Apollo Slots
According to Greek mythology, Apollo was the son of the god Zeus and the Titan Leto. He became a very busy god, being in charge of music, medicine, the sun, knowledge, plague and archery among other things. He now adds another string to his bow by starring in his very own slot machine. Apollo, from Taiwanese outfit CQ9 Gaming, is as classic as the ancient legends of Greece. Its 5-reel, 40-payline layout sees symbols of golden temples, goblets and playing card suits lining up across the game, with wild substitutions and free spins helping you claim more winnings.
Of course, we’ve all seen numerous online casino slot machines that follow an ancient Greek theme, so CQ9 Gaming will need to add a few twists to make Apollo fly high above the competition. There are a couple of extra treats that help, such as the symbol of Apollo himself paying out from either the left or right sides in the bonus games, while lucky players can have the free spins retriggered several times over.
Although CQ9 Gaming has built up a great reputation for quality, style and engaging gameplay across much of Asia, it’s only more recently that its portfolio of mobile-optimized slot machines has become more widely known in other regions. A number of games have been created for big name developers such as Microgaming and Pragmatic Play, but Apollo is under CQ9’s own brand and showcases the craftsmanship that has made its range so popular with Asian players. We’ll have a closer look and see if it’s going to make as much impact with a worldwide audience.
It’s All Greek
As Apollo loads up, we get a view of the title character looking mean and moody. But he should certainly cheer up the players, as he’s the highest-value symbol on the reels. Those reels are in a vivid blue color and surrounded by imposing Greek-style columns, all floating in the clouds to add to the impression that we are in the presence of the gods. When Apollo stops on 3, 4, or 5 reels in an unbroken run from left to right across any of the 40 paylines, you collect prizes worth 50x, 200x, or 800x the amount staked on each line respectively. He can also be stacked on any reels to improve the odds of landing a winning combo.
Other high-paying symbols include the golden temple and a harp, each of which returns up to 600 coins. Meanwhile the goblet and the bow and arrows – all golden, of course – are both worth a high limit of 400 coins. Colorful, jeweled playing card suits pay out the smaller prizes, with the spade valued at up to 400x; the heart at 200x; and the diamond and club symbols placed at the bottom of the paytable, returning wins of up to 100x when filling all 5 spots on a line.
Pegasus, the flying horse, was Apollo's preferred means of transport. In this slot, the winged creature turns up as a wild symbol, flapping onto reels 2, 3, or 4 only and substituting for others if it can then complete a winning combination. The wild symbol can also turn a line of 3 matching symbols into a line of 4, which will lead to higher payouts, although it’s not worth anything on its own and can’t replace the shield scatter symbol.
Extra Winning Chances With Free Games
The decorative shield is the scatter symbol that triggers 10 free spins when you see it landing in any 3 places at once. 4 of this symbol will see 25 extra games playing out, and anyone who sees 5 shields at once gets the top award of 100 free spins.
CQ9 Gaming often tends to add some sort of special feature to its games’ bonus rounds. Here Apollo will pay out in either direction, and not just from the left side, when he's in any 3 or more places across a payline. If 5 Apollo symbols land right across the reels, though, you only get paid for a single line – not from the right and left at the same time. These bonus games can be retriggered by any 3 or more scatter symbols appearing again to an overall maximum of 100 free spins, with any extra games added on to the end of any that are still left in the current round.
Placing Gifts on the Gods
All 40 lines are fixed, meaning you can’t just try things out with tiny stakes on a couple of lines. This is never a good option anyway, as players can be left spinning reels for ages before landing the right symbols on an active line. You can play free Apollo video slots if you feel the need to test the game out, but with high returns and an independently issued guarantee of fair play, it’s easier to just place real cash bets and start collecting the rewards.
Those bets can be from just 0.80 per spin, right up to the maximum of 500.00, which should suit the casual punters as well as the high rollers among us. Other control buttons activate a fast spin mode, while you can also select the autoplay function to get them spinning for any number of times on their own. And to really liven things up, you may even activate both at once.
Other Ways up Mount Olympus
With so many Greek mythology-themed online slots available, it’s hard to pick just a couple of favorite. But if you like your Greek gods, then the Age of the Gods video slot from Playtech is hard to beat. It’s got stunning design features and has a rich variety of deities dotted around the reels. These can line up in any combination for a Pantheon of Power award equal to 200x the line stake.
Each god has its own free spins game. For example, Athena awards 9 free games with random multipliers attached to each win, multipliers increase as the Zeus games progress, and there’s an adventure with Poseidon when he shoots lightning bolts onto the reels to uncover extra wild symbols. Age of the Gods even comes with a 4-level progressive jackpot feature.
Apollo’s horse has its own game, with the Pegasus Rising slot from Blueprint Gaming looking like an animated movie from a major Hollywood studio. Pegasus is a wild symbol in this game, where the 5 reels of symbols are normally stacked 4 high, but you can trigger a Colossal Reels feature which gives you 8 symbols on each and up to 80 paylines in play. Pegasus also triggers a free spins round where it stays locked in place, helping to complete extra winning lines in this slot machine that’s been configured especially to be mobile-optimized.
Judgment on Apollo
Although there’s little that’s truly unique about this slot, it looks great and has just enough in the way of features to ensure that the many fans of this style and theme will want to play it. The chance to be awarded 100 free spins is certainly a nice feature, while the way our friendly Apollo pays out in both directions should help punters claim a few more wins before these spins are done.
Apollo has been developed to work on iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows mobile devices, as well as on conventional PCs with no loss of gameplay, features, or indeed the impressive orchestral sound effects that go along with the mechanical sounds of spinning reels.
