Symbols and tumbles

Temple pillars frame the grid and Zeus stands next to it, hurling orbs onto the reels himself. The paytable splits cleanly in two. Five coloured gems fill the lower end, while a crown, an hourglass, a ring and a chalice, all in gold, sit above them. Each orb shows its value on its face, so you can read the multiplier before the tumbles finish. Zeus himself is the scatter,.

After every spin the game simply counts how many times each symbol appears. Eight or more of one kind pay, with three tiers: 8–9, 10–11 and 12 or more. A tumble follows each win: winning symbols vanish, the rest drop down, the empty spaces refill from above, and the process repeats while new wins appear. The whole chain counts as a single spin.

Payouts are multiples of the base bet. Each tumble is evaluated separately: symbols from different drops are not combined to reach the 12+ tier.

Zeus’s multiplier orbs

Orbs can land on any spin or tumble, base game included. Their value is drawn from a fixed list: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500. Once the tumbling stops, every orb on screen is summed and the total multiplies the win for that sequence. Two things catch newcomers out. An orb on a losing spin does nothing at all. And orbs add rather than multiply, so a pair of x10 orbs gives x20, not x100.

Free spins and the accumulated multiplier

At least four scatters are needed for the 15 free spins, and landing four also pays 3x the bet, while five pay 5x and six pay 100x. Inside the round, things work step by step:

1. Tumbles and orbs behave just as they do in the base game.
2. Any orb that lands on a winning spin is added to a total multiplier for the round.
3. That total never resets until the feature ends.
4. It only applies to a win when a fresh orb lands on that same winning spin. A win with no new orb pays straight from the paytable.
5. Three or more scatters extend the round by 5 spins, as many times as they land.

Orbs on a losing spin do not increase the total multiplier. Extensions preserve the accumulated total, but applying it still requires a fresh orb on a winning spin.

Ante Bet, the buy and the cap

Switching on Ante Bet costs 25% more per spin and makes free spins twice as likely. Where the bonus buy is allowed, 100x the bet takes you straight to the free spins. The studio’s server lists the return for each mode separately, and all three match: regular play, Ante Bet and the buy each return 96.50%. None of these buttons improves or worsens the maths. What changes is how fast money moves and how the risk is shaped.

One quirk with Ante Bet concerns the cap. It is calculated from the base bet, while you are actually paying a quarter more. Measured against the amount really deducted per spin, the ceiling with Ante Bet on works out at 4,000x.

The 5,000x limit applies to the whole round: the initial spin and any free spins it triggers, rather than an individual tumble. The studio-server figure in the source puts it at roughly one in 697,350 rounds, a statistical estimate rather than a waiting period. The bonus trigger frequency is not published.

Sequels and related mechanics

Starlight Princess — Released: Sep 2021; RTP: 96.50%; Top orb: x500; Cap: 5,000x.

Gates of Olympus 1000 — Released: Dec 2023; RTP: 96.50%; Top orb: x1,000; Cap: 15,000x.

Gates of Olympus Super Scatter — Released: Apr 2025; RTP: 96.50%; Top orb: x500; Cap: 50,000x.

Gates of Olympus 1000 barely changes the rules; the difference is pricier orbs and a ceiling three times higher. In the Super Scatter edition, a special scatter pays instant prizes and Ante Bet costs half the stake. There is also a festive Gates of Olympus Xmas 1000, released in December 2024 with a 15,000x cap.

If you like the maths but not the marble, Starlight Princess swaps Zeus for an anime princess and orbs for winged hearts while keeping the same running total in free spins.

Starburst has low volatility and a hit on roughly one spin in four. In the comparison with Sweet Bonanza, the central mechanical difference is that the candy slot’s multipliers do not carry over between spins.

A sweet-shop window of fruit and candy

The whole screen reads like a confectioner’s display: five fruits, three coloured candies and a red heart as the top symbol. The scatter is a lollipop, and the free spins bombs come in rainbow colours. All that colour has a price. On a packed grid of thirty symbols it is hard to count matches at a glance, and sometimes the highlight the game puts on winning symbols before each tumble is the only way to see why a spin paid. In turbo mode the tumbles blur into a single movement.

Eight of a kind starts the tumble

Any eight identical symbols pay, wherever they land. Winning symbols burst and fresh ones fall in, and this repeats with no limit for as long as new wins appear. Since the game has no Wild, the base game relies entirely on tumbles.

Figures are multiples of the standard bet and match the paytable the studio’s game server sends out. Fruit forms the bottom half, candy and the heart the top. The gap between tiers is wide: eight bananas return a quarter of your stake, twelve hearts return fifty stakes.

A calculation example: eight bananas pay 0.25x, then ten grapes connect for another 0.9x after the drop, and the next tumble finds no win. Add those payouts: 0.25x + 0.9x = 1.15x. A €1 stake therefore produces €1.15 in total payouts, or €0.15 above the paid stake. This illustrates the calculation, rather than how frequently that outcome occurs. With no bombs outside free spins, nothing can multiply such a chain in regular play.

The 12+ tier refers to matching symbols on the same grid before a particular tumble. At that step, the apple moves from 1.5x to 10x and the banana from 0.75x to 2x. Eight apples on one drop and four on the next do not become twelve: each grid is evaluated separately. Payouts from successive winning drops are then added to the result of the paid spin.

Lollipop payouts on the trigger

The lollipop scatter also pays on its own when four or more land, and those same symbols open the bonus. Four, five and six lollipops pay 3x, 5x and 100x the bet, credited before the first free spin even starts. The prize is calculated from the standard bet, so with Ante Bet switched on it shrinks by a fifth relative to what you actually paid per spin: 2.4x, 4x and 80x.

A six-lollipop trigger matches the buy price, so that round is already paid for. Four scatters, by far the most common trigger, add only a small top-up, leaving the bombs to decide everything.

Rainbow bombs and why they reset

At least four lollipops start the bonus with 10 free spins. In the round, rainbow bomb multipliers of 2x to 100x can land; the studio’s server lists the exact set as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 100. The order of events:

1. A bomb drops in with the regular symbols and stays put through the whole tumble sequence.
2. If the sequence produced a win, every bomb on screen is added up at the end.
3. That sum multiplies the sequence’s win, and then the bombs disappear.
4. The next spin starts from zero, since there is no running multiplier here.

