Every December, Santa Claus embarks on his legendary journey across the world… But this year, something unexpected happened.

As the Northern Lights shimmered brighter than ever, the magical energies of the winter season began to swirl, twist, and collide, stitching together four frosty worlds into one unforgettable Christmas adventure.

And at the centre of it all? Santa himself, wondering why his sleigh had taken a sudden detour straight into a frozen multiverse.

Chapter 1: The Gift That Went Too Far

It all began the moment Santa reached into his sack and felt a Yuletide Gift… wriggle.

Before he could even mutter “ho ho ho,” the present burst open in a swirl of festive magic, sucking him straight through the ribbon-lined vortex and ejecting him, rather ungracefully, onto a sheet of shimmering ice.

Dazed, beard dusted with frost, Santa looked up to see crystalline spires and ancient carvings glowing beneath the ice. He wasn’t alone. A mermaid peeked from a crack in the frozen surface while a mischievous merman swam circles below, as if evaluating the intruder.

“Er… happy holidays?” Santa ventured.

The Merfolk exchanged a glance, then smiled. “You broke through the ice. That means you’re invited.”

Not one to turn down hospitality, especially when stranded in a glacial dimension, Santa followed them deeper into the realm of Out of the Ice, where every echo shimmered, and every ripple held mysterious magic. But before he could accept their frosty feast invitation, the ice beneath him split with a thunderous CRACK…

And Santa fell… again.

Chapter 2: The Treetops of Pine of Plinko 2

Santa crash-landed belly-first into a snowbank so fluffy it practically hugged him. The scent of spruce and warm pine sap told him exactly where he was; the treetops of Pine of Plinko 2.

He had barely stood up when a metallic ping-ping-ping began overhead. Then, from the branches above, a gnome with goggles and soot-smudged cheeks leaned out holding a hammer.

“Oh, good, another test subject!” he shouted cheerfully.

Before Santa could even dare to react, marbles rained from the canopy, bouncing off bumpers, catapulting skyward, ricocheting dangerously close to his beard.

“Are these insured?!” Santa yelled, ducking as a golden hatch opened and a single glowing ball zipped past his ear.

“Only if it hits the 10,000x bucket!” the gnome grinned.

Marbles whizzed. Bumpers clanged. Santa sprinted.

And as one overly ambitious catapult fired a ball straight up his sleeve, the resulting shockwave blasted him straight off the treetop, sending him spiralling toward a soft, warm… splash?

Chapter 3: A Very Bouncy Landing

Santa erupted from beneath a bubble in a steaming hot spring, launching upward with the force of a cork escaping a champagne bottle. He flailed, slipped, and landed flat on his back while dozens of marbles bobbed around him in the water.

A friendly gnome from Pond of Plinko paddled over towards him on a lily pad raft.

“You must be new!” the gnome chirped. “Careful, the currents carry prizes… and sometimes you.”

Santa soon learned that in this pond, everything bounced: the marbles, the buckets, the power-ups, even the lily pads themselves. One wrong hop and you’d launch skyward like a festive firework.

Naturally… Santa did indeed step on the wrong lily pad.

It hurled him across the pond, through a misty archway, and into a swirling red-and-gold portal shaped suspiciously like…

A nutcracker’s grin.

Chapter 4: A Safe Return Before the Christmas Finale

Santa tumbled out of the portal and landed right back in his own workshop, but not quite the way he left it.

The halls sparkled brighter. The gifts chimed softly as though alive. And towering in the centre stood the majestic wooden guardians of Big Stack Nutcrack.

“You’ve returned,” one of the Nutcrackers said warmly, “and just in time. The Sleigh is full, and the multipliers are ready. Shall we begin Christmas?”

Santa exhaled deeply, relieved and amused. After being iced, launched, catapulted, soaked, and bounced like a holiday pinball, home had never looked sweeter.

The Whistle symbols jingled. The Sleigh brimmed with gifts. The Nutcracker clicked to attention.

“Let’s deliver some joy,” Santa said, and this time, he stepped into the magic willingly.