Hercules and Pegasus review
Hercules and Pegasus was released on 21 November 2019, the day Pragmatic Play published its news item about a “heroic” video slot. It plays on a 5×3 grid with 20 lines. Instead of one bonus the game offers a whole kit: random modifiers on any spin, a pick of three scrolls and three different free spin modes, where the length of the round is set not by a counter but by the arrival of a special symbol.
Clouds above Olympus and two heroes at the sides
The action takes place in the sky over Olympus. A white Pegasus with a turquoise mane and a golden saddle stands on the left, and Hercules with a club on his shoulder stands on the right. The reel block is framed in gold, and the symbols are drawn as ancient Greek objects: a temple on a cloud, a golden lyre, a red amphora, and beside them the card ranks A, K, Q, J and 10 in curly lettering. The game logo glows above the grid, and the bottom of the intro screen reads “Magical modifiers triggered on any spin” and “3 Herculean bonus rounds”.
The pay table from the ten to the logo
The demo launches from the studio’s own servers with no sign-up and starts at a 2.00 stake on twenty lines, so a coin per line costs 0.10. The rules show prizes as cash sums for that stake; the table turns them into shares of the total bet. Wins are counted from the left across neighbouring reels.
| Symbol | 5 of a kind | 4 of a kind | 3 of a kind | 2 of a kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild (horse and hero) | 25x | 10x | 2x | 0.1x |
| Hercules & Pegasus logo | 20x | 10x | 2x | 0.1x |
| Temple on a cloud | 15x | 7x | 2x | none |
| Lyre and amphora | 10x | 5x | 1x | none |
| A and K | 5x | 1x | 0.4x | none |
| Q, J, 10 | 2.5x | 0.5x | 0.2x | none |
The top of the table is modest: 25x at most for five Wilds, 20x for the logo. Weighty sums are born in the bonuses here, especially where a multiplier holds across several spins in a row.
The game logo and the Wild already pay for two neighbours on the left, 0.1x the total bet, which is unusual for a line slot; the Wild earns this on its own, while every other symbol needs at least three. A combination of two symbols forms much more often than one of three, so these two symbols make up the most frequent layer of wins, and low volatility rests to a large extent on small things like this.
The Wild and three bonus symbols
The Wild fills all five reels and stands in for every symbol except the three bonus ones. There are exactly three bonus symbols: a golden disc marked Bonus, a Pegasus portrait and a Hercules portrait. Starting any of the free spin modes depends on which of them land, not on the count of identical pictures.
The trigger works like this. The Bonus disc must land on reels 1 and 3, while reel 5 must hold Hercules, Pegasus or both. Hercules opens Hercules Free Spins, Pegasus opens Pegasus Free Spins, and both heroes together start Hercules and Pegasus Free Spins. So the bonus starts only when three reels show the right combination, and the fifth reel decides which of the three games begins.
Three scrolls: a random modifier on any spin
In the main game a choice of three scrolls can appear on any spin. You pick one, and one of the random functions fires. There are four such functions, each described separately in the rules.
- Hercules Wilds: Wilds are added to the screen at random positions, and after the first spin there is a chance of another respin with a fresh batch of Wilds.
- Pegasus Wilds: Wilds are added at random positions, and the win of the spin has a chance to be multiplied by 2x.
- Bolts of Zeus: stacked Zeus symbols are added to the reel strips, and at the end of the spin they all turn into a random symbol, except Wild and Bonus.
- Bonus: guarantees that the bonus symbols land in a way that starts one of the free spin modes.
Neither the chances nor the frequency of the scrolls are revealed. The rules say only that choosing a scroll triggers a “random feature”, and nothing says the contents of the scrolls are visible, so the best function cannot be picked. For Bolts of Zeus it remains unclear whether all the converted symbols receive the same value or each is drawn separately.
The order of events inside a single spin
This sequence follows the rules. First the reels stop. If a scroll choice appeared, the player picks and the function fires. After that the lines are paid, and then it is checked whether the needed bonus symbols stand on the first, third and fifth reels. Hercules Wilds can add one more respin after the initial spin, and then the cycle repeats. The meaningful events happen before the lines are counted: Wilds added by modifiers take part in the payouts of the same spin, and a guaranteed Bonus puts the bonus symbols in the right places straight away.