A worked case: a sequence collects 5x in symbol wins while a 10x and a 25x bomb land. Bombs add rather than multiply, so they combine into 35x and the sequence pays 175x. The same two bombs on a dead spin would have been worth nothing; in a game with a round-wide multiplier they would at least have been banked. Here every free spin is a separate lottery ticket, and because nothing carries over, one spin where a big bomb meets a long chain usually decides the whole round.

Another three lollipops during the feature add 5 spins. Retriggers are valued differently as a result: five extra spins add half the opening round but inherit nothing, so they are exactly as good as the first five. The flip side is that a weak start means nothing either, since the big spin is just as likely to come last as first.

High volatility and the payout ceiling

Pragmatic Play classifies the original Sweet Bonanza as a high-volatility game. That describes the spread of payouts, rather than promising a comfortable session or a set number of spins before the bonus. A tumble can pay little, pay more, or end without a win. The volatility label alone does not reveal the free-spin frequency, the proportion of stakes recovered, or the next spin’s outcome.

Paid spins and individual tumbles are different counts. One spin can contain several drops of symbols while still costing one stake. Its result depends on the sum of its payouts compared with that price. For example, a 0.25x payout leaves three quarters of the stake unrecovered even though the game displays a win. Neither a long animation nor several drops tells you how well your balance is being preserved.

The official launch announcement gives the original a ceiling of 21,175x the stake. Compare that with a specific payout: twelve hearts pay 50x, and a 100x bomb converts that symbol win to 5,000x. Two 100x bombs add to 200x and produce 10,000x from the same symbol total. These are different results, both below the overall ceiling. A large multiplier with no winning symbols does not create a payout. The ceiling does not state its hit probability or define a normal bonus result.

Two bet levels, one buy button

The Ante Bet option costs 25% more per spin and roughly doubles the chance of the feature. Under the hood these are two bet levels, 20 coins for a standard spin and 25 with Ante Bet on. With it switched off, you can pay 100x the bet for direct entry, which gives the same 10 free spins; with it on, the buy is unavailable. Taking the studio’s “roughly doubles” as an exact doubling, Ante Bet reaches free spins on about a third less turnover: 0.625 of the standard figure.

The published return needs a footnote. The game page on the studio’s site quotes 96.48%. When the demo launches, though, the game server reports two figures, 96.49% and 96.60%, one per bet level. The gap is a fraction of a percent, but it does show that Ante Bet doesn’t lower the RTP. The demo itself is Pragmatic Play’s own build with full rules on virtual credits, and direct entry works there too.

The 100x purchase price uses the selected standard stake. At €0.20, entry costs €20; at €1, it costs €100. This pays for a single bonus round rather than adding enough balance for one hundred regular spins. The ten opening free spins define the initial round length, not ten winning spins or a refund of the entry price.

Assessing a purchase by RTP requires a figure for that particular mode. The regular-game number describes a different set of paid events. Tumble frequency, multiplier symbols and the length of the purchased round all contribute to its result, so the overall percentage alone cannot calculate the expected payout of a purchase. To account for a particular purchase, add its actual payouts, including any retriggers, and compare that sum with the entry price. For example, a €20 bonus paying €12 leaves a difference of −€8, regardless of how many winning tumbles were shown. The original lists one purchase option; the super purchase belongs to a different version.

The Xmas edition, the 1000 sequel and a cluster cousin

The game arrived in summer 2019, six weeks after The Dog House, and set the studio’s template for games that pay without lines. Two years later the same frame gained a banked multiplier in Gates of Olympus: the same 6×5 grid, but multipliers bank for the whole round, tension builds towards the last free spin and the banked multiplier changes how the round payout is calculated. The candy line itself developed like this:

Sweet Bonanza — Released: June 2019; RTP: 96.48%; Top bomb: 100x; Cap: 21,175x; Buy: 100x.

Sweet Bonanza Xmas — Released: Nov 2020; RTP: 96.48%; Top bomb: 100x; Cap: 21,100x; Buy: 100x.

Sweet Bonanza 1000 — Released: June 2024; RTP: 96.53%; Top bomb: 1,000x; Cap: 25,000x; Buy: 100x and 500x.

Sweet Bonanza 1000 keeps the grid and rules, and its super buy guarantees every bomb is worth at least 20x; how the two differ in risk is laid out in the original-versus-1000 comparison. The festive edition copies the maths almost exactly, with snow, bauble multipliers and Christmas music. The 2025 Sweet Bonanza Super Scatter raises the cap to 50,000x.

For sweets with different mechanics, Sugar Rush uses a 7×7 grid and multipliers that lock onto grid spots and double up to 128x. It pays for touching groups rather than symbols anywhere, the system described under cluster pays.

Collapses,Wild Mining and dirt

Collapsing Mine returns: a win, an xBomb explosion or Wild Mining triggers a collapse, winners are removed, new symbols fall and another row opens. The xBomb Wild substitutes for all but bonus symbols. When it blows up, it destroys its neighbours and adds its own value to the next collapse’s multiplier. Wild Mining now works both horizontally and vertically, turning three to six matching symbols into one to four Wilds when there is no win.

Dirt blocks can hide Wild, Split or bonus symbols, which stay inactive until the dirt is blasted away or hit by an xSplit. xSplit divides the symbols on its row, doubling them. xBet costs 250% of the base bet, guarantees a bonus symbol on the last inactive row and removes the dirt from the base game.

xBet costs 2.5 base bets in total, rather than an extra 250%: a 0.20 base bet costs 0.50. xSplit doubles the symbol count in its row rather than automatically doubling every award. The full paytable, xBomb values and hidden-feature probabilities are unlisted.

Wagons and crystals

Lucky Wagon Spins start from three, four or five bonus symbols, which open two, three or four rows respectively. You play three spins that reset with every new coin. Wagons on the top row reveal coin values, multipliers, dynamite, beer and the dwarf, who collects all values. The extra seventh reel can show Upgrade Crystals that keep coins active or make dynamite, beer and the dwarf persistent until the round ends.

