The Nutcracker (iSoftBet) ™ – Review, Bonuses, Free Spins, Free Play in Demo Mode

The Nutcracker story

It is not often that you will find one based on ballet. Even so, the Nutcracker cannot really be termed as a normal ballet piece. Its premiere took place in 1892, just one week before Christmas and it tells the story of traditional Christmas magic from a child’s point of view. On the eve of Christmas, Clara, a young girl sneaks downstairs to play with her new favorite toy – a Nutcracker doll. As she is playing, mice invade the house led by Mouse King who is evil. The doll as well as hundreds of other toy soldiers becomes animate. He leads them in war while Clara helps them defeat the rats. Thereafter, he changes into Prince Charming and they go together to the Land of Sweets where they meet Sugar Plum Fairy. But was any of this real?

The Nutcracker origins

It’s not surprising then that it worked as an inspiration for a slot, and there are reasons why iSoftbet decided to choose The Nutcracker. This ballet is a great deal, attracting adult individuals as well as children universally, while being the first live art performance for many of us. One of which is the magically expanding Christmas tree; it abounds in special effects designed to amaze family audiences. It has been an all-time hit around the world since the 1930s, and especially in America. But it did not use to be like that.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer who already had major success with his ballets “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake.” However, he always wondered about the choice of story since it didn’t seem like such a good idea to him. The original Hoffmann’s work titled ‘Nutcracker and Mouse King’ was in need for substantial changes before being adapted as the ballet; including omission of an entire storyline and change of some characters. In 1892, at its premiere in St Petersburg, the local press gave an unsatisfactory review to it. The day newspapers called it an unsuccessful attempt without any plot development; it reminded them of pantomime with fragments that could not have been referred to as ballet according to one review.

Having been accustomed to ballet as one of the fine arts, the critics were not prepared for this exuberant feast that had children among its performers, bizarre costumes and stage tricks. It is interesting to note then that Sugar Plum Fairy never appeared in the original story but later became arguably the most famous character in ballet and now she has a special role in iSoftbet’s Nutcracker slot.

The Nutcracker graphics

This is a classic work, and it’s amazing that iSoftbet has managed to capture the mood of traditional Christmas magic through the use of graphics and sound in this game. The slot shows a background of a snow-covered European townscape with twinkle lights all around. Its scene is framed by starry curtains from a theater stage reminding us about its relation to real performance. Gold borders edge the 5 reels while gold playing cards are set up against rich, red velvet fabric as their background. All the main characters from the story are here, animated – Clara tightly embracing her Nutcracker toy in one symbol, while an evil Mouse King peers from another. They are accompanied by toys typical of those used in play during 19th century – teddy bear with red bow and train. You will also find some great animations like sugar plum fairy winking and fluttering her wings as well as faint puffs of steam emanating from a toy train.

The Nutcracker sound

The music from the ballet is instantly recognizable. It has been used in all sorts of media, notably including Disney’s Fantasia (1940), The Simpsons’ Nutcracker song and even a 1970s Fruit and Nut advertisement by Cadbury’s.

Though the soundtrack of this online slot is original, it sounds very similar to some music pieces in the ballet as such one can still feel familiar with it. The background music for the base game specifically recalls ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’, and as such, there are orchestral fills that accompany every bigger win. Once you make your way through to the bonus games, you will be greeted by lush orchestral score reminiscent of March theme from ballet and more. All the time, you can hear distant jingling of bells – that is how festive this slot feels like.

The Nutcracker bonus features

The slot has a simple layout and is designed to be played on five reels with twenty pay-lines. There are two free spin bonus features which can be won. Sugar Plum Fairy is one of the bonus triggers while Nutcracker doll can also trigger another feature.

The scatter symbol is taken by the Sugar Plum Fairy. If you get three or more Sugar Plum Fairies on a single spin during the base game, they will activate the Fairy Free Spin feature. The Sugar Plum Fairy would award 10, 20 or 30 Fairy Free Spins if it appears on three, four or five rolls respectively. In addition to that, there are additional Fairy Free Spins in the bonus – for each kind of this character appearing on the screen you can get from 1 to 30 extra free spins (5-1). To sum up, theoretically you can win up to sixty free spins altogether. Moreover, the Nutcracker doll also gets involved in the feature – if it lands as a stacked wild on reel three during any of the Fairy Free Spins; he raises your multiplier by one on all wins-overall increasing it to a maximum of ten times its value.

