With many of the industry’s best-known software providers getting ready to roll out festive slots in time for the holiday season, we talked to Swintt’s Account Management Team Lead, Jean Camilleri, about how the company’s latest Elysium Studios launch, Chessmas, will stand out in a sea of Christmas-themed releases.
SlotBeats: How has Swintt incorporated themes from both chess and Christmas into the mechanics that make up this new title?
Jean Camilleri: In terms of its design, Chessmas is a very festive-looking slot. The game is set in Santa’s workshop and the reels sit above a wooden tabletop that’s cluttered with toys, candles and other things people typically associate with Christmas around the world! Where it differs from other holiday-themed games, however, is in the unique symbols that have been used and their special wild mechanics.
Though they represent typical Christmas staples such as reindeers, snowmen and sleighs, each symbol has been designed to look like a wooden chess piece – and whenever one features on the bonus reel, it will become wild and expand across the board in the same manner that a knight, bishop, rook or queen moves.
SB: What sort of win potential can players expect from this title?
JC: Chessmas features a pretty substantial maximum win of 9,021x the selected bet, but the presence of special cloning chess piece wilds means that medium-to-large payouts also occur pretty frequently. Overall, it’s a medium volatility slot with an average hit rate of 20%, so players usually won’t have to wait particularly long for their next base game win.
In addition to that, landing three scatter symbols in any reel position will also launch the game’s main feature, which is a board-game based bonus round in which players roll dice to move around a trail while picking up multipliers. Starting with between and four and eight rolls of the dice, players can collect additional turns as they go, meaning the feature can potentially be prolonged for really big prizes.
SB: Chessmas uses a trail feature within its bonus game mode. Can you explain why the studio decided to use this feature as opposed to other bonus game formats?
JC: I think the main idea was that we wanted to include something that was a bit different from the features offered by our competitors, but still clearly Christmas-related. As the holiday season is a time when families typically come together and playing board games is a popular pastime over the festive period, we wanted to incorporate that same feeling into Chessmas.
Aside from the feature’s thematic relevance, this type of bonus also lends itself well to playing on mobile devices as it’s incredibly user-friendly. Players can simply tap their screen to roll the dice, so it’s a great option for connecting with mobile users, who are obviously a very important emerging audience.
SB: Did the design process for this Christmas release differ from previous, non-seasonal releases in any way?
JC: The design process for Chessmas was perhaps a little more difficult than for a regular, non-seasonal release as we were obviously slightly constrained by having to use the kind of themes and imagery that are typically associated with the holiday season.
As we didn’t want to stray too far away from this cosy, casual Christmas feeling, the challenge then became to find ways to think outside of the box and do something that was a little bit different while still staying within the confines of the genre.
I think by introducing the chess element to the game and the innovative wild mechanic that goes with that, we’ve managed to provide our own unique twist on a classic Christmas slot and I’m confident the game will have lasting appeal even after the season is over.
SB: What features on offer within Chessmas will help the game stand out in a sea of Christmas-themed slot releases this December?
JC: As I’ve previously mentioned, the most striking thing about Chessmas is that it uses four different types of wild that act like specific chess pieces whenever they’re triggered by the bonus reel.
You have the reindeer that moves in an L-shape like a knight, the snowman that expands diagonally like a bishop, the sleigh that clones horizontally like a rook and – finally – Mrs Claus, who of course takes on the characteristics of a queen and simply jumps to whatever position will create the biggest win!
On top of that, the trail feature and its board game-style design is fairly unique for this type of release, so I think there’s plenty in the game to help it stand out from the competition.
SB: How do the features within Chessmas appeal to player preferences that are constantly shifting and evolving?
JC: When you’re designing a slot to cater for a more modern audience, you have to ensure that it’s capable of grabbing them right away so that they don’t lose interest.
The fact that Chessmas uses four different wilds makes it very engaging, as there’s nearly always something going on. Players don’t have to wait to trigger the bonus round for their chance to win big, so every spin is exciting and there’s always something to look forward to, even if they’re not planning to play for very long.
