Christmas Catch (Big Time Gaming) Slot Review

Christmas Catch: Slot Overview 

Get ready to deck the reels with festive flair as Big Time Gaming brings holiday cheer to the online slot world in the form of Christmas Catch. Released on December 1, 2023, this game is a reskin of BTG’s popular Golden Catch, transformed into a snow-covered celebration of Santa’s season. Swapping out fishing boats for sleighs, and sea spray for sparkling tinsel, Christmas Catch offers a fresh take on a beloved mechanic—complete with stockings, gifts, and jingling reindeer overhead. 

Set outside Santa’s Workshop, this Megaways-powered slot carries all the gameplay richness and potential of its predecessor but with a frosted, candy-coated exterior. With 117,649 ways to win, a high volatility math model, and the potential to claim up to 31,430x your stake, this is far more than a seasonal throwaway. Christmas Catch blends joyful aesthetics with highly engaging gameplay and offers several access points to its prized free spins and lucrative gift-catching action.

Design and Graphics 

BTG has gone all in on the holiday visuals, and the result is one of the most charming Christmas slots on the market. The reels are set inside a cozy brick building decked out in holiday lights and candy cane trim, with a glowing neon sign above the door reading “Santa’s Workshop.” The environment oozes festive spirit, from the snow-topped rooftops to the colorful gift symbols. Symbols include 9-A card royals at the lower end and various festive stockings at the higher end. The wild symbol is appropriately wrapped in a golden bow, while sleighs glide across the top of the reels in classic BTG fashion. The interface is polished and vibrant, with delightful animations that make the action feel alive—especially when sleighs dash in to collect gift bonuses or when free spins kick off with sleigh multipliers. 

In short, Christmas Catch is the perfect visual package for the holiday season—bright, fun, and full of personality.

Gameplay Mechanics 

The game uses the tried-and-true Megaways engine, with 6 reels, each displaying 2 to 7 symbols. This dynamic layout can produce up to 117,649 ways to win, varying from spin to spin. 

Winning combinations form from left to right starting from the first reel. Once a win lands, the reaction mechanic activates: all winning symbols are removed, allowing new ones to drop down into place, potentially creating chain wins. After each reaction, sleighs on the top tracker shift one reel to the left, playing a critical role in how bonus features unfold. 

Christmas Catch’s base game revolves around catching gift bonuses, which are only awarded if a sleigh is positioned above a winning reel when gift boxes land. This setup builds anticipation and makes every spin feel important—even outside the bonus round.

Sound and Music 

The soundtrack to Christmas Catch is a merry delight. Cheerful jingle bell tunes and sleigh bells provide the perfect audio bed for your spins, adding excitement and seasonal warmth. The sound effects are festive without being overbearing: a mix of sparkling chimes, gift box thuds, and light orchestral flares make for an immersive auditory experience. 

The music intensifies slightly during free spins, with elevated tempo and brighter instrumentation to highlight the growing potential. Overall, BTG has created a soundscape that perfectly captures the holiday magic, enhancing the overall charm and festive tension of the game.

Bonus Features 

Sleighs and Gift Bonus Prizes 

Sleighs appear above reels 2 to 5, gliding into view on any spin or reaction. When winning symbols are removed, Gift Bonus Prizes can drop onto the reels. If a sleigh is above a reel containing a prize, it collects the prize for the player—this is where the big money comes in. 

Gift values can range up to 500x the stake, depending on how many symbols are on a reel. Multiple sleighs can collect multiple prizes in a single sequence, and because reactions can continue indefinitely, a single spin may lead to several gift collections in a row. 

Free Spins 

Landing 3 or more Christmas pudding scatters awards 10 free spins, with +2 extra spins for each scatter beyond the third. During the bonus: The first sleigh that appears has a multiplier of x1. 

Each subsequent sleigh increases the multiplier by +1 (e.g., x2, x3, x4…). 

These multipliers are applied to any Gift Bonus Prizes collected. 

Gift symbols become more frequent. 

+4 extra spins are awarded for 3 scatters during the round, with +2 for each scatter beyond that. 

This feature is where the slot truly comes alive. With the potential for multiple sleighs and gift boxes to appear per reaction—and rising multipliers to boost their value—Christmas Catch offers explosive win potential during its free spins mode. 

Win Exchange 

The Win Exchange feature is BTG’s signature risk-reward mechanic: If a player wins 100x the stake or more, they can exchange the win for 10 free spins. 

If a player wins between 25x and 100x, they can gamble the amount on a spinning wheel for a chance to win 10 free spins. 

This provides players with multiple avenues to enter the bonus round, which is essential given the high volatility and often elusive scatter combinations. It adds a layer of strategy and choice to the experience that many players will appreciate.

Betting Options and Payouts 

Christmas Catch offers a flexible range of bets to accommodate most players: 

Minimum bet: €0.20 

Maximum bet: €30 

RTP: 96.53% 

Volatility: High 

Maximum Win: 31,430x the stake 

Reels: 6 

Rows: 2–7 (dynamic) 

Ways to Win: Up to 117,649 

The potential to win 31,430x your bet places Christmas Catch among the top-performing Christmas-themed slots on the market. While many festive games opt for easy-going charm, this one brings serious firepower to the table. 

Payouts in the base game are fairly modest—symbols range from 0.25x to 0.50x for royals and 0.60x to 50x for premiums (for 6-of-a-kind). But once you hit Gift Bonuses or stack multipliers in free spins, the numbers climb rapidly.

Conclusion 

Christmas Catch is a masterful reimagining of Golden Catch—and possibly even an improvement thanks to its cheerful aesthetic, better theme integration, and clearer focus on high-stakes entertainment. It manages to balance joyful design, addictive mechanics, and incredible win potential, all wrapped up in a cozy holiday package. 

While the base game can be a bit of a grind due to its high volatility, the excitement of watching sleighs swoop in to collect Gift Bonuses—even before free spins—keeps engagement high. Once in the bonus round, sleigh multipliers and retriggers open the door to massive, momentum-driven payouts. 

With slick visuals, upbeat music, and the chance to win more than 31,000x your stake, Christmas Catch is more than just another seasonal reskin. It’s a worthy addition to the BTG portfolio and a strong contender for anyone’s go-to Christmas slot. Whether you’re here for the vibes, the volatility, or the victory laps, Christmas Catch delivers plenty of seasonal cheer—and then some.