Zeus the Thunderer

Zeus the Thunderer Overview

The Greek pantheon of gods is perhaps one of the best-known collections of deities in the modern world. Few people wouldn’t recognise the name Zeus or Hades. This is thanks to innumerable retellings of the most famous stories that feature these characters, some of which have been committed to films such as the Disney adaption of the story of Hercules or the massive Hollywood blockbuster Troy. Zeus the Thunderer then is a slot with a firmly understood thematic ground. Let’s just hope the slot lives up to the greatness and captivating splendour of these ancient tales it is themed around.

The features for this slot revolve around the scatter symbols, which, if they fall in combination from two to five award players, instant cash bonuses of up to 50x the bet and access to the free spins game. If lightning is on the board, more spins will be added to the total. On the other hand, a winning combination of three or more Olympians will award a different set of bonus spins. The type depends on the Olympian that you land. There are three different types- Zeus spins, Hades spins, and Aphrodite spins. Finally, there is also a risk’ n buy feature, a staple of all Mascot Gaming slots. All features will be explained in more detail later on in the review.

Theme and Symbols

There were many Greek Gods, each of which had a dominion of some sort that it was responsible for. However, the Olympians were different; these gods were the most important, most influential and most powerful of all the gods in the ancient Greek religion. They were named after the magical Kingdom in which they resided – Mount Olympus. There were twelve in total, including Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite and Hades (although Hades was tasked with taking care of the underworld). This slot recreates these most famous of gods in cartoon majesty, capturing their iconic qualities in each rendering.

The background for this slot is the exalted land of Mount Olympus, the realm of the most significant of Gods. The Kingdom is home to Zeus’ throne and the abode of all his disciples. In Homer’s Odyssey, Olympus is described as a place of ethereal and majestic beauty atop one of the tallest mountains, wreathed in cool white clouds. It was supposed to be the promised land for any aspiring god or hero to visit as there was an opportunity to sup with Zeus himself. The slot has recreated this setting by creating a golden temple in the clouds surrounded by azure sky.

The playing window for this game is non-existent. The symbols simply float in mid-air, similar to how the gods float in the clouds.
The symbols for this game are split into low-value, high value and special symbols. The low-value symbols are the J, Q, K and A. However, the more valuable symbols are the golden harp and the three gods on the reels: Aphrodite, Hades, and Zeus. Zeus is the most valuable of these paying out at £3 for five in a row. Finally, the special symbols are the urn, which represents the wild icon, and the lightning bolt, which represents the scatter.

Game Play

Zeus the Thunderer is played on a 5-reel, 4-row machine with 20 fixed pay lines. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.
The betting range for Zeus the Thunderer is 20p to £40 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the low range. The return to player percentage for Zeus the Thunderer is 95.3%, which is below average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 3,150x your stake.

Features

Two to five lightning scatters on the board mean an instant cash reward of 50x the stake. Five or more activates the bonus mode spins, with every scatter above the five-threshold amount adding an extra spin to your tally. You cannot retrigger these spins from within the bonus game.

The other spins bonuses are triggered when players trigger wins with three or more Olympian symbols in the base game. Depending on the Olympians you used to trigger the bonus, there will be different spins with different modifiers active. These are explained below:

Zeus – every Zeus symbol turns sticky.
Hades- all Hades symbols become frozen.
Aphrodite – All Aphrodite symbols are frozen.

The sticky symbols remain for the duration of the special free spins.
Finally, there is a Risk’ n Buy feature that is offered after every spin. It gives you the option of risking your current payout to activate a round of free spins. Win, and you’ll immediately enter the free spins round.

Conclusion

Battle Zeus to have a fun time but don’t get your hopes up for a life-changing win. Players will probably enjoy this trip to Olympus but watch out for the low top payout and RTP rating. Low volatility at least will mean that the hit rate is fairly high, although the size of each win is probably going to be quite small.