Official bonus buy prices are 70x, 200x and 600x for 3, 4 and 5 scatters, 175x for Lucky Draw and 3,600x for a guaranteed persistent dwarf. Bonus buys may be unavailable in some markets.

Dynamite explosions can also open chests on the bottom row; each collects values in its own column.

At a 0.20 bet, three-, four- and five-symbol entries cost fourteen, forty and 120; Lucky Draw costs thirty-five and the persistent dwarf 720. Lucky Draw rules and separate buy RTPs are unlisted. Crystal-enabled persistence belongs to the bonus rather than the next ordinary spin.

Frequencies and ceiling

The official game sheet lists RTP builds of 96.07%, 94.08%, 92.07% and 87.05%. The 87.05% build is for the German market only. Help identifies the active build; the extremes differ by 9.02 percentage points. Volatility is very high, hit frequency 25.09%, and bonus frequency about one in 211 spins. Bets are 0.20–100, with a 65,000x ceiling, or thirteen thousand at the minimum. An exclusive maximum-win route and early-termination rule are unestablished.

Zeus at the gates, unchanged by design

The presentation copies the original almost exactly. The god of thunder sits to the side of the reels and strikes multiplier symbols onto the grid at random. The symbols are gems plus a crown, a goblet and other treasures of the gods, framed by marble columns. Little is new to look at, and that seems deliberate: a sequel like this is meant to be recognised on the first spin.

The 6×5 grid uses pay-anywhere wins. Lines play no part. Eight or more matching symbols anywhere on screen form a win. Eight is more than a quarter of the 30 cells, so every refill during a tumble counts: the more matching symbols survive an explosion, the easier the next group becomes. Five coloured gems fill the low end of the paytable, while a ring, a chalice, a crown and an hourglass pay more. Wilds don’t exist in this game.

Pragmatic’s page for the sequel doesn’t reproduce the paytable. As a reference point, the studio says the original pays for groups of 8 to 30 symbols, with the best multiplier-free win reaching 50x the bet. The sequel’s exact values are in the in-game help.

Every win starts a tumble. Winning symbols vanish, the rest fall, and new ones drop in from above. The chain runs as long as new matches keep forming, and the base game lives on those chains.

Thunderbolt multipliers worth up to 1,000x

Multiplier symbols can land on any reel, both in regular spins and in free spins, and each takes a random value from 2x to 1,000x. On regular spins they stay on screen while the tumble sequence continues. Once it stops, the game adds their values together and applies the sum to everything that chain paid.

A quick example: a tumble chain pays 2x the bet, and two multipliers, 5x and 10x, are sitting on the grid when it ends. They sum to 15x, so the final payout is 30x the bet.

That rule has a blunt consequence. A multiplier with no win beside it is worthless and simply disappears when the chain ends; the next spin starts with a clean grid. The loudest results come when a big multiplier coincides with a long tumble chain. The 1,000x value itself is very rare, and most of the time multipliers arrive with small numbers, so the game plays much like the first one.

Even a record multiplier doesn’t guarantee a huge sum. If a chain pays only 0.5x the bet, a 1,000x multiplier turns it into 500x: a lot, but thirty times short of the cap. Getting near the limit takes both a big multiplier and a rich chain of premium symbols.

Scatter prizes on the way into free spins

Scatters pay on their own and open the bonus at the same time. Position doesn’t matter; only the count does, and the instant prize comes on top of the free spins.

One curiosity: the six-scatter prize equals the price of a bonus buy. That spin effectively refunds the entry fee and hands you the round on top. It’s rare, of course. Far more often the bonus opens with exactly four scatters and a modest 3x.

Between bonuses, then, almost all base-game money comes from tumbles and multipliers. Scatters only pay at the moment of entry.

A running total that grows spin by spin

In free spins the multiplier logic changes. Each multiplier that lands on a winning spin is added to a total multiplier for the round, and that total then applies to any win where a new multiplier appears. The round remembers everything already collected, so each later hit is worth more than the one before.

The order matters. The new multiplier is added first, then the total is applied. Say the running total is 40x halfway through. A spin brings a 1x win and a 10x multiplier. The total becomes 50x, and that spin pays 50x the bet. A winning spin with no fresh multiplier doesn’t use the total and pays its base value. The reverse also holds: a tiny late multiplier switches on everything collected so far, so with a 75x total a 2x multiplier turns a 1x win into 77x.

Three or more scatters during the round award 5 extra spins, fifteen spins becoming twenty. Those five are worth more than average because they start with the total already built, and late in the round it may already be large.

The big-win recipe follows: the running total climbs through the round, then a large multiplier arrives together with a good tumble chain. None of it can be steered. When a multiplier appears and what it’s worth are down to the random number generator; the player only chooses the spin price and the route into the bonus.

Same return, different spread

The official RTP is 96.50%, identical to the original. Pragmatic keeps its hit rate and trigger rate private here, which leaves a qualitative picture: long runs of empty or near-empty spins are normal, and notable wins usually come from free spins with a healthy running total.

Why does a sequel with the same RTP feel sharper? The return is identical, but the distribution of wins isn’t. When the cap and the multipliers grow, part of the same return moves into rare giant outcomes, and ordinary results give something up in exchange. An average bonus in the 1000 version has no obligation to be richer than one in the original. That trade-off is what “high volatility” means here.

No result can exceed 15,000x the stake. The official page doesn’t say whether the round ends the moment the limit is hit, so look that up in the help screen. Only a rare mix of a huge running total and rich chains leads there.

Ante Bet and the bonus buy

Two paid extras are available. Ante Bet raises every spin by 25% and improves the chance of reaching free spins naturally; the round itself plays exactly the same. The bonus buy, where allowed, starts free spins from the base game for 100x the bet.

