Play Gladiators for Free

Ancient Rome, the epoch in which many modern ideas of politics, law and social order were born. You could say that it was one of the first truly civilised civilisations. Well, that is if you overlook the fact that they hosted brutal and violent death matches in which armed gladiators would fight against other gladiators, convicted criminals or even wild and exotic animals. Supposedly this all tied in to the military ethics of Roman society and culture, in which fighting and dying with honour was revered and celebrated in all aspects of life. Still, we'd much rather experience all of the action from the safety of our homes with this slot machine than the pit of the colosseums!

Even so, this slot machine does give players a taste of the sights and sounds of the gladiator battle with its 3D game symbols. That is because, upon the austere and powerful brick reels, spinners will come across icons depicting traditional Roman helmets, axes and chariots as well as a fierce lion and even a bust of some Roman emperor or other. There is also an icon which shows a gladiator character who acts as the game's wild icon to substitute for all other symbols as it expands to cover the entire reel that it falls on.

In visual terms, this Gladiators slot machine is quite bare and unembellished, which actually kind of suits the pragmatic and functional nature of Ancient Roman architecture and design. The more elaborate and higher paying symbols will perform some small animations with 3D graphics, but the motions are somewhat basic compared to other contemporary efforts by other software companies. The game does, however, make good use of sound effects to provide the necessary amount of pomposity and fanfare whenever players line up some winning prizes.

If you want to hear those trumpets blare, then you will have to line up at least three or more matching symbols upon any of the 5 paylines that are permanently fixed on the reels. This will award a multiplier to the value of the bets that are placed on the winning line, with wagering options per line as follows: 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20. 0.50, 1.00 and 2.00. The biggest multiplier of all is 2,500x and that is awarded whenever five emperor busts appear on a payline. You can see all of the other line bet multiplier values and their respective combinations below:

Of course, players are much more likely to come across smaller sized prizes than those big line wins – that's just the nature of the game. However, punters do have it in their power to boost their smaller wins with a couple of gamble side games. In fact, players can gamble any win up to a maximum gamble limit of 140.00 credits.

The first of these gamble side games has straightforward 50/50 odds in which players must guess the colour of a turned over playing card. If the guess is correct, then the original win is doubled and the player can gamble again. However, if the guess is wrong then the original win and any accrued gamble wins will be lost.

However, players can play a different gamble game which offers a level of insurance. That is because the second gamble feature presents a ladder of different prize values which players will randomly climb or descend. So, even if you lose the gamble, you will simply drop to a smaller prize, from where you can attempt to climb back up to that 140.00 credit gamble jackpot.

Gladiators is a fairly simple video slot machine from Merkur Gaming. While the 3D graphics do draw out the Ancient Roman theme, players will find much more visually impressive games out there. However, the main disappointment about this game is the fact that it doesn't offer much in the way of bonus gameplay features other than an expanding wild symbol.