Take Olympus is an online slot from Betsoft. This Greek-mythological theme is not new, of course, and we saw it at this game maker before as well. Think of The Golden Owl of Athena. But instead of beautiful Athens, this time we end up a few hundred kilometers away, on the top of Mount Olympus. This is where the “god of gods” Zeus lives. He has invited four guests this time. And not for a cup of coffee, but to join forces and hopefully make their powers work to your advantage.
How does Take Olympus slot machine work?
Take Olympus possesses a number of fixed elements, including that the playing field consists of 5 reels and 4 rows by default. There are a total of 50 win lines present, which pay out when identical symbol combos fall on them from left to right.
The minimum bet is C$ 0.10 and the maximum C$ 40.
The basic symbols all have to do with the gods, and besides paying out cash, they have another function (see The Cycle of the Gods in the paragraph below). The leaves, bow and arrow, kerberos and trident win up to C$1 with a 3-of-a-Kind and up to C$8 with five identical symbols. The lightning bolt is the only one worth up to C$12. Also, four of the five gods all pay out the same, namely up to C$ 20. Zeus himself grants you up to C$ 60.
Important to know: all amounts mentioned in this review are calculated based on the maximum bet of C$ 10.
The Cycle of the Gods
Each spin, The Cycle of the Gods is active, in which the Greek gods alternate continuously. This happens every 10 spins in the base game. To the left of the field, you can see which of the gods is on and how many spins you have left before another god dominates the reels. You never know exactly who you will have to deal with and when. This is determined by the RNG. What is certain is that you will never have the same god active multiple times in a row.
Apollo – Archer of the Wild
Every symbol you spin here that has Apollo or his bow and arrow on it, the symbol position is marked with a frame. All frames remain in place until the end of the feature, and are all filled with a wild during the final spin. Apollo's wilds can replace any symbol except Zeus.
Aphrodite – Spreading Pleasures
This feature has many similarities to Apollo's. Only here, Aphrodite or a leaf symbol must land, in order for the symbol locations to then be outlined. These frames are filled in with Mystery Boxes (mystery symbols) at the end of the spins. The empty spaces in between are also filled with Mystery Boxes during the last spin, thus connecting all of the originally rotated frames in that way. Next, the Mystery Boxes show one particular symbol type, from which the wild is excluded.
Poseidon – Waters of Chaos
Every time Poseidon himself or his trident appears here, the counter on the right side of the screen is increased by +1. The final number represents the number of free re-spins you will receive after the 10 spins.
Hades – Wrath of abundance
Should Hadres or the dog-like mythical creature, the kerberos, appear, it has a positive effect on the multiplier counter. Each symbol represents an increase of +1. The total number is calculated with the last spin over the win combo(s) formed.
Zeus – Allfather's Grace
Zeus has quite a few duties to perform in Take Olympus, which of course makes sense as the supreme god. For starters, he's wild, and you can spin him on any of the 5 reels. It can replace all symbols in Take Olympus. Only it can't take the place of other symbols that you need to activate the Free Spins with. During that feature, by the way, it shows itself as a chameleon.
Bonus game
You need Zeus in his entirety (four high) in combination with the presence of the other four gods to enter this bonus game. There are 10 Free Spins waiting for you here, which is entirely a Zeus party. After all, here he determines this Take Olympus bonus game not only which god is active when exactly, but also how they will serve him and you.
- Apollo (Wilds of Zeus) – Zeus rewards you with +5 wilds on the reels
- Aphrodite (Mysteries of Zeus) – Zeus picks 5 random symbols to transform into Mystery Symbols.
- Hades (Abundance of Zeus) – Zeus adds a generous multiplier to that spin
- Poseidon (Chaos of Zeus) – you get a random number of re-spins from the supreme god
What is our final verdict on Take Olympus slot machine?
The background of this slot is excellently made. Everything is loupe clean and beautifully detailed. And just think about it, making five different backgrounds for all five gods. A lot of work must have gone into that. What we do find really unfortunate is how overly emphatic the basic symbols are and disrupt the visual balance. This is due to both the different colors and decorations.
In any case, we can't deny that Take Olympus is quite versatile. That's because there's a feature guaranteed to be active every spin. And despite so many bonus games in one game, it is nice that Betsoft still managed to keep it clear and simple. This was really different until a few years ago.
Still, we quickly got bored in this game, because there is little to really look forward to. There is a lack of tension. What remains is mainly a lot of fuss. We would have preferred to see the changing of the gods only processed in a Free Spins feature.
Incidentally, the game maker is reputed to be unreliable, so we would advise against paid play of any of their released productions.
3 out of 5 stars