Separate return figures for Ante and for buying aren’t on the official page; the paytable inside the game is where to confirm them. Pragmatic also doesn’t say how much Ante lifts the trigger chance, and that is what decides its value: the spin gets 25% dearer, so Ante only makes the road to the bonus cheaper if the chance rises by more than 25%. If it goes up by exactly a quarter, you are just paying more for the same thing. The demo version is Pragmatic Play’s official one.

Olympus relatives and the 1000 range

The source is Gates of Olympus from 2021: same rules, but multipliers only up to 500x, a 5,000x cap and a maximum bet of 100 per spin against 240 in the sequel. The grid, tumbles, 15 starting free spins and RTP are shared, and Gates of Olympus vs Gates of Olympus 1000 lines the two up point by point. The original is the game that made “pay anywhere plus multiplier orbs” the genre standard, and it has had plenty of followers, many from Pragmatic itself. That makes it the calmer way into the same idea.

Starlight Princess 1000 launched on the very same day, an anime version of the formula with the same mechanics, running total and headline numbers; it differs mostly in presentation. The originals of both games are set side by side in Gates of Olympus and Starlight Princess.

This sequel opened a whole range. Pragmatic took its most popular games and released versions with multipliers up to 1,000x and higher caps, keeping the base rules intact. Zeus and the princess went first, and the candy games followed in 2024.

A later spin-off, Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, arrived in 2025. It returns to the original multiplier range but builds its top prize around a special scatter, and its Ante adds 50% to the stake. Pragmatic has also released a festive Gates of Olympus Xmas 1000, and the sequel’s announcement pointed to its Greek-themed relatives Wisdom of Athena and Zeus vs Hades – Gods of War. The same pay-anywhere system with medium volatility and a steadier rhythm is found in Sweet Bonanza.

Six fruits on an 8×8 grid

Paylines don’t exist here. Five or more identical fruits that touch along a row or column form a paying cluster, in any shape: straight, bent or snaking across the grid. The six symbols are blueberries, plums, apples, raspberries, oranges and strawberries, with strawberries paying the most.

After payment, symbols disappear, gaps refill and fresh groups continue the chain. The help provides full coefficients. Sixty-four cells and six types do not imply uniform frequency:64/6 does not establish the probability of an adjacent group. The Cluster Pays explainer explains the principle.

Jar Wild: 1x,retention,hop,+1

The jar is both Wild and Scatter. Its starting 1x applies to a win containing it; after participating in a winning cascade, the jar remains, hops to an adjacent empty cell and adds one to its multiplier. Five participations give 6x, and ten give 11x. A spin without its winning participation adds nothing. Several jars in one group apply their multipliers, but their precise combination is unspecified here; sum or product cannot be chosen arbitrarily.

A hop does not transport a jar across the whole grid. Interior cells have four neighbours, edges three and corners two;8×8 has four corners, twenty-four non-corner edges and thirty-six interior cells. This is geometry rather than measured winning probability. Without symbol and transition weights, it cannot establish that central jars grow more often or opposite-corner jars almost never meet.

Rainbow and six free spins

Rainbow triggers at random after a spin with no win. A rainbow appears over the grid and adds giant fruit symbols that can form a big cluster. It works as a kind of consolation: a spin that paid nothing sometimes gets turned into a winner.

Rainbow probability is unspecified; giant fruits can create a group without guaranteeing payment. Rainbow does not operate in free spins. At least three jars on one board award six spins: triggering and new jars stay to the end, and multipliers persist even after blanks. An additional-free-spin rule is not listed, so lack of mention does not prove strictly fixed length.

The table is an invented round: jar A received six increments, C five and B one. A nominal 0.5x group with A alone at 7x pays 3.5x. If C at 6x also joins, the exact award requires the two-multiplier combination rule. Starting spin count does not equal payout count because cascades can occur inside each spin.

The original description allows a direct buy at some operators, but the studio page gives neither its price nor a separate RTP. Button availability and parameters must be established from the active build; main-game return does not establish buy return.

Two returns and observed wins

RTP is 96.83% or 94.25%, a difference of 2.58 percentage points. Volatility is high; hit and feature rates are unpublished. Wild Swarm lists 97.03% in the catalogue, a percentage comparison rather than a result promise. Stakes are 0.2–100. The studio’s 19,998.5x record is observed; the rounded catalogue figure of 20,000x establishes neither a formal limit rule nor early termination.

In January 2019, Push Gaming reported €19,361.80 from a €1 stake, and two weeks later £17,174.85 from £1, at the same casino. Those two results do not establish the frequency of such awards. The game belongs to Push Originals.

The original jar,Giga Jar and other multipliers

Jammin’ Jars 2 arrived in June 2021: the same grid and hops, instant prizes up to 1,000x, Fruit Blast and Giga Jar. Standard RTPs of 96.83% and 96.40% differ by 0.43 percentage points. In February 2021, James Marshall explained the announcement through continuing positive feedback from players and partners.

Fruit Party 2 uses a persistent Wild with a doubling multiplier; Sugar Rush ties multipliers to cells with repeated wins. Here the value rises by one and moves with the jar. Le Bandit is a medium-volatility Hacksaw cluster game. The free spins in slots covers the general feature principle, and the Push Gaming catalogue lists other releases.

Connected clusters and the paytable

Five or more identical sweets touching along rows or columns form a cluster; diagonal contact doesn’t count. Each cluster pays only its highest win. Unlike Scatter Pays games, what matters is the size of a connected patch, not how many of a symbol appear across the board. Payouts come in eleven bands from 5 up to 15-plus, and they climb unevenly. Cluster payouts by size, as the studio’s demo backend reports them, in multiples of the bet:

Candy 1 (top) — 5: 1x; 8: 2x; 10: 5x; 12: 15x; 13: 35x; 14: 70x; 15+: 150x.

Candy 2 — 5: 0.75x; 8: 1.5x; 10: 4x; 12: 12.5x; 13: 30x; 14: 60x; 15+: 100x.

Candy 3 — 5: 0.5x; 8: 1.25x; 10: 3x; 12: 10x; 13: 20x; 14: 40x; 15+: 60x.

Candy 4 — 5: 0.4x; 8: 1x; 10: 2x; 12: 5x; 13: 10x; 14: 20x; 15+: 40x.

