Gates of Olympus: the original, the 1000 and Super Scatter compared

The shape of the game

There are no paylines. Symbols land on a grid of six reels and five rows, and any eight or more matching symbols anywhere on the screen pay. Winning symbols vanish, new ones tumble into the gaps, and the sequence carries on until nothing else connects. That tumbling chain is where most small wins come from.

The character of the game comes from the orbs. Multiplier symbols drop in during any spin, each carrying a value, and when a tumbling sequence ends they are added together and applied to the total win of that sequence. In the base game an orb that lands on a spin with no win is simply wasted, which happens a great deal. Four or more scatter symbols trigger fifteen free spins, and in the free spins the multipliers collect into a running total that applies to every later winning tumble. That accumulator is why the bonus round can turn a quiet session around in seconds, and why it so often does not.

Three versions on one table

The pattern is familiar from the whole '1000' range. The return to player barely moves, so the money has to come from somewhere when the ceiling triples: it comes from the ordinary wins, which get thinner. If the original feels harsh to you, the 1000 edition will feel harsher. Super Scatter keeps the grid and the orbs but adds scatter symbols with their own prize values, a twist aimed at players who want the bonus trigger itself to mean something.

Ante bet and bonus buy

Most versions offer an ante bet: pay 25% more per spin and the chance of landing the free spins roughly doubles. It does not improve the return to player; it simply moves more of your stake towards the bonus round. The bonus buy, where it is offered, charges about 100 times the stake for immediate entry to the free spins. On a €1 spin that is €100 for one round, and a fair share of bought rounds return less than the price. Some casinos switch the buy option off altogether.

What an evening at €0.50 costs

At a steady pace a player gets through roughly 400 to 500 spins an hour on a tumbling slot. At €0.50 a spin, 450 spins is €225 staked. With a 96.5% return the average cost of that hour is about €8. The average is almost meaningless, though: an hour without a bonus can easily cost €60 to €100, and an hour with a good one can pay several hundred. Budget for the bad hour, not the average one.

1. Decide the total you are willing to lose before the first spin, and cut it into at least 150 stakes.
2. Play the demo first. Twenty minutes of free play shows you how long the dry spells last in each version.
3. Open the paytable before playing for money; a figure noticeably below 96.5% means a reduced setting.
4. Treat the ante bet and the buy as ways to play faster, not better.

Who it suits

Players who enjoy a slow build and can stomach long stretches of nothing. If you prefer something gentler, Starburst is the opposite end of the scale. If you like the tumbling grid but want a different flavour, Sweet Bonanza uses the same engine with sweets instead of gods, and Sugar Rush 1000 swaps the orbs for multiplier spots. The studio behind all three is profiled on Pragmatic Play, and the general mechanics of slots are on online slots in Ireland.

Casinos for multiplier-grid fans

Tumbling grids with multipliers are one of the most copied formats going. Our five casinos, all linked on referral terms, and how each suits a player hunting that style.