Gladiator Slot by Playtech Reviewed

I am fascinated by Ancient History and Ancient heroes that we study and read about. Events that are so thrilling and breath-taking that even though they happened thousands of years ago are still talked about. Usually we learn of kings and queens, popes and other religious leaders. But what about the gladiators? They set fire to the arenas of the Ancient world and gave the crowds everything they craved for, with the price of their lives. I have always been amazed by the fearlessness of the gladiators. And this Gladiator-themed slot is just what you need to take you back in time.

As you probably already assumed this review is about the Gladiator slot. There are various different theme slots out there, and surely it is not surprising that there is one based on gladiators, especially after the film featuring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. In this review I will present every aspect of this slot, including the graphics, the gameplay, the symbols, RTP, bonus rounds and everything else.

Features and Paylines

Gladiator is an online slot developed by Playtech. This company is one of the leading companies in the world of online gaming and they have developed a huge number of popular games. This slot has 5 reels, 3 rows and 25 paylines. You can play this game with as little as 1p per payline which means that the minimum bet is 25p. But also, you can play it with as much as £50 per line, or a total of £1,250. The jackpot amount is 5,000 coins, which equals a maximum amount of £250,000 and that is quite impressive by any standards.

Even though the game was developed in 2008, Gladiator has graphics and animations that are of very high quality. The sounds and the music intensify when there’s a chance of hitting one of the bonus features. This is very common in slot games and it always adds an element of thrill. Some of the game symbols are faces of actors that are featured in the film, as they appeared and they perform motions whenever there’s a win involving them. Shorter samples of the film often appear, especially during the bonus rounds. All in all, the graphics, sounds and animations are based on the blockbuster but have been fully optimised for a slot game.

Gladiators, Senators and Emperors

Classic card symbols appear on a more regular basis on the reels. Gladiator’s symbols include 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. These are the lowest paying symbols and you would get 8, 10 and 15 coins for 3 9s and 10s, Jacks and Queens, and Kings and Aces, respectively. For 4, you will get 20, 40 and 50, whereas for 5 you would win 75, 120 and 200. The other symbols represent historic characters as represented in the film and these symbols are worth much more. First there’s gladiator Juba, a friend of the main character. 20, 60 and 250 is what you get for 3, 4 and 5 symbols, respectively.

Gladiator Slot by Playtech

Same goes for Proximo, who was played by late Oliver Reed. Senator Gracchus pays a bit more. Then, there’s Lucila one of the highest winning symbols. Five Lucila symbols are worth 1,000. Finally, Emperor Commodus gives you 5,000 for 5 symbols and 500 for 4. Commodus and Lucila offer payouts with only 2 symbols. The Helmet worn by Russell Crowe if the wild symbol and it substitutes every symbol except the scatter. The Coliseum is the scatter symbol. The RTP (return to player) for Gladiator is 94%.

The Coliseum Bonus Round and the Gladiator Bonus Round

This game has two impressive bonus features. The Coliseum Bonus Round is triggered when there are three or more Coliseum symbols anywhere on the reels. In this game, you will see a board that features 4 rows of tablets. The tablets on the first row will tell you how many free spins you got, whereas the ones on the second row represent the bet multiplier. If you manage to get to the third row you will get a chance to choose a scatter symbol and hopefully win a lot of money. The award of the fourth row is a wild symbol. You can get additional free spins if you see the Emperor symbol on the middle reel.

The Gladiator Bonus Round is triggered when you get at least three Helmets. As I have mentioned the Helmet is the wild symbol in the game. In this round, a screen with 9 Gladiator Helmets will be prompted. The helmets featured can be gold, silver and bronze. A gold helmet gives you x5 your bet, a silver x3 and bronze x1. So, you could win up to x45 your bet. As you can see, this bonus round is pretty simple, yet the potential win is quite high.

Mobile Gladiator

Bearing in mind the huge success of Gladiator Slot and of its sequel, it was natural that the fans of this game worldwide would want to be able to play their favourite slot game on their mobile devices. Although the mobile version was introduced more than a few years after the original PC slot, it was definitely worth waiting, since the game is fully optimised and it just like the PC version, so you’re not missing out on anything if you’re playing Gladiator on the go.

I have to mention that the version available on mobile devices is actually the progressive jackpot sequel and not the original Gladiator Slot. Bearing in mind that it is almost the same game, I always play the original version when on PC and the Jackpot version only on my phone.

Gladiator Jackpot

Due to the high popularity of Gladiator slot, which surprised nobody, considering the immense popularity of the film, Playtech decided to introduce another version of this slot. This version is pretty much the same as the original Gladiator slot, but it features one notably different element – a progressive jackpot. The biggest win on Gladiator Jackpot exceeded £2m, it was £2,015,367. The bonus features of the Jackpot game are the Coliseum Bonus Round and the Gladiator Bonus Round. The progressive jackpot can be won in the latter. The return to player ratio of this version is 91.4%.

Essentially, Gladiator Jackpot and its prequel are the same game. As I mentioned, the only added element is the progressive jackpot and the introduction of the Jackpot version was great news for all those that dare to dream big, including myself. Surely, as you noticed, the Jackpot version has an RTP lower by 2.6%, a fact which should not be omitted. Surely, if you’re hoping to win a £2m Jackpot, you will be able to look past that. Beware that the wins in the Jackpot version will be slightly less frequent, other than that it’s totally the same.

Final Verdict

Being a fan of the 2000 film featuring Russell Crowe may be a strong reason to like this slot game, but it’s definitely not the only one. Gladiator has two extremely interesting bonus features, which are just right in the middle between being too complicated and too simple; the prizes, including the regular jackpot and the ones that can be won during bonus rounds are quite atractive. Moreover, if you’re dreaming of winning big amounts of money, you can have a go at the Jackpot version of the game. But beware, it’s so fun that time literally flies whilst you’re playing.

It’s All about the Theme

Gladiator is one of the many thematic slots that reached a high level of popularity. Another such game is Jack and the Beanstalk. Unlike games based on films, series, or comics, this is a game based on the anthological fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. This game features 20 paylines and can be played with as little as 20p. Then, another thematic slot I quite like is Cleopatra, where you could win up to £100,000 even though the game doesn’t feature a progressive jackpot. If you’re looking for a progressive jackpot with a fairly high RTP, then I would suggest Genie Jackpots.