Bear 1 — 5: 0.3x; 8: 0.75x; 10: 1.5x; 12: 3.5x; 13: 8x; 14: 15x; 15+: 30x.

Bear 2 — 5: 0.25x; 8: 0.5x; 10: 1.25x; 12: 3x; 13: 6x; 14: 12x; 15+: 25x.

Bear 3 — 5: 0.2x; 8: 0.4x; 10: 1x; 12: 2.5x; 13: 5x; 14: 10x; 15+: 20x.

The table shows selected cluster sizes from eleven bands spanning 5–15+. Each cluster receives its single highest qualifying award. Matching symbols outside that connected patch do not increase its pay; diagonal neighbours do not join cells. Listed value and multiplier sum determine a particular payout, but unspecified symbol weights prevent claiming most regular spins are small or blank.

From a mark to 1,024x

Pragmatic calls the mechanic Multiplier Spots. Every exploding winner leaves a mark on its cell. A second explosion in the same cell adds a 2x multiplier, and each further one doubles it. That value boosts any cluster crossing the cell, and when one cluster covers several multiplied cells, their values are added together.

Multiplier — 1st: mark; 2nd: 2x; 3rd: 4x; 4th: 8x; 5th: 16x; 6th: 32x; 7th: 64x; 8th: 128x; 9th: 256x; 10th: 512x; 11th: 1,024x.

Repeated explosions in one cell need not occur on adjacent tumbles: its state survives until the current base-game chain ends, or until the feature ends in free spins. An intervening win elsewhere does not erase the mark. The next paid spin begins with a clean board. The original stops growth at the eighth hit, the new edition at the eleventh; rules do not establish how often these steps are reached.

Picture a moment in free spins. The board holds cells charged to 4x, 16x and 2x, while a new cluster of ten top candies runs through all three. Ten top candies are worth 5x; with 4 + 16 + 2 = 22 as the combined boost, 110x is paid. Then those ten symbols explode: the three charged cells double to 8x, 32x and 4x, while the other seven get a mark or, if already marked, their first 2x.

If the next tumble brings five of the cheapest bear through the 32x cell, that small group pays 0.2x × 32 = 6.4x. A cheap symbol on a strong cell can out-earn a big cluster on empty ones, which is why the multiplier map is worth watching more closely than symbol prices during the feature.

Free spins and two buys

Three, four, five, six or seven scatters anywhere award 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30 free spins. The scatters themselves pay nothing; they are only the key to the round. Inside it, the same scale works for extensions, so three or more new scatters add 10 to 30 spins.

Marks and multipliers stay between spins. The same scatter scale extends the feature; scatters pay no cash. The standard 100x entry supplies 3–7 scatters and can therefore award different starting lengths. The 500x Super sets every one of the 49 cells to 2x. Its first five-symbol cluster sums to a 10x boost, applying immediately rather than after two winning hits.

An illustrative six-symbol Candy 4 cluster pays 0.5x: six 2x cells sum to 12x for a 6x award. After removal the cells become 4x; another such cluster on those same six positions would use 24x. This is a specified layout rather than a next-tumble guarantee. bonus buy slots compares paid-entry games; attempts and price alone do not establish mode value.

Maths and predecessors

The demo lists 96.53% base RTP, 96.52% standard-buy RTP and 96.44% Super-buy RTP; the studio page lists 96.00%. The base discrepancy is unexplained, so rules identify the active figure. Volatility is high, stakes 0.2–100 and bonus frequency undisclosed. The 25,000x cap applies in base play and the feature: the capped amount is paid and remaining spins cease. The configuration description gives one event per 12.8 million rounds, without specifying its mode or applicability to every RTP build.

Fruit Party of 2020 uses random symbol multipliers. Sugar Rush of 30 June 2022 replaced them with cell memory, sharing the paytable and scatter scale, with a 128x cell maximum, 5,000x total cap and one 100x buy. Its demo base and buy RTPs are 96.50%, with listed cap odds of one per 2.34 million. Matching tables do not establish identical outcome probabilities. Sugar Rush vs Fruit Party compares the predecessors; Sugar Rush Xmas changes the setting. January 2026’s Super Scatter has the 1000 edition’s cell maximum, a 50,000x cap, three ante options and two buys.

Tumbles and candy bombs

The look stays close to the first game: a bright candy world, fruit mixed with sweets, and a lollipop as the scatter. For a series this recognisable that makes sense, as anyone who has played the original knows what is going on straight away.

A spin pays when eight or more of the same symbol land anywhere on the grid. Bananas, grapes, watermelons, plums and apples are the low payers; four candies pay more. Pragmatic describes the payouts as rising in steps, from eight matching symbols up to groups of twelve or more. The game page doesn’t list the exact amounts per step; the in-game help does. The grid has no Wild. Every payout sets off a tumble that clears the winning symbols and refills the grid from above, repeating while matches keep forming.

Four or more lollipops unlock 10 free spins, and three more during the round add another 5. In the bonus, candy bombs land with random values from 2x up to 1,000x.

Bombs appear only in free spins. They remain on the grid during one tumble sequence, then their values add and multiply that sequence’s payout. They do not carry into the next spin like Gates of Olympus 1000’s accumulating meter. An illustrative 3x sequence with 10x and 25x bombs pays 105x; without bombs it remains 3x. A bomb without a winning sequence pays nothing.

Two buys and Ante Bet

The 20x floor guarantees each bomb’s denomination rather than its appearance on a winning spin or recovery of the purchase price. Two such bombs give at least 40x to the relevant sequence. Separate buy RTPs are unspecified; the higher floor alone cannot establish comparative value. Super entry costs five standard buys, which is not a comparison of expected outcomes.

Ante Bet raises spin cost by 25% and doubles free-spin chance rather than payouts. Separate Ante return is absent from the description. Its expected loss cannot therefore be calculated using base RTP, nor its bonus route called cheaper without conditions. Natural bonus and hit rates and bomb-value weights are undisclosed.

