Gates of Olympus slot review

The essentials

Gates of Olympus came out in February 2021 and set the fashion for slots that pay symbols anywhere on the grid. It has since gained sequels and dozens of imitators, but the original remains the reference point for the whole genre. How wins are awarded is explained in detail in the rules.

Gameplay: what it does well

The game's main strength is that you understand it without instructions. There are no lines to memorise and no direction of combinations to follow: if you see a lot of matching symbols on screen, you have won. Tumbles add pace, because one spin can bring several payouts in a row, and watching the grid rebuild itself does not get old.

The developers' second success is that multipliers are not locked inside the bonus. A numbered orb can land on any spin, and that holds your attention even in the base game, which in many slots is a dull wait for free spins. On a phone everything runs as smoothly as on a computer, and the controls sit under your thumb.

The maths: what you pay for it

The other side of those strengths is called volatility. The slot returns 96.50% over a long run, but does so very unevenly: a large part of the return falls on rare lucky rounds, and between them the balance goes down. A hundred spins without a notable win is routine here, and it quickly unsettles a player who is not prepared for it.

There is a second complaint, this time about operators. The provider supplies the slot in several RTP settings, and a casino is free to choose a reduced one without saying so anywhere prominent. Players have to open the rules and hunt for the percentage themselves. The details are on our page about RTP and volatility.

Design and usability

Visually the game keeps to an ancient Greek theme: marble columns, clouds, golden temple ornaments and the figure of Zeus beside the reels. The symbols are easy to tell apart even on a small screen, which matters in a slot where you judge the number of matching icons by eye. The interface is standard for Pragmatic Play, with the bet, autoplay, turbo mode and the rules button all where you expect them.

Who the slot suits and who it does not

Gates of Olympus works well for people who can sit through long empty stretches and play for the occasional bright moment. The rules are simple, it runs smoothly on a phone, and multipliers appear outside the bonus too, so the base game is hardly dull. If you want your balance to last and wins to come often, even small ones, this slot will annoy you. With volatility this high, a hundred spins in a row with nothing to show for them is normal and has nothing to do with bad luck.

Compared with the 1000 and Super Scatter versions

The original remains the most balanced of the three. Gates of Olympus 1000, at the same stated RTP, leans even harder on rare big rounds, while Gates of Olympus Super Scatter adds prizes that land vanishingly rarely. We suggest starting your acquaintance with the series from the first game.

* The maximum win for the 1000 version is taken from reviews; the provider does not state it on the game page.

Our verdict

Gates of Olympus has earned its reputation as the benchmark pay-anywhere slot game: you grasp the mechanics in five minutes, and the multipliers make even an ordinary spin worth watching. The game is at its best in the bonus round and at its weakest in the long empty stretches between rounds. Judged as an online slot for short sessions on a fixed budget, it is among the best in its class. If you want a slot machine on which your balance lasts, pick something with low volatility instead.

Before you play for money, run the Gates of Olympus demo. It shows you the real rhythm of the game, which a highlight reel of lucky moments never will.

About strategies and “systems”

The internet is full of advice on how to “warm up” Gates of Olympus: play at night, change the bet after empty spins, pause before the bonus. None of it works, and the explanation is a dull one. The result of each spin is set by a random number generator the moment you press the button, and it knows nothing about the time of day or your previous spins. The maths of the slot is built so that over a long run players as a whole get back less than they staked.

So there are only two things you really control: the amount you are prepared to spend and the time after which you close the game. We have a separate page on how to choose them.