Just like Fairy Free Spins, the Nutcracker doll’s free spin feature is only available in the base game. If you have a stacked wild on reel 3, then the Nutcracker bonus feature will be activated and stage curtains will close while the set changes. When they open again, you will see a Christmas tree scene from the ballet where you need to choose one out of four presents under it. Bear in mind that each box contains how many spins for free that will be provided. Each gives either 5, 7, 8 or 10 Nutcracker free spins. It may not provide as large an opportunity to win as Fairy Free Spins do but this is compensated by the fact that reel 3 remains locked as a wild symbol when free spin starts. Every time there is a win; an extra free spin is added thus locking all winning symbols into place. Extra respins continue until new falling symbols expand the winning cluster completely through any other ways.

The Nutcracker paytable

Two levels of symbols pay out. The upper level holds four icons – Mouse King, Clara, Teddy Bear and Toy Train. For instance, you can win 500 coins with five of a kind in case Mouse King is selected as the highest paying symbol; 100 coins for four and 30 for three. After the mouse king is Clara who has a higher payout of 5 – it gives 300 coins when landed five times, 80 for four times while three times will give you twenty coins..

For a set of five toy trains, one can earn two hundred coins while for four toy trains the player gets sixty coins and three toy trains result into fifteen coins. If you get five of them in a row, teddy bears pay off 150 credits; 4 will give 50 credits and 10 for three of them.

The latter is 5 playing card symbols that are A K Q J and 10. On top of these symbols, Ace is the most rewarding 100 coins for 5 of them, another 4 get you 30 coins and if it’s only three aces then you will be awarded by eight coins in total. Besides, there are five kings, which attract eighty shillings as well as twenty for four and seven for three Kings. Finally, the Queen, Jack and ten all have the same payout – this entails fifty pence for five similar ones hence ten pence on four similar ones and lastly five pennies on three similar ones. How much real money you win for your coins depends on how much you stake – learn more about that below.

The Nutcracker RTP, volatility, bets and wins

When it comes to the value of coins, one can bet anything between 20p and £20 per game. To do this, press the Coin Value key and then use the + or – sign buttons. This game has a return to player rate of 95.97%. This means that for every £100 spent, 95.97% is paid out as prize money. But not all receive same amount of money. It depends on how often they play and when they play, though it gives an indication how many times a machine would pay out in the course of its life cycle. Stomach contentment classifies as slightly below average at 95.97%, yet it’s seasonal hence that RTP would be expected from a Christmas slot like this.

For example, low volatility means a higher number of smaller value payouts and therefore the risk of losing huge amounts of money is minimal. According to iSoftbet, Nutcracker slot’s win rate will be 22.85% and that makes it a medium volatile slot game. If you are an Autoplay fan then you can increase the speed by adjusting the number of consecutive spins through which you will not be interrupted.

In comparison to the Fairy free spins, The Nutcracker free spins feature has been reported by gamblers to be more frequent and at times you may have to wait for some time before playing both games. However, those who are able to multiply their multipliers to 10 times during the fairy Free Spins will earn huge bets of 5000X.

The Nutcracker theme

The Nutcracker is one of the free iSoftBet slots that can be played any time of the year since they are not so noticeable or extreme. Besides, there are other Christmas-themed slots like Jingle Spin by NetEnt. However, this game has a steampunk Santa who is turning a handle made out of wood and thus causing bonus baubles to move down a line of elves that will drop into present box symbols scattered on the reels for additional prizes.The pictures around here do not shout Christmas even if there are ornaments,because in fact it’s just some balls that give you the funny feeling when you see how these little creatures pass them from one side to another in their hands, no matter what time of year.This fantastic feature along with an eccentric soundtrack and sound effects make Jingle Spin very enjoyable to play.Meanwhile,you can also enjoy The Nutcracker or most other free slots on your mobile phone,tablet,laptop or desktop.

The Nutcracker legacy

Regrettably, Tchaikovsky passed away in 1893, one year after the Nutcracker Suite performed dismally in St. Petersburg. What a pity that he did not live on to see how much his ballet would become renowned throughout the twentieth century even among video slot games. It might be interesting to hear what his view of it all would have been today.

The Nutcracker is an iSoftbet’s slot that has a different appearance from other games of the same genre. The magic and the intrigue of this show have been transformed into spinning reels with high level of professionalism, as well as sweet graphics, live sound and a good number of free spins features. This game draws you into that feeling of Christmas wonderment that we all experienced when we were children. It is definitely one you should give a spin.

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