Maths and the sweet series

RTP is 96.53%, volatility high, stakes 0.2–240 and maximum payout 25,000x. The title’s thousand refers to the highest bomb value rather than the total limit. Round termination at the maximum is unspecified. Top bomb value rose tenfold from the original, while the ceiling rose about 18%; these are different limits, and denominations do not establish large-win frequency.

Sweet Bonanza from 2019 has 96.48% RTP, medium volatility, bombs up to 100x, a 21,175x maximum and a maximum stake of 100. Sweet Bonanza Xmas from 2020 keeps the core under winter art; listed figures are 96.48% RTP, high risk and a 21,100x limit.

Sugar Rush 1000 uses clusters on a 7×7 grid and cells that remember wins. Later Pragmatic Play added Sweet Bonanza Super Scatter and Sweet Bonanza 2500. Their bonus rules need separate comparisons rather than assumptions from a shared candy theme.

Sweet Bonanza vs Sweet Bonanza 1000 compares the two series entries; Gates of Olympus and Sweet Bonanza compares candy tumbles with Zeus’s mechanics.

Six reels and a growing grid

Every spin starts with three rows, which is 3 to the sixth power, or 729 ways. Each collapse opens one more row: four rows give 4,096 ways, five give 15,625 and six give 46,656, so the last row multiplies the count almost threefold. Three collapses in a row take the grid from three rows to six and multiply the ways 64 times. So what matters is not the payout for one symbol but the number of collapses per spin.

Combinations form on adjacent reels from left to right. The symbols are ten-to-ace cards, a roast bird, a lamp, boots, a wheelbarrow of gold and a bottle. Six matching cards pay 1x to 1.5x the bet, and six matching high symbols pay 1.75x to 7.5x.

The mine collapse: what opens a new row

Four events start a collapse: a winning combination, an xBomb Wild explosion, Wild Mining firing and an xHole activating. Winning symbols are paid and removed, the rest fall down and new ones arrive from above. Each collapse opens one more row until there are six.

Any of the four triggers widens the grid, even if it earns no money. That is why Wild Mining, which fires without a win, matters so much: it pushes the grid toward six rows.

xBomb Wild: an explosion and a multiplier for the next collapse

The xBomb substitutes for any symbol except bonus ones, and before the next collapse it explodes and removes neighbouring symbols, except bonus ones. The xBomb’s value is added to the win multiplier for the next collapse. All xBombs explode before the next collapse, except when Wild Mining has fired.

An example. An xBomb with a value of 3 explodes and removes four neighbours. New symbols appear where they were and one of the combinations wins. That win’s multiplier is three. If another xBomb worth 2 explodes in the next collapse, it adds two to the following step.

Wild Mining: a payout without a win

If three, four, five or six matching symbols line up horizontally or vertically but there is no winning combination, Wild Mining fires. It does not fire while an xHole or xBomb is active. The symbols of the line vanish and Wilds remain in its middle: one for a line of three, two for four, three for five and four for six. All positions above the line, except bonus symbols and symbols under ice, explode and start a new collapse. Such a Wild is a good foundation for the next combination.

The ice: what is hidden in the blocks

Ice blocks hold surprises that stay inactive until an xBomb explosion breaks the block, or, in the bonus, a dynamite. Inside there may be an ordinary Wild, an xSplit, a win multiplier of 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 20x, 50x or 100x, an xHole, a bonus symbol that counts toward the scatters, or the 2×2 max symbol.

Empty blocks and blocks with a multiplier hit by a split vanish on collapse. So the contents of the ice must be uncovered before the grid reshuffles: ice multipliers are very vulnerable.

The max symbol in the ice and Fire In The Bowl

The “Max” symbol lies in the ice as a 2×2 block. The max win is paid as soon as all the ice is knocked off the symbol. The max is 70,000x, and the screen is called Fire In The Bowl. When the total win reaches that value, the mine is cleaned out and the round ends.

The studio puts the odds of the maximum at 1 in 14.3 million. It is a very rare event, but it has a direct route: the Golden Nugget purchase, which places the max symbol in the ice.

xHole and xSplit: splitting symbols

The xHole pulls in ordinary paying symbols and scatters them to random positions, already split into parts of size one to three. In its own spot it leaves a gap that starts a collapse. Winning symbols are paid and removed before it fires. With several xHoles the parts grow further, several times over.

In practice it is a way to fill the grid with big uniform chunks that easily close into a combination. Plus every xHole starts a collapse and opens a row.

The xSplit splits all other symbols on its reel, doubling their value. Bonus symbols, xSplit and xHole cannot be split. Once all xSplits have done their work, they turn into ordinary symbols. Ice blocks hit by a split vanish on collapse. So an xSplit strengthens symbols but can destroy ice with a multiplier, a trade-off worth watching.

Lucky Wagon Spins and the gamble for it

Three, four or five bonus symbols start Lucky Wagon Spins with two, three or four rows open. Six symbols also open four rows but bring a Persistent Dwarf on the first spin at once. It begins with three spins, and the counter resets to three each time a coin lands on the grid. All coin values are multiplied by the current stake. The mechanic is familiar from Hold and Win games: while coins keep landing, the round goes on, and the more rows are open, the more cells there are for coins and the longer a round usually lives.

A win of 5 bets or more in the base game can be staked on a chance at one of the Lucky Wagon Spins levels, whose cost is higher than the current win. On success you are offered a gamble for the next level, and you can stop with the Collect button. The gamble can be switched off. In effect it buys a bonus with money already won, and that money is what you risk.

Enhancers in the top row

Above the grid, enhancers show on every spin. An enhancer switches on when a coin lands on the reel beneath it.

Enhancers fall into three groups: those that set value, those that amplify it and those that collect it. The win is made of all three.

Dynamite: what it blows up

A landed dynamite adds its count in bets to the coin that called it, then throws as many dynamites as its count onto positions of the grid. The result depends on where the dynamite hits: ice breaks, a coin doubles, a chest activates, ice hiding a symbol opens, and a dynamite or Persistent Dwarf gets its coin doubled.

An example. A dynamite with a count of 3 adds three bets to its coin, then throws three dynamites at the grid. One breaks ice, another doubles a 10x coin and a third hits a chest and activates it. So one enhancer produces a chain of effects.

