Triple Christmas Gold Demo: The Same 27 Ways Wrapped in Holly

A gold star in the crown's place and holly on the old symbols

Thunderkick's own page calls this a festive version of Triple Royal Gold, and the frames show how far that goes. The crown, the original's top symbol, became a gold star on a blue tile. The BAR, bell and horseshoe kept their shapes; the BAR and horseshoe gained holly, the horseshoe two small bells and the bell a red bow. The seven sits on a green fan instead of a silver one, the violet diamond wild has red berries in its frame, and the letter tokens keep their colours with a faint snowflake behind each letter.

The cabinet went from green and gold to all gold, and Christmas trees and red curtains fill the background. Triple Royal Gold came out in October 2022, this edition a month later, in November 2022.

Seven rules pages, one extra line and the same pays

Set side by side, the seven rules pages of both games share their headings, their sentences and the stated return of 96.12%, with the name changed. The one difference we found is on the general rules page, where this edition repeats "The Wild symbols substitute for all other symbols" before the avalanche entry. The pages scroll, and our rig photographed only the top of each.

The Symbols page gives the star 5.00 for three and 1.00 for two at €1.00, and the seven 2.50 for three: the crown's and the seven's figures in the original.

Below that edge, the server's answers paid the same per way in both logs: 2.00 for three BARs, 1.50 for three bells, 1.00 for three horseshoes. Its configuration matches too, from the bet range to the 5,000x cap and the buy.

Thunderkick's page prints this edition's RTP as 96.12-96.42%, the server's figures for normal play and the bought bonus; the original's page prints 96.41%. We cannot see the reel strips, so "the same maths" rests on everything else matching.

A second log of 750 spins beside the original's

If the two games share one model, our logs are two samples of it, and they landed close together. From €750.00 in stakes the Christmas log returned €467.50, or 62.3%; the original returned 63.2%. Both sit far below 96.12%; a sample this short of a very high volatility game says little about that figure.

• 750paid spins at €1.00 in the demo
• 62.3%of the stakes paid back
• 87.5xbest round, free spins included
• 3free spins rounds triggered

Here the base game did a little better and the bonus a little worse. Without the free spins rounds and their trigger spins, the base game paid back 40.3% of our stakes, against 35.1% on the original. Our best base-game spin, number 643, filled all nine windows with BARs: 27 ways at 2.00 each, 54x the stake.

The two best rounds came 6 spins apart: 87.5x from spin 455 and 66x from spin 461 lifted the balance to €4,884.00. It never stood that high again, sliding over the last 289 spins to €4,717.50, a low reached on the final spin.

Two meters under the reels, one for each half of the game

In the base game the letters B, O, N, U and S drop in among the symbols. A letter lights when it forms a winning combination, in our log always one on each reel, and a lit letter counts as a win for the avalanche, so the reels drop again. All five must light within one paid spin: every spin in our log began with the meter empty. Of our spins, 94 lit a letter, 3 stopped at four and 3 lit all five.

A letter needs no payout to count: the trigger on spin 272 lit all five over three screens that paid nothing.

Once the free spins start, a horseshoe, bell, BAR, seven and star take the letters' place on the meter. The rules capture is cut off at this point, so the mechanics below are read from the server's answers and our clip: a symbol lights when it is part of a paying way, and with all five lit the round gains 2 free spins, the strip moves up a step and the meter empties.

One of our 3 rounds got there. Free spins from spin 455 lit the seven last, on their seventh spin, and ran 10 in all; wins at x3 made 55.50 of the €77.00 those free spins paid. The round from spin 461 stalled with the seven missing and stayed at x1, though one spin put stars on six ways for 30.00. The clip comes from a separate media session of 160 spins.

120x on the price list, left unbought

The price list is short. One purchase is configured on the demo server, a guaranteed entry with at least 8 free spins, costing 120x the stake (€120.00 at €1.00) at an RTP of 96.42%. We did not buy it, so all three Christmas bonuses in our log were earned through the letters, and the rules pages we captured say nothing about the purchase.

The demo plays the 96.12% version named on the rules screen. A casino may carry another RTP version, and some markets do not offer the buy.

Choosing between the two gold cabinets

Choose by the decorations: nothing we could measure separates the two, and our logs differ about as much as two short samples of one game can. Our review of the original follows its letter meter and multiplier strip spin by spin.

Beside the rest of the site, the pair stands apart. No other logs here paid on so few spins: 6.9% on this edition and 8.4% on the original, while the other 22 games we logged range from 12.4% to 35.7%. Across both logs, 7 bonus rounds paid from 12x to 128.5x. It suits players who can sit through long blank stretches; anyone after steady small returns will be happier elsewhere here.

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• Triple Royal Gold demo review
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Small print for the festive edition

The rules screens, the demo server and our two logs are the sources for these replies.