Theatre of Rome Slots
Although this slot machine is called Theatre of Rome, our review team weren’t surprised to find that the action wasn’t set in a conventional theatre with actors, props, and costumes. No, the ancient Romans liked their entertainment to involve a little more blood and guts, so it’s all based around gladiators.
Unleash your inner Maximus as you take on the lions in this arena, claiming prizes of up to 4,000.00 when the top-paying symbols land across the five reels. This is a seven-payline game from the German Merkur company, who have over 50 years of experience in developing slots for land-based, online, and now mobile optimized casinos.
The Theatre of Rome video slot is an easy game to play, with wild substitutions, free spins, and a gamble feature. However, unlike most slot machines where winning combinations start from the left side of a payline, you can claim a prize with three matching symbols in any adjacent positions on a line, which will give you lots more chances to land a winning combination.
If you were hoping to find a slot game filled with gory images, impressive animations of gladiators attacking each other, and a stirring soundtrack to go along with the action, unfortunately Theatre of Rome has none of these. But if you are looking for a game with a high return to players percentage and frequent winning spins, then read on.
Enter the Arena
As you would expect from a slot machine based around ancient Rome, there’s columns, statues and temples in view behind the reels, which are surrounded by a nice stone-effect frame.
You win multiples of the stake when matching symbols land on a line, with classic 9, 10, and J card symbols worth 1x, 5x, and 20x when three, four, or five of a kind are seen.
The Q, K and A pay up to 25x. Although playing card symbols are used across countless slots, Merkur have made a bit of an effort with these, by setting each against a laurel wreath to give them a slightly Roman style.
The higher-paying picture symbols consist of a silver arm protector and some boots, each of which is worth a high limit of 30x the stake, while a shield and helmet are each worth up to 50x. The lion roars into action by paying by far the biggest prizes. If you land this creature on three, four, or all five reels on a payline, you win 5x, 20x, or 200x the stake respectively.
A single gladiator is seen in this game. He’s a scatter symbol, who isn’t worth anything directly, but when he lands in any three or more places at once, you win five free spins. During these games, the gladiator becomes a wild symbol, able to act as any other to bridge gaps in runs of matching symbols if needed.
Gamble With the Gladiator
Theatre of Rome slot has the optional gamble feature found across most slot machines from Merkur. Any time you get a win, you are given three choices. Either collect the prize, play a double or nothing card color gamble, or start the ladder game.
Our review experts reckon the ladder gamble is probably the most exciting of these options and as the gameplay of Theatre of Rome is pretty basic, it could do with a bit of extra excitement.
The ladder is filled with rising win values and the current prize amount will be highlighted in the middle. Lights flash above and below, with well-timed clicks taking you up the ladder and poorly-timed ones sending you down.
A few Coins for the Brave Warriors
The standard Merkur control panel is used, which works well and makes it easy to get started. Wagers range in value from 0.10 per spin to a high limit of 20.00 and you can choose to click a button each time you want the reels to spin or activate an Autoplay function.
It’s all very straightforward and makes Merkur slot machines ideal for gamblers of all levels of experience, although perhaps not all bankrolls, as the maximum stake is set fairly low.
Gladiators, Are You Ready?
If you are looking for a slot machine themed around gladiators, then Playtech have the perfect game for you. Not only is Gladiator based on the hugely successful movie, but it also has some stunning features, graphics, and a progressive jackpot that have made it one of the most popular slots of all time.
Join most of the cast from the film, (minus Russell Crowe), over five reels and 25 paylines, and enjoy features such as the Coliseum Bonus where you pick stones from a wall to uncover free games, extra wild symbols, and win multipliers.
If the helmet, that Maximus removes to reveal his identity to Emperor Commodus, lands in three places, the progressive jackpot round is triggered.
A number of bronze, silver, and gold helmets are then seen. Nine helmets are picked at random and if they are all gold, you win the progressive prize which can be well in excess of a million Dollars or currency equivalent.
Playtech specialize in online casino slots based on popular movies and we think this is one of the best. Maximum points for Maximus.
The Verdict: Thumbs up or Thumbs Down?
If you don’t mind the basic style that comes with Theatre of Rome, it’s a decent enough game where you should be able to collect lots of wins thanks to the unusual way that combinations can be seen in any places across a line. Apart from this, our review team felt a little let down by Theatre of Rome online slot.
Just five free spins and the wild symbol only appearing during the bonus rounds won’t give you much time to collect winnings. The graphics are nothing special either.
With many of the symbols just being items that a gladiator would wear, it’s hardly a stunning-looking game but if you like steady wins, then by all means play free Theatre of Rome video slots on this page or play for real cash at a Merkur online casino.
If state of the art graphics and exciting features are important to you, then we would highly recommend Playtech’s Gladiator video slot.
