Gladiator Slot

Gladiator is a progressive jackpot slot designed by Playtech that features 5 reels, 3 rows, and 25 adjustable paylines players can win on. As you can probably tell by the title, the game’s design was inspired by the eponymous movie that won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001.

Players who decide to give the five reels of Gladiator a whirl can anticipate a wealth of special features, including a lucrative round of free spins and a jackpot bonus game that can potentially turn them into millionaires. The maximum payout in the base game is not too shabby, either, at 5,000 times the winning bet.

Gladiator Slot Summary
Game Provider: Playtech	Release Date: 2008
Game Type: Video Slot	Theme(s): Historical, Movie
Reels: 5	Wild Symbols: Yes
Rows: 3	Scatters: Yes
Paylines: 25 adjustable lines	Free Spins: Yes
Payout/RTP: 91.46%	Bonus Game: Yes
Volatility Level: Medium	Progressive Jackpot: Yes
Min Bet: 0.25	Autoplay: Yes
Max Bet: 25	Max Win: 5000x

Gladiator Theme

Gladiator has an instantly recognizable theme as it is based on the hugely popular Ridley Scott movie that stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, and Richard Harris. While they spin the reels, players will encounter familiar characters like the brave Maximus Decimus, the ruthless Emperor Commodus, and his lovely sister Lucilla.

The five reels are set against a packed coliseum where valiant gladiators used to fight in bygone days for the entertainment of the crowds. Spinners get to watch cutscenes from the award-winning movie as they play, which further improves their engagement with the game.

How Gladiator Compares to Other Slot Games

Playtech released a revamped version of their hugely successful Gladiator slot in 2017. Gladiator Road to Rome plays similarly to the original version and offers the same features, including a progressive jackpot, a bonus game, and free spins. The design is also identical but the newer release outperforms its predecessor in terms of theoretical return. The RTP in Gladiator Road to Rome is substantially higher at 95.05% compared to the 91.46% return of the original.

More Similar Slots

• Spartacus Gladiator of Rome by WMS
• Shields of Rome by Playtech
• Maximus Soldier of Rome by Barcrest
• Gladiator by Betsoft

Gladiator Symbols and Payouts

The most lucrative winning combinations in Gladiator are formed with the symbols containing the main characters in the iconic movie. The power-hungry Commodus awards the top base prize of 5,000 times the line bet for five of a kind. His sister Lucilla is the second-best payer and can reward players with up to 1,000 times their line bets.

Both Commodus and Lucilla pay for as few as two matches from left to right. This is not the case with the rest of the symbols where you need at least three of a kind to earn some money. The other high payers include Gracchus, Maximus’ sidekick Juba, and the wealthy slave owner Proximo. The scattered coliseum pays up to 100 times the wager. Low-value winning combinations are formed with the traditional playing cards A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9.

Bonus Features Overview

There is no shortage of bonus features in this legendary Playtech slot, including wilds, scatters, free spins, and a bonus game during which players stand the chance of winning a progressive jackpot. The slot truly comes to life during the free spins and the bonus game as both are accompanied by clips from the Ridley Scott movie.

Wild and Scatter Symbols

The symbol with the coliseum is scattered and triggers the coliseum bonus round. Also, the scatters do not have to land on a payline to award monetary prizes. These symbols pay in any position on neighboring reels as long as there are at least two matches.

The wild symbol contains a gladiator helmet and appears only on the second, third, and fourth reels. It activates the jackpot bonus game and substitutes for all symbols except the scattered coliseums.

Free Spins

Players will benefit from free spins with multipliers during the coliseum bonus feature, which triggers whenever three or more scatters appear anywhere on the screen. The feature starts on a new grid with four rows and five columns. The player is granted one pick on each row to reveal different goodies.

• The first row contains free spins
• The second row has free spins with multipliers
• The third row awards additional scatter icons
• The fourth row contains additional wilds

After the bonus round starts, players can get three additional free spins for each Commodus symbol that appears on the third reel for the duration of the feature. The only downside is you cannot retrigger the coliseum bonus during free spins.

Bonus Game

The jackpot bonus game is activated whenever three wild gladiator helmets appear simultaneously on the second, third, and fourth reels. This can happen in the base game as well as during free spins. A ‘pick me’ style bonus game commences where bronze, silver, or gold helmets appear on the screen to reveal hidden cash prizes. Players win the progressive jackpot when they reveal nine gold helmets. It is worth mentioning the progressive prize cannot be won during free spins even if you manage to unlock the jackpot game.

Pros & Cons of Gladiator

✅ What We Like about Gladiator

• Players can deactivate some of the paylines
• The slot has two lucrative bonus features
• The progressive jackpot escalates to seven-figure amounts

❌ What We Dislike about Gladiator

• The RTP is well below the average even for progressive jackpot slots.
• Players cannot win the progressive jackpot during free spins
• The wild symbols lack win multipliers

Gladiator FAQs

Does placing higher bets improve my chances of landing the progressive jackpot?

No, wager size does not impact the probability of landing the progressive jackpot as is the case in some other Playtech slots. It all comes down to luck. There is pretty much nothing you can do to improve your chances of winning the progressive prize.

What is the seed amount for the jackpot?

The progressive jackpot starts seeding at the healthy amount of €50,000 after a lucky player lands it. As much as 1% of each wager made on the game goes toward the growing progressive prize.

What is the biggest win recorded in Gladiator to date?

The largest progressive win recorded to date was €3.1 million. The jackpot drops approximately once every fourteen weeks and yields €956,360 in prizes on average. As many as 32 wins have been recorded since Playtech launched the game over a decade ago.

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