.00 in play money with a €2.00 stake, which we kept for every spin.
Apart from the art, is Xmas Drop different from RIP City?
Not in anything we could measure. Hacksaw's demo server gives both the same paytable, reel lengths, buy prices and RTPs, 19 paylines and the 12,500x cap. The rules match once the names are swapped: Wild Santa for Wild Cat, Wild Gift for WILD, Night Before Xmas for the Ro$$ Bonus, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town for the Maxx Bonus. Only the drawing, the names and the client build differ.
Wild Gifts multiply only under a Santa
A Wild Santa grows only when the stretched symbol would complete at least one win, and only downward to the bottom row. Stretched, it is wild on every square it covers. One that stays put is a single wild square, and no reel holds two.
Wild Gifts are plain wilds until a Santa passes through one. That turns the whole stretched Santa into a multiplier, one of fifteen values between 2x and 200x, and two multiplied Santas in one win add theirs.
Of our 500 logged spins, 53 showed a Santa and 30 stretched one, and those 30 brought in €229.20 of the €408.40 won in the base game. A Santa caught a Gift there 4 times, always on three-symbol lines. The best, 5x on spin 64, lifted a €0.40 line to €2.00.
Three snow globes or four
Three FS globes at once in the base game open Night Before Xmas, 10 free spins with Wild Santas and Wild Gifts landing more often; three more inside add 4 spins. Four at once inside hand the round to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town at the end of that spin.
Four globes in the base game start that second bonus directly. Each reel a Wild Santa lands on is then activated and gets a Santa on every remaining spin.
Our two natural bonuses were both Night Before Xmas. The one from spin 42 paid €18.60; the one from spin 152 caught a second trio on its seventh spin, ran to 14 and paid €56.60, €57.60 with the trigger spin's own line wins. No spin showed four globes.
That free spin, with TOTAL WIN at €10.40, paid €630.00 by itself, 315x the bet, and the round ended on a TOTAL WIN of €653.20 after 10 free spins.
Two bonuses, and still 48.4% back
Both bonuses fell inside our 500 paid spins at €2.00, and the run still lost more than half the stake.
A fifth of the spins paid (21%), and 19 stopped one globe short of a bonus. The best base spin, 234, stretched two Santas for 20.5x. The balance never got back to €5,000.00, and its lowest figure, €4,483.60, was the last.
110x bought 326.6x this time
Three of the five cards are charged per spin until switched off: BonusHunt FeatureSpins and two modes that guarantee at least two or three Wild Santas a spin. The other two buy the bonuses.
| Option | Price | At €2.00 | RTP | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BonusHunt FeatureSpins Each spin is 5 times more likely to activate a bonus game | 3x per spin | €6.00 | 96.44% | High |
| Two Wild Santas FeatureSpins Each spin guarantees that at least 2 Wild Santa symbols land | 20x per spin | €40.00 | 96.34% | Very high |
| Three Wild Santas FeatureSpins Each spin guarantees that at least 3 Wild Santa symbols land | 50x per spin | €100.00 | 96.31% | High |
| Night Before Xmas Extra chance of landing Wild Santa and Wild Gift symbols | 110x | €220.00 | 96.20% | High |
| Santa Claus Is Coming to Town Activated reels guarantee a Wild Santa symbol on every spin | 200x | €400.00 | 96.41% | High |
At 96.22% in this demo, the base game sits among cards that return 96.20% to 96.44%. Hacksaw publishes 94.27%, 92.32% and 88.02% versions too, so a casino's copy can pay back less, and in some countries none of the five cards is on offer.
Our €220.00 Night Before Xmas came back almost three times over.
One purchase says nothing about the card's 96.20%.
One set of maths, two 500-spin logs
The RIP City log on this site ran on the same maths and came out the other way round: 87.8% back with no bonus and a best base spin of 98.8x. Ours returned 48.4% with two bonuses, the best round 28.8x.
Hacksaw rates both games 3 out of 5, with the same labels on the buy cards. Le Santa, the other Christmas game here, is Le King dressed for the season on a 6x5 cluster grid.
Questions a RIP City player might ask
Most of them come down to a change of name.
When does the upgrade to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town happen?
At the end of the spin on which four FS globes land in Night Before Xmas, not when the bonus ends. Fewer than 10 spins left are topped up to 10.
What do two FS snow globes give?
Nothing. GAME INFO rewards only three and four.
Can a Wild Gift multiply on its own?
No. Alone it is a plain wild paying 25x for five, and it multiplies only under a stretching Wild Santa.
Is Wild Santa the same as RIP City's Wild Cat?
In everything but the drawing. Both stretch only downward and only to complete a win, both pay 25x for five, and a reel holds one at a time.
Anyone who knows RIP City has nothing new to learn here beyond the names and a snowy forest, so choosing between the two comes down to which art you prefer. The swings are the same too, and our two logs on identical maths still ended far apart.