Persistent Dwarf and Evil Dwarf

The Persistent Dwarf collects all values on the grid at its position on every spin. It brings the round’s main sums and is guaranteed with six bonus symbols. The Evil Dwarf starts a Golden Spin: all coins on the grid fire again, each triggering its own enhancer and raising its own value.

So the Persistent Dwarf is the collector and the Evil Dwarf is the amplifier. Together they turn a calm collection of coins into a chain of doublings.

The xHole in the bonus and the Collect Chests

In the bonus an xHole starts three Frozen Wagon Spins and turns into a 1x coin. On those spins the top row shows only coins, and all existing coins take the enhancers’ values and add them to their own. Then Lucky Wagon Spins carry on and the spin counter resets to three. The xHole is therefore not a lost spin but an accelerator: three spins where coins only grow.

According to Bigwinboard, the bottom row of the bonus holds Collect Chests that are activated by dynamite. An activated chest collects the values on the reel above it on every spin. When the grid is full, ordinary coins are removed and their values are added to the bottom coins of their reels. That banks what has been collected, frees space for new coins and so extends the round.

The buy menu and boosters

Prices climb in steps: from 60 to 500 for three to five symbols and then in a leap to the thousands. An open row costs 30 bets in the 60x purchase, about 67 in the 200x one and 125 in the 500x one: the price per row grows faster than the number of rows, so you pay for the chance of a big round rather than for the cells.

Golden Nugget costs a tenth of the cap but guarantees only the max symbol in the ice: to collect 70,000x you still have to knock all the ice off it, and the gamble is not available in this mode.

Three boosters charge a price on every spin. Booster 1 at 2 bets makes sure a bonus symbol lands on the second reel. Booster 2 at 5 bets guarantees at least three bonus symbols in the ice. Booster 3 at 5 bets opens all six rows at once and puts the game on the maximum number of ways from the first collapse, though some of them will stay empty.

What makes up the 96.05%

The main game provides 63.00% of the return and the bonus 33.05%, exactly 96.05% together. With a bonus once in 231 spins, an average bonus pays out about 76 bets (33.05 × 231 / 100), and the cheapest purchase at 60x is below that estimate because it covers only the weak two-row tier. A 100-bet win comes once in 796 spins on average. The lowest of the five return versions is 84.07%.

Predecessors and mining neighbours

The series began with Fire in the Hole on 2 March 2021, with a 96.06% RTP and a 60,000x maximum. Fire in the Hole 2 followed on 5 March 2024 with 96.07% and a 100,000x cap, so the third part has a lower ceiling than the second. The mining theme also shows up in Misery Mining (8 February 2022, 96.09%, 70,000x). All three neighbours have very high volatility too.

Clusters and thirteen payout bands

Push Gaming announced the sequel in February and released it on 2 June 2021. On the 8×8 grid, at least five matching fruits connected along edges rather than diagonals pay. Winning symbols disappear and gaps refill; cascades end only when no winning groups remain, rather than when one jar fails to pay. The our cluster pays explainer explains the principle. Six fruit pays use the total stake.

5 — Pomegranate: 1.5x; Pineapple: 1x; Melon: 0.2x; Peach: 0.2x; Berry: 0.1x; Blueberry: 0.1x.

6 — Pomegranate: 2x; Pineapple: 1.2x; Melon: 0.4x; Peach: 0.3x; Berry: 0.2x; Blueberry: 0.2x.

7 — Pomegranate: 2.5x; Pineapple: 1.5x; Melon: 0.5x; Peach: 0.4x; Berry: 0.3x; Blueberry: 0.3x.

8 — Pomegranate: 3x; Pineapple: 2x; Melon: 0.7x; Peach: 0.5x; Berry: 0.4x; Blueberry: 0.4x.

9 — Pomegranate: 3.5x; Pineapple: 2.5x; Melon: 1x; Peach: 0.7x; Berry: 0.6x; Blueberry: 0.5x.

10–11 — Pomegranate: 4x; Pineapple: 3x; Melon: 1.2x; Peach: 1x; Berry: 0.8x; Blueberry: 0.6x.

12–14 — Pomegranate: 5x; Pineapple: 4x; Melon: 2x; Peach: 1.5x; Berry: 1.2x; Blueberry: 1x.

15–16 — Pomegranate: 8x; Pineapple: 6x; Melon: 3x; Peach: 2.5x; Berry: 2x; Blueberry: 1.5x.

17–19 — Pomegranate: 15x; Pineapple: 12x; Melon: 6x; Peach: 5x; Berry: 4x; Blueberry: 3x.

20–21 — Pomegranate: 25x; Pineapple: 20x; Melon: 8x; Peach: 7x; Berry: 6x; Blueberry: 5x.

22–24 — Pomegranate: 50x; Pineapple: 40x; Melon: 16x; Peach: 14x; Berry: 12x; Blueberry: 10x.

25–31 — Pomegranate: 100x; Pineapple: 80x; Melon: 35x; Peach: 30x; Berry: 25x; Blueberry: 20x.

32+ — Pomegranate: 1,000x; Pineapple: 600x; Melon: 200x; Peach: 150x; Berry: 125x; Blueberry: 100x.

Pomegranate jumps from 100x for twenty-five to thirty-one symbols to 1,000x for thirty-two or more, a tenfold increase. Thirty-two cells cover half the grid; that count does not establish combination probability. The studio also highlighted a 1,000x base award without extra features.

A jar moves after participating in a win

A Jar Wild substitutes for fruits. After participating in a winning cascade, it persists, moves to an adjacent empty cell before collapse and increases its multiplier by one. It holds its position during collapse. The increment applies per participating cascade rather than separately to every group. Several jars apply their multipliers, but the combination arithmetic is not specified here. One jar is capped at 43x; from a hypothetical 1x, this requires forty-two increments, not necessarily consecutive across free spins.

An illustrative single-jar chain: eight peaches and a jar form nine,0.7x at a 1x multiplier; eleven melons and a jar form twelve,2x at 2x = 4x; nine pineapples and a jar form ten,3x at 3x = 9x. The 13.7x total illustrates the paytable and increments rather than an average outcome.

