Gates Of Olympus Pragmatic Play
Gates of Olympus is a slot released a few months ago by game provider Pragmatic Play. When it was first released, I wasn’t really interested in trying this game for a number of reasons. First of all, I’m not a big fan of Pragmatic Play slots and from my experience they can be quite volatile. And the second reason is that they seem to be releasing a lot of games that are just copies of their existing slots – with differences in theme and design. However, after the slot was released, I saw many videos of big wins from other players and I decided to try it myself.
There is no doubt that Gates of Olympus is still the most popular slot in Indonesia to date, even though it has a tumble slot formula that is almost the same as other slots such as Starlight Princess or Sweet Bonanza. The slot managed to win the hearts of its players with its attractive appearance and unforgettable character, namely Zeus’ grandfather who struck lightning when victory emerged.
This slot is inspired by the Ancient Greek theme and I have to say, although this is a very common theme for slots, I think the design looks pretty good. As for the mechanics, the slots are very simple – there are no basic game features, the slots pay out in batches and have a free spins bonus round. There is also a buy bonus option which costs 100x the stake.
Gates Of Olympus Slots Theme
As mentioned above, the theme of the Gates of Olympus slot is Greek Mythology. The Greek gods were notoriously fickle, blessed with the ability to do almost anything they wanted, yet very human. It was their strength and ability that had amaze generations of Mythology students. After all, who doesn’t love stories about Zeus or Thor and their immense powers? Gates of Olympus brought players into this world. From the moment you load up this online slot, you know that you are going to really enjoy it. You will see six reels and five rows of symbols in the middle. The fire in the corners is famous in Greek Mythology and the Olympics. And on the right is Zeus, hovering in the air, looking strong and determined to help players win big.
From a graphic point of view, Gates of Olympus is fun. The animations are smooth, and the artwork is incredibly detailed. It feels very deep. It’s easy to feel like you are part of an ongoing story. Interestingly, Gates of Olympus shares some gameplay characteristics with Sweet Bonanza, another very popular Pragmatic Play game. The symbols fall, and the group leaves, letting a new symbol take their place. This process continues until there are no more clusters to remove (if you’ve ever played Candy Crush for mobile, you’re familiar with this concept of disappearing symbols). It works for this slot, but the feel is reminiscent of this candy-themed game, which is an interesting juxtaposition to a Greek-themed slot.
As we will see throughout our Gates of Olympus slot review, it is clear that Pragmatic Play has carefully built the phenomenal game, making it a good candidate for the most played slots casino. The first proof is how well they create themes!
RTP Gates of Olympus and Volatility
RTP stands for return-to-player, and it represents, on average, how much players will get back for every dollar they put into the slot machine. All casino games have an edge, and slots are no exception. Most land-based slots only have an RTP of around 93%. In other words, for every IDR 1000 that players bet on the slot machine, they will get around IDR 930 back. Online slots usually have a higher RTP because online casinos have a space-saving advantage over traditional land-based ones. It is not uncommon to see this percentage in the 95%-98% range. Gates of Olympus is in the middle of that spectrum with an amazing RTP of 96.5%. While some slots pay more, on average than Gates of Olympus, many other online slots pay less. Volatility measures how often a player will receive a win. High volatility slots pay big when they pay out but have longer intervals between those substantial wins. On the other hand, low volatility slots pay out more often, but the winnings are not that much. Gates of Olympus has high volatility, which means when players win, they win big! That’s what makes the Gates of Olympus casino so attractive!
Features and How to Play Gates of Olympus Slots
Although the Gates of Olympus are laid out on a less conventional 6 x 5 grid, it’s actually very easy to scroll through. There are options for Buy Bonus and Ante Bet on the left side of the screen, but these are off by default and we’ll let you know later. In terms of getting started, it’s the same as any other video slot: set the size of your bet.
The 20 pay lines in the Gates of Olympus are always active, but you can set your bet level per line and the value of your coins. The former ranges from 1 to 10, while the coin values range from Rp.10 to Rp.6000. This means the minimum bet is IDR 200 and the maximum bet is IDR 1200,000. However, you can actually go over the max bet with the Buy Bonus or Ante Bet features.
There aren’t many special features in Gates of Olympus, but the following does a fantastic job of enhancing everything, including the payout potential:
Buy Bonus
The buy bonus can be used to buy free spins at the Gates of Olympus. This does come at a price of 100x the size of the bet. So if you bet the minimum, then you will be charged IDR 20,000.
Ante bet
Olympus Ante Bet Gate Just below the Buy Bonus is the Bet sign. This is a well-known feature of Ante Bet and its function is to double your chances of getting special features.
This comes at the price of a 5x increase to the multiplier in your bet size, meaning that your Bet level and Coin size will be multiplied by 25x instead of 20x. If you play with the minimum bet, then you will be charged IDR 250 per spin, and not IDR 200.
The Ante Bet option is much more affordable than the Buy free spins feature. Looking at the minimum bet example, it costs only IDR 50 more per spin, whereas buying free spins will cost you IDR 20,000 in total. Since your chances of getting the bonus are doubled with Ante Bet, there is a high chance that you will enter the bonus round before you spend IDR 20,000 which certainly makes this feature much more profitable than the buy bonus.
Tumble Win
Whenever you have a winning payline, the symbols involved will be stung. Everything else will fall into place to make room for the new. Basically you get free respins with your winnings. This feature can be re-triggered.
Multiplier
The multiplier is always good and at the Gates of Olympus it goes up to a colossal 500x. They are added together at the end of the falling sequence and then the final amount is applied to the winning total of that sequence.
You will get multipliers in the base game and in the Free Spins bonus round. The Multiplier symbol is a round ball encased in gold with wings. Orbs can be green, blue, purple or red.
Free Spins
The Free Spins bonus session is triggered by at least 4 Zeus Scatter symbols. The multiplier that appears is added to give you a total multiplier on the spin. You will start the spin with 15 free spins, and if you spin 3 Scatter or more during the spin, you will get 5 additional spins.
Gates Of Olympus Conclusion and Review
I have to say that after playing this game in many sessions, I have a love and hate relationship with it. To begin with, these slots are highly volatile. And because it has a cluster payout mechanic, you can get a lot of dead spins before hitting a good combination. And you need a group of at least 8 symbols for a winning combination. Then there are wilds which have different multipliers and can have up to 500x the multiplier. However, the wilds don’t contribute to the winning combination, so you may get a 500x wild, but unless there is a winning combination, the wilds will not multiply the wins. However, if you get some winning combinations in conjunction with high value wilds, that’s when you can get a big win.
Once you get 4 scatters you get 12 free spins and if you get 3 more scatters you will get 5 extra spins. Just like in the base game, the main objective is to get as many wins as possible and land as many wilds as possible. The difference here is that once you get a win and get a wild, the wild will accumulate. Then whenever a new winning combination lands with a multiplier, the entire accumulated multiplier is applied. However, from my experience I have never had a large multiplier like 100x, 250x or 500x. I had some big wins in the 100x-200x betting range, but other than that, the game wasn’t great for me.
Overall I like the concept of this game, I think the way the wild symbol works is quite unique and I always like to see new things in the slots. Because of this, slots are highly volatile and you may or may not like them. I had a few sessions where I couldn’t get a single win over a 50x bet. Also, although the multiplier looks very attractive, the game follows the rules of Pragmatic Play with a maximum win of 5,000x. So with this big win multiplier, I was expecting a higher maximum win potential.
