Winter-themed slots are always a popular choice, especially around the holidays. Thanks to Coca-Cola, holidays are always related to cute polar bears. They’re also a popular thematic choice for slot developers. Polar Bonanza is a polar bear adventure with ten paylines, fittingly developed by Northern Lights Gaming and distributed by Games Global.

The small studio releases its slots on Games Global’s platform, and that’s the case with Polar Bear, too. It’s easy to guess by the name – the action takes place on the North Pole, with a cute polar bear and its friends gracing the reels. They’re accompanied by icy wilds, four major fixed jackpots, and a multiplier twist to a coin-collect feature.

It’s a bonanza like you’ve never tried before, and it’s a perfect company for the holidays. Read my Polar Bonanza review to learn more about it, then try the slot at the best online casinos.

At first glance, Polar Bonanza doesn’t differ much from other polar titles. It stars a polar bear and his best buds and obviously has a winter/icy tone. The scenery in the background changes from a snowy landscape to an aurora, depending on which feature comes into play. At the same time, the polar bear may spring into action, too, changing outfits depending on the features.

The relaxing soundtrack perfectly complements the theme. Northern Lights Gaming and Games Global have struck gold with the audio and video, creating a high-quality slot for the masses.

Before deep diving into this winter adventure, you’ll need to choose a bet. The minimum is set to 20c, while the maximum is set to $40. Choose a bet that suits you best, then hit the spin button to begin. You can set up to 100 auto spins if you prefer to play that way.

Hitting a win requires three or more matching symbols on a line. Wins count from left to right and can be completed with the help of wilds. The polar bear, polar owl, sea lion, snow leopard, and penguin pay more than the low-paying symbols. Wilds substitute for any regular symbols but the scatter, coins, collect symbol, or the pot bonus symbols.

Apart from the wild, a charming jumbo polar bear can jump on the grid. It lands as a 1x1, 2x2, or 3x3 symbol on the middle reels (two-three-four). If the jumbo bear lands as a 1x1 or 2x2 symbol, there’s a chance for it to be nudged to a 3x3 giant symbol.

You’ll also see coins land with prizes in the base game. Unfortunately, they’re put on ice until you land the collect symbol. It lands on the last reel in the base game and free spins. The coin values in the base game range from 0.20x to 10x per spin. This feature is called Piggy Bank and is available in the base game and bonus round.

It’s a play on the familiar Hold & Win feature but with a catch. There are special +1 coins that can land on the grid, which increase the Piggy Bank multiplier. It can go as high as x10 and only applies to coin wins.

Landing a seal symbol on reels 1 and 5 triggers the pot bonus. When this happens, you’ll be awarded one of the four jackpots:

• Mini: 20x
• Minor: 50x
• Major: 500x
• Grand: 5,000x

Just like the Piggy Bank feature, the pot bonus is available in the base game and the free spins round.

You’ll need three or more scatters in the base game to trigger the bonus round. It starts with eight free spins, which unfortunately can’t be increased as no scatters land on the grid in the bonus round.

However, the middle reels combine during the feature into a 3x3 jumbo block. Jumbo symbols can appear in 1x2, 2x3, and 3x3 sizes and are split into individual symbols for more significant payouts.

As mentioned earlier, you can earn Piggy Bank wins and the pot bonus during the free spins. You can also buy your way into the bonus round if you’re willing to part with 100x the bet.

The Polar Bonanza slot seemed like yet another winter slot to me until I started spinning. I chose a bet of $1 to start, and it paid in accordance with its medium volatile math model. I didn’t hit any major wins in the base game, but the Piggy Bank feature triggered twice and paid dividends. So did the cute jumbo bear, which landed partially and nudged in full size to reveal big wins.

The coins kept on coming, and I constantly hit decent wins thanks to the collect symbol. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hit the pot bonus or the free spins round. So, I ended up buying the latter for 100x. It was a fun ride, but it only paid 45x in the end, which didn’t justify my investment.

Polar Bonanza is a medium volatile slot game with an RTP of 96.01%. The maximum payout is 5,000x the bet.

You'll love the Polar Bonanza online slot if you like holiday-themed slots and polar bears- no matter how terrifying they can be. This bear is not dangerous at all – in fact, it’s a squishy one. Cross your fingers for the jumbo bear. It’s a pleasant sight and can upgrade your wins to jumbo. So can the coins that are easy to collect, and to make things better, there’s a jackpot pot bonus as well. Overall, it’s a great ice-themed bonanza with polar animals, which is slightly let down by the limited winning potential.

Those looking for alternatives can try Penguin Splash by Rabcat. This slot pays more and may be more appealing to high rollers. If you’re not a winter person, you can go wild with Games Global’s Monkey Bonanza, available at the top casino sites with Northern Lights games.