Fat Santa (Push Gaming): Introduction

Push Gaming has enjoyed an outstanding year thanks to hit releases like Tiki Tumble, Wild Swarm, Jammin Jars, and Fat Rabbit. Each of these has been trending on Bigwinboard.com and among casino streamers, and it’s easy to see why.

Unlike several long-established studios that have lost momentum, Push Gaming has stayed sharp and attentive to what players actually want. That awareness has helped them deliver slots people truly enjoy. While the rise in win potential and variance has certainly contributed to the studio’s surge, there’s clearly more craft behind it than just bigger numbers. Push Gaming produces games that feel charming, distinctive, and creative, and this year’s lineup also shows a strong range of variety.

Fat Santa is Push Gaming’s November release and continues the formula that made Fat Rabbit a success. The vibrant green setting is swapped for a snowy scene, and the carrot hunt is replaced by a search for pies. If you’ve played Fat Rabbit, you already know the core idea: this is a medium to high variance slot that revolves around the bonus, which can be annoyingly difficult to land. Still, once the rabbit gets the carrot—or here, once Santa gets the pie—you’re in for a high-energy feature with huge upside.

Fat Santa is a 5-reel, 5-row slot with 50 pay lines. It runs smoothly on all devices, and the betting range sits at €0.25 to €25, notably below the €100 max bet in Fat Rabbit. Aside from that difference, the two titles share the same structure in terms of symbol values, pay lines, reel set, and the 96.45% RTP.

Fat Santa (Push Gaming): Symbols, Paytable & Sleigh Feature

A glance at the paytable shows it mirrors Fat Rabbit, with the obvious exception of the theme and characters. The wooden low-paying card suit icons are replaced by Christmas ornaments, while the premium symbols feature Snowmen, reindeers, Christmas elf’s, and Santas. Santa is the top payer, awarding 20 times the stake for 5 across a full pay line.

Because symbols can land fully stacked on the reels, the base game can still deliver some respectable hits, especially when the Sleigh feature appears at random. When it triggers, Santa flies across the screen with his reindeers and tosses wilds onto the reels. It doesn’t often create anything significant, so it’s best to keep expectations modest.

Fat Santa (Push Gaming): Free Spins

Although the ability to purchase bonus features existed well before Big Time Gaming popularised it, they were the studio that pushed it into the spotlight and clearly set the direction for others. As seen with Yggdrasil’s upcoming title Dark Vortex, more developers have recently followed suit. Fat Santa becomes Push Gaming’s first online slot to include a Buy-A-Bonus option, allowing players to jump straight into the free spins feature for 80 times the stake. Naturally, you can also enter free spins the standard way by landing a Santa symbol together with one or more Wild Christmas Pie symbols.

You begin with 5 free spins, and the goal is for Santa to locate and eat as many pies as possible. For every set of 5 pie wilds collected, the Santa wild grows in size. It starts as a 1×1 symbol and can expand up to 5×5, covering the entire reel set. In addition, every size upgrade also awards extra free spins.

Fat Santa (Push Gaming): Conclusion

Given how tough it can be to reach the bonus in Fat Rabbit, introducing a Buy-A-Bonus option feels like a logical move now that the feature is more widely accepted. At first, we assumed Fat Santa would be far more volatile than Fat Rabbit due to the much lower max bet, but it turns out it’s actually a touch less volatile. The same appears true for the maximum win potential. Either way, the real focus is the bonus, where the biggest opportunities come from activating the 5×5 Santa Wild in particular.

Of course, we were hoping for a more original concept, but we’re also pleased that Fat Santa offers more than a simple reskin thanks to the Buy-A-Bonus addition, which should make this version more appealing—and likely more popular—than the original.