Gladiator progressive pokies review

When Playtech launched the Gladiator pokies game back in 2008, it was a ground breaking piece of gaming software. Based on the famous Ridley Scott movie starring Russell Crowe (who is mysteriously the only character missing from the reels), Gladiator was one of the first online pokies to feature cinematic sound bites and screen grabs. While it now shows signs of its age, the Gladiator pokies game remains wildly popular with online players, especially those chasing after those potentially life changing wins.

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How to play Gladiator

Before you go chasing after that tempting seven-figure jackpot, be aware that there are two versions of this Playtech slot game available – Gladiator Jackpot and the standard Gladiator. Both games are essentially the same, except that the jackpot version comes with an additional bonus game where the progressive jackpot can be won, as well as a slightly lower RTP. This review focuses specifically on the Gladiator Jackpot version.

Gladiator is a five-reel, 25 payline pokies game featuring wilds, scatters, a gamble feature, a bonus game and that tasty progressive jackpot. The specifics for the game are as follows:

• Coin sizes – $0.01, $0.02, $0.05, $0.10, $0.20, $0.50, $1.00
• Maximum lines per spin – 25



• Maximum coins per line – $0.10
• Minimum bet – $0.01
• Maximum bet – $250.00
• Scatter – Yes (the Coliseum symbol)
• Wild – Yes (the hemlet symbol)
• Bonus rounds – Yes
• Free spins – Yes
• Jackpot – Progressive
• RTP – 91.46% (with 1% contribution to the progressive jackpot)

An auto-play feature is available to pre-set the computer to play up to 99 spins on your behalf.

Where to play Gladiator using Australian dollars

Gladiator, both the progressive jackpot game and the standard pokies game, can be found at one of our top-rated pokies sites, Casino.com. Here you’ll find a large range of Playtech pokies, including the Marvel Comic series of wide-area progressives, like The Incredible Hulk and X-Men. Casino.com offers the option of instant-play directly over your Web browser, or full download of the exclusive casino client (available for PC users only). Aussie dollar deposits are accepted using trusted payment methods like Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, Skrill and Paysafecard.

Gladiator gameplay features and bonuses

The symbols in Gladiator are made up of the characters from the movie (bar Russell Crowe). You’ll find Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus, Connie Nielsen as Lucilla, Oliver Reed as Antonius Proximo, and Djimon Hounsou as Juba, all mixed in with unremarkable 9, 10, J, Q, K and A symbols. The gladiator helmet acts as the games wild symbol, which can substitute all other symbols to form a winning combination except for the scatter (the Coliseum symbol). The game really gets its merit from the fun, lucrative bonus features on offer:

• Gamble feature – Gladiator offers a standard gamble feature, where after any winning spin you have the option of clicking the ‘gamble’ button for the chance to double your win. Just click one of the face down cards to predict whether the hidden card is red or black for the chance to double your money or lose it all.
• Coliseum Bonus – Three or more scatter symbols anywhere across the reels triggers the Coliseum Bonus, where you’ll be taken to a bonus screen consisting of a stone grid. Follow the prompts to select a stone on each column to reveal the amount of free spins, the size of your multiplier, and an extra scatter and wild symbol for the duration of the free spins bonus. An appearance of Joaquin Phoenix on reel three during free spins will award an additional three free spins.
• Gladiator Jackpot Bonus – This is where you get the chance at that sweet progressive jackpot. Triggered by an appearance of three or more gladiator helmet wild symbols anywhere on reels two, three and four, this bonus game picks nine random helmets of a different prize value – either gold, silver or bronze. All helmet values are added up for a cash prize, but if you manage to get nine gold helmets, you’ll walk away with the amount of the current progressive jackpot.

CasinoSites verdict on Gladiator

It’s easy to imagine how ground-breaking this game must have been when it was first released years ago, and while it’s definitely been overshadowed by more modern pokies, Gladiator still holds a lot of merit. Progressive jackpot aside, the bonus features in this game add a lot of fun and value to gameplay, and during our testing we were able to rack up some hefty wins with the Coliseum free spins bonus game. Gladiator definitely gets our recommendation, although that RTP of 91.46% is on the lower end of the scale and casts a bit of a shadow over an otherwise impressive pokies game.