Who he is

Santa Claus rides a sleigh pulled by two elves. He is the only character with three people on one vehicle, and the community wiki counts him among the four multi playable characters.

The ability: flight

Holding the ability key makes the sleigh fly. This is one of the very few ways to move vertically in Happy Wheels without relying on terrain, and in the right level it is transformative.

The multi-rider twist

Santa is the exception to the usual multi-rider arrangement. On every other multi-rider vehicle the secondary characters sit behind the primary. Santa’s elves sit in front of him.

That matters for two reasons:

  1. The elves are what the sleigh collides with first. They absorb impacts that would otherwise hit Santa.
  2. Ejecting them changes the vehicle’s balance at the front, which is where the sleigh’s steering happens.

The general rules still apply: Santa is primary, so his death ends any finish-line route, while the elves are secondary and can still collect tokens.

Strengths

  • Flight. Nothing else in the roster moves like this except Helicopter Man.
  • Three bodies. Two ejectable riders is the most in the game.
  • A large, heavy vehicle that settles well after landings.

Weaknesses

  • Built for open levels. In a corridor or a tight platforming section, a sleigh is enormous.
  • Flight is not precision. Holding the key gets you up; it does not get you precisely into a small gap.
  • Slow without flight.
  • Level dependency. Many of his best levels are snow-themed, which is a smaller slice of the library than the general set.

How to actually play him

  1. Fly over problems, not into them. The sleigh’s advantage is skipping sections, not solving them.
  2. Spend the elves to absorb first contact. They are in front for a reason.
  3. Watch the ceiling. Flight into spikes is a self-inflicted failure.
  4. Choose large arena-style levels. The character is a poor fit for tight geometry.

Achievements connected to him

  • Naughty List Expanding — beat three featured levels with Santa Claus.
  • Downsizing — 100 elves die. Santa is the character who can make this happen.

Full list on the achievements page.

  • Irresponsible Dad — the other multi-rider vehicle, with the secondary rider behind.
  • Helicopter Man — the other flying character, with a much smaller vehicle.