Instant prizes, Fruit Blast and free spins

Blue tiles reveal purple prizes of 1,2,3,5,10,25,50,100,500 or 1,000 bets. At least five adjacent prizes pay their sum. Without a Wild, four at one hundred do not qualify, while five at one pay 5x. Fruit Blast randomly activates after a cascade: one to three giant fruits convert covered cells into one type without changing Wilds. A giant prize may replace a fruit; zone sizes are unspecified. Conversion does not guarantee a win, and a hypothetical seventeen pomegranates pay 15x in the table.

At least three jars in one spin award six free spins. All jars stay to the end and retain their multipliers between spins. A new spin alone does not raise a multiplier: winning participation is required. A free-spin extension rule is not listed.

Golden vinyls and the Giga Jar chance

A golden vinyl replaces a random fruit and advances the meter. The four transitions require 20+25+30+35 = 110 vinyls; this is progress rather than a cash jackpot. Levels and return on the 96.40% build appear below.

At MAX, each new vinyl offers a Giga Jar chance without guaranteeing entry. Its probability is undisclosed. The 96.10%→96.60% difference is 0.50 percentage points rather than a guaranteed meter-filling award. Meter persistence after reloading or changing bets is unestablished here.

Giga Jar: ordinary groups first, then the block

Ordinary symbols clear, three or four jars appear in random positions, and a 2×2,3×3 or 4×4 block occupies four, nine or sixteen cells. Eight Giga Spins spin free positions for instant prizes; some prizes add one or two spins. After each spin, jars move to adjacent empty cells.

At the end, prize clusters excluding the central block are evaluated first. The block then reveals its value and connected prizes pay with it. A jar beside at least four prizes allows the group to participate and applies its multiplier. Multiple-jar arithmetic and per-cell block valuation are unspecified; the displayed value cannot automatically be multiplied by nine. After Giga Jar, the meter starts at level two, three or four; selection weights are unknown.

A hypothetical 3×3 block has eleven prizes totalling sixty: seven connect to it and four are separate. Four without a jar fail the threshold, but can qualify with one. Even with a block value of twenty-five and a 3x jar, the final total cannot be derived from sixty alone: the seven connected prizes’ subtotal and precise block valuation are unknown.

Six builds and the original

Main RTP and MAX pairs are 96.40%→96.60%,95.35%→95.52%,94.40%→94.60%,92.72%→92.94%,90.80%→91.00%,88.39%→88.50%. The studio page highlights 96.40% and 94.40%; the client lists all builds. Check the slot specs explainer in the active help. Stakes are 0.1–100, volatility is high, and the 50,000x round ceiling trims excess awards in RTP calculation. An operator may impose a lower payout limit; early termination is unestablished.

The 2018 Jammin’ Jars has the same 8×8 and six free spins, Rainbow instead of Fruit Blast, no vinyl meter or Giga Jar,96.83%/94.25% RTP and a 20,000x cap. An observed 19,998.5x result does not change that cap; the sequel raised it 2.5-fold. A frog leaves Wilds in Fire Hopper, while Retro Tapes uses cassettes. Both belong to the Push Gaming page.

Familiar Olympus and the paytable

Columns, clouds and Zeus on the right remain; the Super Scatter looks richer than the regular one and a second buy appears in the menu. Lower symbols are blue, green, yellow, purple and red gems, with an hourglass, crown, chalice and ring above them. There are no Wilds. The table repeats the 2021 original’s pays in total-bet multiples.

Paid symbols disappear, the grid refills and Tumble continues until no win forms. Multipliers of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, 100x, 250x and 500x can land on any spin or tumble. They add and multiply the chain’s entire total only if it won something; otherwise they disappear. Values do not persist between base spins. Multiplier and hit frequencies are unavailable.

The trigger prize and bonus accumulation

Any mix of four or more scatters triggers 15 free spins. Super Scatters can land on every reel in the base game and count as scatters towards that total. If any are among the symbols that trigger the round, you’re paid an instant cash prize.

At entry one Super Scatter pays 100x, two pay 500x, three 5,000x and four 50,000x. Without a trigger no prize is paid: three Super Scatters with three scatters in total pay nothing. Regular scatters also pay on entry: four pay 3x, five 5x and six 100x. How ordinary and super awards combine in a mixed trigger is not separately specified.

Bonus multipliers from winning spins add to a total retained until the end. It applies only when the current spin has both a win and a fresh multiplier; otherwise a win pays normally, and a losing spin does not increase accumulation. Three regular scatters add five spins. Super Scatters never appear inside the bonus. Instant super prizes belong only to natural base-game entry; bought rounds do not award them.

Buys and Ante Bet

Regular free spins cost 100x with 96.50% RTP and Super Free Spins 500x with 96.49% RTP, where buying is available in the jurisdiction. Every super-mode multiplier is at least 10x, leaving 10x, 12x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, 100x, 250x and 500x. A minimum value does not guarantee winning spins or recovery of the price.

Ante Bet raises the price by 50% and adds regular and Super Scatters, with 96.55% RTP. Reviews’ claim of doubled free-spin chances is not separately confirmed. Unlike buying, it retains natural entry with the possibility of a super prize.

The maximum and generations of the series

Volatility is high. Listed maximum odds are one round in 666,666,667 in ordinary play and 294,117,647 with ante. Ante’s displayed 33,334x of the full bet corresponds to approximately 50,000x the base bet after rounding, while spin cost is 1.5 times higher. Four Super Scatters award the instant maximum, but the claim that this is the only mathematical route to the limit is not separately confirmed. Cancellation of remaining features is unspecified.

The 2021 Gates of Olympus original has a 5,000x maximum. Gates of Olympus 1000 from 2023 raised the top multiplier to 1000x and the maximum to 15,000x. Gates of Olympus Xmas 1000 from 2024 added festive art. Super Scatter returned to the original multiplier ladder and added an entry prize. Zeus vs Hades – Gods of War uses different mechanics with very high volatility.