Hercules Free Spins: a growing number of Wilds
The Hercules mode awards an unlimited number of spins. During the bonus a Hercules symbol can land on the fifth reel, and every time it does, more Wilds are added to the strips. Only one such symbol can land per spin. When it lands for the fifth time, the bonus ends. Special reels are in play.
The round ends on the fifth symbol, so it contains at least five spins. A strip here is not a picture but a list of symbols from which a reel picks a position: added Wilds raise the chance of seeing a substitute on screen but do not guarantee one. The longer the round runs, the more Wilds turn up and the better the chances for big lines, and the round winds up gradually rather than with a blast. This sets the mode apart from the Hercules Wilds scroll modifier, where Wilds are placed straight on the screen in chosen positions.
Pegasus Free Spins: a multiplier up to 5x
In the Pegasus mode its own symbol also appears on the fifth reel. Each time it lands, the win multiplier of all remaining spins rises by 1x, up to 5x. As in the Hercules mode, only one such symbol can land per spin, and on the fifth landing the bonus ends. The number of spins is unlimited here as well.
The rules do not state the starting value outright. If the multiplier starts at 1x, it reaches the 5x ceiling after four landings and the fifth landing ends the bonus, so the time the top multiplier is active depends on how many spins fall between the fourth and the fifth appearance of the symbol. It is also unclear whether a new multiplier applies to the very spin on which the symbol landed. Either way the multiplier works hardest in the later part of a round, when several Pegasus symbols have already landed, and early spins of the bonus are worth less.
Hercules and Pegasus Free Spins: both symbols at once
When Hercules and Pegasus lie on the fifth reel at the same time, the combined mode starts. Both mechanics are active: every Hercules adds Wilds to the strips, and every Pegasus raises the multiplier of the remaining spins by 1x, up to 5x. Only one of the two symbols can land per spin. The bonus ends when either of them lands for the fifth time.
By design this is the most valuable of the three modes, since it unites growth in Wilds with growth in the multiplier. It is also the rarest by its trigger, which needs both heroes on one reel.
Three free spin modes face to face
The names of the modes are alike, and the rules differ in small details.
Hercules Free Spins — What grows when the symbol lands on reel 5: the number of Wilds on the strips; How many spins: unlimited; When it ends: the fifth Hercules.
Pegasus Free Spins — What grows when the symbol lands on reel 5: the multiplier of remaining spins, +1x, up to 5x; How many spins: unlimited; When it ends: the fifth Pegasus.
Hercules and Pegasus Free Spins — What grows when the symbol lands on reel 5: both the Wilds and the multiplier; How many spins: unlimited; When it ends: the fifth appearance of either.
All three are free spins without a counter, and the word “unlimited” is easy to be fooled by: the fifth special symbol closes the round. The length of the bonus is set by how often those symbols land; the rules state neither that frequency nor how often the bonus itself triggers.
Stakes, RTP, volatility and the missing ceiling
A total stake is the coin value times twenty lines. The demo offers coin values of 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, then 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 and whole numbers up to 12.00. That gives outer stakes of 0.20 and 240. The RTP version is single, 96.50%, named by both the studio page and the game rules. A bonus buy and an ante are both absent.
The splash screen and the rules page agree on low volatility: wins come more often and in smaller sums. The studio’s own game page carries no volatility label. The label speaks of how large and how frequent wins are, but it does not fix the length of a round or the spread of the bonuses: they run until the fifth special symbol lands, so the overall result can differ noticeably from the average.
The maximum win is declared nowhere, not on the intro screen, not on the game page and not in the rules. A “ceiling from the pay table” cannot be computed either, because the multipliers and the added Wilds have no set limit.
Ancient gods at Pragmatic Play: three neighbours
Pragmatic Play has several slots about ancient gods, and they play very differently. Gates of Olympus (96.50% RTP, high volatility, 5,000x) has no lines, wins come for symbols anywhere on the grid, and the character of the game is much sharper. Wisdom of Athena, at 96.07% RTP, belongs to the same high volatility with a 5,000x ceiling. For even harsher modes there is Zeus vs Hades – Gods of War: 96.07% RTP, very high volatility and a 15,000x ceiling. Against that background Hercules and Pegasus looks like the most peaceful one.
