Casino Bonuses
Provider | Pragmatic Play |
Reels | 5 |
Rows | 3 |
Paylines | 20 |
Bonus Rounds | 1 |
Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
Volatility | High |
Max Win | 3,000x |
Bonus Buy | No |
RTP | 96.50% |
Our Rating | 7.0 |
Latest Slots
Game Overview
Pragmatic Play produces a nice variety of online slots; sometimes they will try something completely new, whilst other times they play it safe and create a game that follows established principles to the letter – the “safe option” if you will. Their new Shield of Sparta game appears to straddle these two categories, as it includes many familiar mechanics with a sprinkling of new and innovative features as well – this is a great path to take, in my opinion. The game utilises 20 fixed paylines, sports a 96.50% RTP, and has a maximum winnings cap of 3,000x your bet – a little low by modern standards, but still enough to put a smile on any player’s face should they manage to reach it.
There are two bonus symbols included in this game – a regular bonus symbol and a “magnetic” bonus symbol. Both work identically when it comes to triggering the free spins feature. Still, the magnetic variant has special properties that will dramatically increase your chances of finishing up with a sizable bonus round win.
If you’d like to give Pragmatic Play’s latest work a spin right now, go ahead and fire up our free demo slot of Shield of Sparta, available to play below.
Shield Of Sparta Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia, a region of ancient Greece. The term is much more recognised these days by the Spartan Warriors, who originated from the region due to the city’s importance to the former Greek Empire. Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, which took place between 431-404 BC, from which it emerged victorious; however, the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta’s hegemony in military terms. Sparta remained politically independent until it was forced to integrate with the Achaean League in 192 BC. Why not check out Athens Megaways if you enjoy slots with this type of theme?
As for the paytable, a Spartan Warrior takes the top spot here and is worth 25x your bet for each complete pay line of five-of-a-kind. A Spartan Warship is next, returning 20x your bet for all five symbols, whilst a medieval trebuchet takes the third-placed spot paying 15x the current stake for a completed pay line. Two warriors on horseback share the same payout of 15x for five-of-a-kind, after which there are just four further royal symbols on the paytable, all of which pay 5x the current bet for all five symbols. The wild does not have any premium on top of the normal payouts, so you will receive the same 25x return if you should be lucky enough to score a five-of-a-kind combination of those. A little disappointing, no doubt, especially as the bonus scatters have no cash reward attached to them either.
Pragmatic Play always uses the same wager selection setup; two buttons on either side of the spin control allow you to increase or decrease your bet quickly, but you can also change the number of coins per line and coin value for more granular control if you wish. However, you choose to use these options; the minimum permitted wager is limited to €0.20, whilst the maximum of €100.00 is more than enough for even the highest of high rollers.
Base Game & Modifiers
Base gameplay in Shield of Sparta is very much typical; the game plays like a regular slot in every regard here, with a five reel, three row layout sporting 20 fixed paylines. All winning combinations require at least three matching symbols on a payline starting from the left.
Sadly, there are no base game modifiers to talk about, and with no bonus buy facility available, you’ll have to be patient and wait for those bonus/magnetic bonus scatter symbols to drop into view before you can experience the bonus round. On that note, let’s move on!
Shield Of Sparta Slot Bonus Features
The bonus and magnetic bonus symbols appear on all five reels. Hitting any three of these will immediately trigger the free spins feature, whilst landing just two of them will award a free re-spin, giving you a second shot at landing that all-important final scatter and triggering the bonus round.
Free Spins
With no cash payout attached to the bonus scatter symbols, you will no doubt be hoping that the feature will benefit from being triggered by more than three scatter symbols. Don’t worry – Pragmatic Play understands how us slot players think, and the feature will award additional free spins when triggered by more than three scatters. You’ll receive 10 free spins for three, 15 for four, or a maximum of 20 if you are lucky enough to score a five-scatter trigger.
The locations of the triggering scatter symbols are marked before the feature begins. If another bonus symbol lands on the same spot as a triggering symbol, that spot will be upgraded; this can happen a maximum of three times. A regular scatter position can have a multiplier of 1x, 2x, or 3x, whilst upgraded positions can be boosted to 5x, 6x, or 8x at level two and 10x, 12x, 15x, or 20x at level three.
Any magnetic scatters contributing to the trigger create magnetic positions on the free spins reel set. These positions will drag any bonus symbols which land towards them, making it much easier to upgrade those positions to the higher multiplier levels. You won’t know exactly what multiplier applies to each space until the end of the feature, unfortunately, but you can also re-trigger the bonus round by hitting three to five bonus symbols whilst the free spins feature is in play.
At the end of the feature, all marked positions will reveal their multiplier before being added together and then applied to the total of your free spins winnings. Let’s say you have a total of five marked positions with multipliers of 3x, 8x, 2x, 20x, and 10x; this gives a total multiplier of 43x, so if your winnings were €20.00 at the end of the feature, this would then be boosted to €860.00 – not too shabby, I’m sure that you will agree!
Shield Of Sparta Slot Review Final Thoughts
I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting much from Shield of Sparta when I first began to play, but I was pleasantly surprised by the returns I achieved during the bonus round. Admittedly, I found it a little hard to trigger the feature, and the magnetic bonus symbols didn’t show up anywhere near as often as I would have liked, but I’m sure I just got a poor run of luck. After all, this is the nature of online slots – somebody has to lose for other players to win, so when you have a bad session, keep in mind that your turn is sure to come eventually!
- Game Types:
- High Volatility Slots
- War Slots
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