Last updated: 11-07-2026
Gates of Olympus is one of the most-played Pragmatic Play pokies globally, and the reason it hooks players harder than similar titles is the multiplier Orbs — they can appear on literally any spin in the base game, not just during free spins. That base-game excitement is also exactly why it's easy to misjudge your actual odds here. I tested it, checked the maths on Orb stacking, and worked out what the numbers say about a realistic session.
Pay Anywhere and the Tumble mechanic
Gates of Olympus runs on a 6-reel, 5-row grid using a Pay Anywhere structure — land 8 or more of the same symbol anywhere on the grid, regardless of position or line, and it pays. Winning symbols then clear via the Tumble feature, with new symbols dropping in to potentially chain further wins from the same spin, the same cascading structure Pragmatic Play uses across several of its scatter-pays titles.
What sets this one apart from a lot of similar games is the multiplier Orbs. These carry random values from 2x up to 500x and can appear during any spin in the base game — not gated behind free spins the way Sweet Bonanza's Bomb multipliers are. At the end of a tumble sequence, every Orb visible on the grid gets summed together, and that combined total multiplies the win from that sequence. Multiple Orbs landing in the same tumble chain stack additively before being applied, so two Orbs worth 25x and 50x combine into a 75x multiplier on that win, not two separate multiplications.
Free spins and accumulating multipliers
Landing 4 or more Zeus scatter symbols triggers 15 free spins; landing 3 more scatters during the feature adds a further 5 spins. The genuinely valuable part of the free spins round is that collected multipliers don't reset between spins — they accumulate across the entire feature. That persistence is what turns a long, well-performing free spins round into a large payout: every Orb that lands throughout the round adds to a running total rather than resetting to zero each spin.
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RTP (default) | 96.50% | 94.50%/95.51% variants exist — check paytable |
| Volatility | Very High (5/5) | — |
| Max win | 5,000x stake | Probability: roughly 1 in 718,391 spins |
| Hit frequency | 28.82% | Roughly 1 win per 3.47 spins |
| Free spins frequency | 1 in 448 spins | Natural trigger via 4+ scatters |
| Multiplier Orb range | 2x–500x | Multiple Orbs summed before applying to win |
Author's tip from Mitchell Harris, Casino Reviewer & Online Gambling Researcher: "Orbs summing rather than multiplying together matters more than it sounds. A 500x Orb landing alone is a huge win — the same 500x Orb landing alongside a 2x Orb is 502x, not 1,000x. Don't assume multiple Orbs compound multiplicatively; they add."
Released in February 2021, Gates of Olympus has held its position as one of Pragmatic Play's most-played titles globally for several years running, which is worth noting given how quickly newer releases usually cycle through popularity in the online pokies space. The combination of base-game Orb excitement and a Greek mythology theme with broad recognition has kept it in regular rotation across most operators offering Pragmatic Play's catalogue, Fair Go included.
Ante Bet vs Bonus Buy — the cheaper way to improve your odds
Gates of Olympus offers both an Ante Bet option and a Bonus Buy, and they work on fundamentally different scales. Ante Bet costs 1.5x your normal stake — so a A$0.20 base bet becomes A$0.30 per spin — and in exchange increases the scatter frequency, shortening the average wait for a natural free spins trigger. Bonus Buy costs a flat 100x your stake and drops you straight into free spins, guaranteed, right now.
The RTP stays identical whether you trigger free spins naturally, via Ante Bet, or via Bonus Buy — none of the three paths changes the underlying math of the feature itself. What changes is cost structure and certainty. Ante Bet's extra 50% per spin is a comparatively cheap way to shorten your average wait across a longer session; Bonus Buy's 100x flat cost is expensive but removes the wait entirely for players who want guaranteed entry right now rather than grinding toward it.
Mobile play and reading Orb positions
Gates of Olympus runs cleanly on mobile browsers — the 6-reel, 5-row Pay Anywhere grid is dense but well-suited to a phone screen, since there's no need to track specific paylines the way you would on a traditional fixed-payline pokie. Orbs are visually distinct enough to spot quickly even mid-tumble, which matters given how central they are to the game's core appeal; missing that an Orb landed during a fast cascade is easy to do on a first playthrough, less so once you're used to the visual cue.
Because Orbs can appear on any spin rather than being gated behind a feature, session pacing here feels noticeably different from Sweet Bonanza or other titles where the multiplier mechanic only shows up occasionally. Every spin carries a small chance of an Orb appearing, which keeps base-game play more consistently engaging even across stretches between clusters landing.
The base symbol paytable, outside the Orbs
Beyond the multiplier Orbs, Gates of Olympus's paytable runs on Greek mythology-themed symbols — Zeus himself alongside gemstones and playing-card values filling out the lower end. There's no wild symbol in this game; every win comes directly from matching clusters of 8 or more identical symbols anywhere on the grid, which keeps the core mechanic straightforward once you understand the Pay Anywhere structure. The Zeus scatter is the one symbol that matters beyond direct cluster wins, since it's the sole trigger for free spins.
Three different games share this name
Worth being precise about which title you're reviewing information for. This page covers the original Gates of Olympus (5,000x max win, released February 2021). Pragmatic Play has since released Gates of Olympus 1000 (15,000x max win) and Gates of Olympus Super Scatter (April 2025, 50,000x max win via a dedicated Super Scatter symbol) — three separate games sharing the Greek mythology theme and Zeus branding, but with meaningfully different math models and ceilings. If you're chasing the highest possible payout ceiling specifically, the original isn't it; if you've read numbers elsewhere that don't match what's in Fair Go's lobby, it's worth confirming which of the three is actually loaded.
How this compares to Sweet Bonanza
Gates of Olympus and Sweet Bonanza share the same developer and a near-identical Pay Anywhere, Tumble-based core mechanic — the meaningful difference is where the multiplier feature lives. Gates of Olympus's Orbs can appear in the base game as well as free spins, giving every spin a chance at that extra multiplier layer. Sweet Bonanza's Bomb multipliers are locked to free spins only, which means its base game plays comparatively flatter, with all the multiplier excitement concentrated in the bonus round. If you like the idea of multiplier potential on every single spin rather than only during a triggered feature, Gates of Olympus is built for that; Sweet Bonanza trades that base-game excitement for a (slightly) different overall feel.
Fair Go's account settings include deposit limits and self-exclusion tools if you'd like a hard stop in place, and players must be 18+. Want to compare this against Sweet Bonanza or the rest of the catalogue? Check the pokies page, or head to the homepage. Already registered? Go to login. New to terms like "scatter pays" or "volatility"? The glossary explains them plainly.
