Gates of Olympus: how to play

Gates of Olympus is Pragmatic Play’s Greek-mythology slot, built around a grid of tumbling symbols and multipliers that can land at any time. Pragmatic Play released it on 24 February 2021 and described it as “a highly volatile experience”, which is an accurate summary of how it plays.

If you know Sweet Bonanza, the structure will feel familiar: a 6×5 grid, pays anywhere, tumbling reels. The big difference is how multipliers behave, both in the base game and during free spins.

How Gates of Olympus works

The game uses a 6×5 grid of six reels and five rows. Wins are paid when 8 or more matching symbols appear anywhere on screen, so symbol position does not matter. Pragmatic Play’s older game page refers to “20 paylines” alongside the cluster pays, but in practice the pays-anywhere rule is what decides your wins.

Tumbling reels

After every win, the winning symbols vanish and new ones tumble down from the top. If the refill creates another winning group, you are paid again, and the chain continues until no new win appears. All of this happens within a single paid spin.

Pay sizes

According to Pragmatic Play, landing 8 to 30 matching symbols anywhere on the reels pays up to 50x. Larger clusters of the higher-paying symbols pay more; the exact amounts for your stake are listed in the in-game paytable.

Bets and payouts

Feature	What Pragmatic Play states
RTP	96.50%
Volatility	Highly volatile
Grid	6×5, pays anywhere, tumbling
Regular wins	8–30 matching symbols, up to 50x
Multiplier symbols	2x up to 500x, base game and free spins
Free spins trigger	4+ scatters, 15 free spins
Max win	Not found on the official pages we checked

An RTP of 96.50% is a long-run figure. Over a very large number of spins, the game is designed to return about ₹96.50 for every ₹100 bet. A single session can land far from that average, especially on a high-volatility game. For the background, read our RTP and volatility explainer.

Multipliers in the base game

Unlike many slots that save multipliers for the bonus round, Gates of Olympus can drop multiplier symbols worth 2x to 500x during ordinary spins. When a tumbling sequence ends, the multipliers on screen boost the win from that sequence. If the sequence has no win, the multipliers do nothing.

The free spins feature

Land 4 or more scatter symbols to trigger 15 free spins. Here, Pragmatic Play says winning multiplier symbols are added to a total running multiplier. That running total keeps growing through the feature and applies to subsequent wins, which is why the bonus round can produce much larger results than the base game.

Worked example (illustrative only): early in the feature, multipliers of 5x and 10x land on winning spins, so the running total reaches 15x. A later tumbling win of 4x your bet, with a fresh 3x multiplier, lifts the total to 18x, and that win pays 4 × 18 = 72x your stake. On a ₹20 spin, that is ₹1,440. The exact order in which the running total is applied is explained in the game’s rules screen.

Max win

We did not find a maximum win figure on the official Pragmatic Play pages we checked, so we are not quoting one. The game’s information screen at your casino will show the cap for that version.

Strategy that actually helps

Every spin is random, and nothing you do changes the RTP or the chance of triggering free spins. Good habits are about controlling cost and time:

1. Pick a stake your budget can carry. On a highly volatile slot, a stake of around 0.5% to 1% of your session budget is a sensible starting point. With ₹3,000 to play with, that is ₹15 to ₹30 per spin.
2. Expect long quiet spells. A lot of the game’s return is concentrated in rare multiplier-heavy sequences and in the free spins.
3. Think twice about buying features. If your casino’s version offers a bonus buy or ante option, it raises your cost per spin sharply. We could not confirm these options from Pragmatic Play’s pages, so check in-game.
4. Set autoplay limits. Use loss limits and a single-win stop when running autoplay.
5. Read bonus terms if you play with bonus money. Maximum bet rules and excluded features are common. See our wagering requirements guide for how these terms work.

Variants you’ll find online

Pragmatic Play has built on the original game with newer versions. The most recent we track is Gates of Olympus 2500, listed on our new slots page. According to Pragmatic Play’s game page, it keeps the 6×5 pays-anywhere grid and has an RTP of 96.51%, with multipliers up to 2,500x, tumbling reels and several free spins modes including Super Free Spins. We have not confirmed its volatility or maximum win.

Each version has its own RTP, multiplier range and max win, so do not assume the original’s numbers apply. Check the information screen of the exact title you open.

If you prefer a sweeter theme with the same core mechanics, Sweet Bonanza is the closest relative. For a completely different pace, crash games such as Aviator let you decide when to cash out instead of waiting for a feature.

Common myths about Gates of Olympus

Because the multipliers look so dramatic, a lot of myths attach to this game. None of them change how it pays:

• “The game is warming up.” Multipliers landing on losing spins do not build towards anything in the base game; each spin is independent.
• “Bigger stakes trigger free spins more often.” Your stake changes the size of each result, not the chance of landing scatters.
• “After a big feature the game goes cold.” The random number generator has no memory of earlier spins.
• “Feature buys pay better than playing normally.” Whatever the buy option costs, it is priced against the game’s expected return, so it is not a shortcut to profit.

Reading the game information screen

Open the information screen before your first spin. It lists the paytable at your stake, explains exactly how the running multiplier is applied, and shows the RTP and maximum win of the version your casino runs. If the RTP there differs from Pragmatic Play’s published 96.50%, the in-game figure is the one that counts.

Playing on mobile

Gates of Olympus runs in mobile browsers and casino apps like other modern Pragmatic Play slots. Some practical points:

• The grid resizes for portrait mode; landscape gives a slightly larger view of the symbols.
• Keep an eye on the stake selector, which is easy to tap by mistake on a small screen.
• Quick-spin and turbo settings speed up play, which also speeds up how fast a budget is spent.
• Data use is modest compared with live dealer games, though long sessions will use battery.

Before you play

Gates of Olympus is a high-volatility slot with dramatic multipliers, and that cuts both ways: most spins return little, and big results are rare. Decide your budget before opening the game, pick a stake that gives you a reasonable number of spins, and stop when the budget is gone rather than chasing a feature.

If you are choosing where to play Pragmatic Play slots, our guide on how to choose an online casino in India covers what to check first, and our responsible gambling page explains the tools that can help you stay in control.