Zeus III dropped from Mount Olympus into Mr Green.

Zeus III at Mr Green

There’s nothing new about slots having the theme of Ancient Greece written all over them but there’s plenty new about Zeus III, which as the name suggests, is the third in the Zeus series provided by WMS. Ancient Greece, rather like Ancient Egypt and fruit-based games, has figured in plenty of land-based slot machines long before they all started to go online, and you can see why. There’s plenty of appeal about Gods, heroes, villains and battles to make for exciting slots and this one certainly hasn’t disappointed. Zeus was the God of thunder and one of the most powerful figures sitting at the top of Mount Olympus in Greek mythology. Players can look forward to being allowed to enter this world that has fascinated historians, students, moviemakers and…slot players for a long time.

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How to play Zeus III

Some things in life are negotiable, others not so much. Price of a latte at Starbucks: horribly expensive, non-negotiable. Vintage Vinyl record at your local flea market: potentially great value, negotiable.

Number of active pay lines in Zeus III: non-negotiable. There are always 192 in play but what you do have a say over is your stake per spin. You can select any amount between £0.40 and £80 meaning it caters for different budgets: at one end the recreational player spinning for small amounts, at the other end the players who can afford coffees at Starbucks.

If you want to go for the big bet without manually messing around with your stake, just press ‘Max’ and you’ll play for the greatest possible amount.

Zeus III features

Just as you’d instantly notice a fearsome looking, long-haired God if he walked into your living room, so you’ll also instantly notice the unusual set-up of the reels here.

There are six reels, somewhat rare in their own right, but it’s the fact that they increase in size from left to right that’s unconventional. So, on Reel 1 there are just two symbols, on Reel 2 there are three and you get the picture…all the way to Reel 6, which has seven symbols appearing on it.

The lines pay from left to right and the least surprising element of the game is that Zeus himself is the top-paying symbol. After all, in your own slot you’d always be tempted to make yourself the prize symbol, wouldn’t you? So, six Zeus symbols in a row sees you paid out 800x your bet, five pays 100x, four pays 16x and so on.

In order of most to least valuable, there’s also: Pegasus, a ship, a helmet, a vase and a coin, followed by the four different suits that appear in a deck of playing cards.

Zeus III Wild symbol

In keeping with the somewhat stubborn and rebellious attitude of the slot- at times resembling a moody teenager refusing to cut their hair or waking up before noon- there isn’t just the one Wild like there would be in most slots.

Instead, there are two. One acts like a regular Wild, appears as just one symbol and substitutes for any other symbol bar the Scatter. It’s represented by the Parthenon, a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, which was built in honour of the Greek Goddess Athena. History lesson over, let’s talk about the other Wild symbol: Zeus himself.

Not one to be outdone, he can appear just occupying one position or fully stacked so that he covers the whole reel. When he does so, he will ensure the best value from each of the win lines where he lands.

He actually looks kind of mean with his long, thick, black hair and beard, piercing blue eyes and menacing stare. But when he’s helping you win on numerous pay lines at once as a stacked Wild, you’ll be happy to turn a blind eye to his appearance.

Zeus III Bonus Features

One possible criticism of this slot is the fact it’s a bit low on bonus features and by that we mean: there’s just the one. No prizes for guessing what it is but it certainly has plenty of potential so a real case of quality over quantity.

Free Spins
Before we had Usain Bolt, we had the lightning bolt. Often associated with Zeus, frequently pictured alongside him in books and paintings, it can appear on any of the six reels and acts as the game’s Scatter symbol. Three of those anywhere on the reels will take you to the free spins round, where the fun really starts, thanks to 10 free spins. Should you get four Scatters, it’s 25 free spins and an instant reward of 10x your bet. Five Scatters: 50 free spins and 50x your bet automatically paid out.

The first thing that happens is that the reels will invert horizontally so that the base of the pyramid rotates from left to right. In other words, the first reel now has the greatest number of symbols on it (seven) with the last reel having the fewest (two); this obviously increases your chances of securing more wins.

There’s a big difference between how the Zeus Wild symbol acts in the base game and the free spins and it’s the key to the bonus round. In the base game, Zeus can sometimes only appear occupying one position on the reels. In the free spins, anytime he appears he will instantly be nudged so that he ends up occupying the whole reel, even if to start with he was only filling one space. This is what’s known as a Nudging Wild and has the potential to secure some huge wins.

Free spins can be re-triggered if you get you get three or more Scatters during them, with the priceless symbol only not appearing on Reel 6.

Mechanics of Zeus III

Shall we talk about the numbers side of things, including the all-important RTP that tells you how generous this slot is in terms of pay-outs? Let’s.

Max Win (£): 96,000

Max win (coins): 800

Max Bet (£): 80

Min Bet (£): 0.40

Return to player: 96.10%

Volatility: Medium.

Free Play available: Yes

Zeus II is available to play on the smartphone or tablet of your choice, for those who feel moving around should never be a barrier to playing your favourite slots. For the more stationary among you, there’s also the desktop and laptop options.

Conclusion

There’s certainly more to this version than the previous two of Zeus, though we understand that the purists out there might tend to prefer the original, if only for how iconic it is as one of the few slots almost everyone will have heard of.

It is admittedly no beauty in terms of appearance with lots of other games trumping out for the aesthetic appearance of the symbols and the reels but it does get bonus points for he unusual reels set-up, the two types of Wilds in play during the base game and the somewhat rare Nudging Wilds feature in the free spins round.