Pay Anywhere Olympus Slots

The count

A pay anywhere slot has no lines to follow and no reel to start from. When the symbols settle, the game counts how many of each sit on the grid. Any symbol that reaches the number pays, wherever its copies landed, top corner or bottom row. Pragmatic Play’s page for Gates of Olympus puts the range at 8 to 30 matching symbols. By the same page, a win of that kind reaches up to 50x the stake before any multiplier. You need the count, not a line.

Every pay anywhere game in this catalogue also tumbles. A win clears, new symbols fall, and the copies that missed the count stay where they were. A symbol 2 short on one drop can make the number on the next. Pragmatic Play’s launch news called this a Pay Anywhere system in 2021, and Play’n GO calls its own version scatter pays. It’s one rule under 2 names.

The family costume

The Gates of Olympus games carry this rule, and most of the series shares one picture. A 6 by 5 grid sits beside Zeus, 8 of a kind or more pays anywhere on it, and multiplier orbs fall with the symbols. Some versions are the first game in a different costume, and that’s worth saying plainly. Gates of Olympus Dice swaps its symbols for dice and keeps the first game’s figures, 96.50%, a 5,000x cap, multipliers up to 500x and free spins sold for 100x the stake.

Gates of Olympus Xmas 1000 dresses Zeus for Christmas, in a red robe with a Santa hat, and lays snow over the symbols. The game beneath the snow is Gates of Olympus 1000, with the same 96.50%, 15,000x cap and 1,000x multipliers. You’re choosing a costume, not a game.

The changes

Now, other versions change more than the clothes. Gates of Olympus 2500 keeps the count of 8 and lifts the multipliers to 2,500x. A wheel then decides which of 4 free spins rounds you get. Pragmatic Play’s page gives it 96.51%, the demo’s own rules show 96.52%, and the cap is 25,000x. When a page and a demo disagree like that, the review lists both, in line with How the Reviews Work. Gates of Olympus POP plays on 3 reels of 5 symbols, where 5 royal symbols are enough for a win. Super Scatter adds a second scatter worth 100x to 50,000x when it helps trigger the round. Each change is one you can see.

The forge and the brothers

The rule travels beyond the Gates family. Forge of Olympus fills its 6 by 5 grid with shields, helmets and golden rings and pays for 8 or more of them anywhere. Its multipliers come as hammers in rings of fire, worth 2x to 100x, and you’ll see a bearded smith at an anvil beside the grid. The free spins climb through 4 levels, and each level lifts the lowest multiplier. The base game runs at 96.25%. Each of its 4 bought rounds has a percentage of its own, and the 200x round sits highest at 96.70%.

Play’n GO took its Rise of Olympus series off the 5 by 5 square for Rise of Olympus 1000, which pays anywhere on 6 columns of 5 rows. Its multipliers arrive as Hades and can be promoted to Poseidon and then to Zeus, up to 1,000x. The rules sheet lists 5 versions, from 96.24% down to 84.24%, and stops a win at 60,000x the stake. Here the scatter is a glowing temple gate.

The touching rule

Pay anywhere is easy to confuse with cluster pays, and one question separates them. In a cluster game the matching symbols have to touch, side by side or one above another. A copy standing alone on the far side of the grid joins no cluster. On Gates of Olympus that lonely copy still counts towards the 8. You can win with copies that never meet.

The finger on the glass

When the first scatter-pay cabinets reached my slot floor, regulars ran a finger along the glass after a win and hunted for the line that paid. There wasn’t one to find. Most nights somebody called me over to explain a payout that followed no line at all. The count was the whole rule. The regulars took a while to trust it.