Polar Paws (Quickspin): Overview

As Christmas rolls around, slot fans can usually count on two things – inboxes overflowing with casino promos, and a flood of near-identical festive slots all fighting for your time. We’d barely had a moment to recover before Quickspin unveiled its entry for the 2019 Christmas season and, true to the holiday spirit, it lands somewhere between warm nostalgia and mild letdown. If you’ve been around as long as we have, you’ll need about 1.34 seconds to identify the original title.

Running on a 5×3, 25 payline setup, Polar Paws is essentially a reskin of the 2012 release Goldilocks and the Wild Bears. That revelation strips away a lot of the surprise, but it also gives us an excuse to revisit a former favourite and see how it plays today. With medium variance, the slot leans on multiplier wilds and a multi-stage free spins feature where extra wilds are unlocked by collecting scatter symbols. This won’t satisfy adrenaline hunters, as you’ll soon notice, but it does come with an unusually high RTP of 97.84%, which should translate into longer sessions and could also make it a decent wagering option. It’s available on all devices, with stakes ranging from 0.25 to €/$100 per spin.

On the presentation side, Polar Paws keeps the same charm as its predecessor and captures a genuine Christmas atmosphere. The action plays out on a dreamy snowy backdrop with polar bears roaming about, backed by an inviting looping soundtrack. Reel symbols include 10, J, Q, K, and A royals, plus a four-member polar bear family, with papa bear as the top payer, awarding 10 times your stake for five across a full payline.

As for wilds, there are two types – a standard wild and a Multiplier Wild that can only land on the three middle reels, both in the base game and during free spins. The more multiplier wilds that hit at the same time, the bigger the boost – landing 1, 2 or 3 multiplier wilds awards a 2x, 3x, or 4x multiplier respectively.

Polar Paws (Quickspin): Features

The main attraction in Polar Paws is the Free Spins Bonus, triggered when 3 elf scatter symbols land together on reels 2, 3, and 4. Once activated, you begin with 10 free spins, with the chance to unlock more as the feature progresses. On the right side of the reels, you’ll notice a meter.

Next, keep an eye out for the elf progress scatter – collecting 3 of them turns papa bear into a wild, then 5 more will make mummy bear wild and award 2 free spins. After that, gathering another 5 elf scatters turns the cub wild as well and adds 2 extra spins. If you manage to unlock every wild, you’ll play out the remaining spins with all high-paying symbols acting as wilds. As appealing as that sounds, it’s far less profitable in practice than you might expect. As the stats confirm, the maximum win is only a little above 800 times your stake, and even reaching that is unlikely.

Polar Paws (Quickspin): Verdict

There’s no denying Polar Paws can spark memories of earlier days, but the reality is the math model hasn’t stood the test of time particularly well. When Goldilocks first launched, it was one of our go-to slots. Coming back to it now, it feels closer to a kids’ pastime than a serious slot machine.

The core gameplay isn’t the issue. Using the classic 5×3 industry template, the slot hasn’t become unplayable, and the step-by-step free spins progression is still as enjoyable as we remember. The real drawback is the modest payouts. Newer players may not notice, but for seasoned gamblers it’s about as thrilling as a trip to IKEA. On the upside, it’s a fairly “gentle” slot, so it’s unlikely to wreck your Christmas the way many modern video slots with extremely high volatility can.

If you want a Christmas themed slot with more going on, we recommend checking out Secrets of Christmas (NetEnt), Jingle Spin (NetEnt), Santa’s Wild Ride (Microgaming), and Flowers Christmas Edition (NetEnt).