Wisdom of Athena 1000

Wisdom of Athena 1000: Slot Overview

'Knowledge is power', so says the main character in today's game, repeatedly, and she would know, being Athena, the goddess of wisdom, amongst other things. The slot is Wisdom of Athena 1000 and is part of software provider Pragmatic Play's '1000' series, where the studio goes back over past releases, in this case Wisdom of Athena, and gives them a serious overhaul. Kind of like pushing an old Fiat 126 out of storage and dropping a Hemi in it. In other words, these 1000 slots are bigger and gruntier than the originals, though the tweaks tend to be quite surgical, meaning the gameplay in general is usually very similar.

To provide a dab of variety, Pragmatic Play has changed the view for Wisdom of Athena 1000, so the base game has less of a cloudy, peach-hued look about it, more of an outdoor in the middle of the daytime feel. Athena remains to the right of the main play area, providing a constant stream of voice-over comments as the game goes on. The scene gets more romantic for free spins however, and at all times, players should be in no doubt they're playing an Ancient Greek slot.

Wisdom of Athena 1000's gaming area is a 6-reel, 5-row matrix with an extra row of symbols on the top, which are locked but can be accessed when the required number of consecutive tumbles occurs to unlock them. Each blocked position displays a number that counts down so players can track the unlocking progress. Wisdom of Athena 1000 stays highly volatile, while its maximum RTP has taken a slight drop to 96%. This return figure is the same whether buying free spins, betting a straight 20 c to $/€100 per spin, or using the ante bet. When on, the ante bet increases the stake by 25%, doubling the chance of winning the feature.

Landing 8 identical pay symbols in any position creates a winning combination, triggering a payout and the tumble feature. Pay symbols include 5 low pay icons of Ancient Greece, then a scroll, a vase, a helmet, and a shield. Combinations of 8-9 OAK are worth 0.25-5 times the bet, going up to 2.5-50 times the bet for 15+ OAK. Wisdom of Athena 1000 is a scatter-paying slot that does not have wild symbols.

Wisdom of Athena 1000: Slot Features

In this part of the review, we look at Wisdom of Athena 1000's tumble feature, which is tied to its row-unlocking aspect, multiplier symbols, free spins, and the feature buy.

Tumble Feature

After winning combinations pay, the tumble feature removes the winning symbols from the reels. The gaps this creates are filled by symbols tumbling down from above. Tumbling continues until no new win appears. Above the basic 6x5 matrix is a locked row of symbols. Consecutive tumbles on the same spin unlock positions one by one, left to right. When unlocked, the new positions land symbols as part of the main grid until the tumble run ends. Positions unlock sequentially: 1 after 1 tumble, 2 after 4, 3 after 10, 4 after 19, 5 after 31, and the rightmost reel after 46 tumbles.

Multiplier Symbols

Multiplier symbols with values of x2 to x1,000 may land in the base game or in free spins. When a tumble sequence ends, all multiplier values in view are added and applied to the total win.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols land in any position. Players win 10 free spins plus a payout of 2x, 15x, or 100x their bet when 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols, respectively, land. Free spins start with the top row locked, but the progress of unlocking them persists between free spins, so unlocked positions stay unlocked till the feature ends. On top of this, whenever a multiplier symbol hits, its value is added to the total multiplier. For free spins, the total multiplier is used to multiply any win. Getting 3 or more scatter symbols in view triggers an extra +5 free spins.

Buy Free Spins

By paying 100 times the stake, players can buy a triggering spin that lands 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols.

Wisdom of Athena 1000: Slot Verdict

The features found in Wisdom of Athena 1000 are more or less the same as those of the previous game - tumbles, row unlocking, multiplier symbols, free spins, and a feature buy, but one key piece of the game has been doubled, giving the game its 1000 status. That would be, of course, the higher possible multiplier symbol value. Where the previous game maxed out with an x500 symbol, Wisdom of Athena 1000 is able to drop an almighty x1,000. This is unlikely to happen super often, so don't be expecting a game that rains down eye-watering multiplier symbols like a broken candy toss.

But it's there, lurking, just waiting to break into the game and boost a win with its x1,000 multiplier hammer. As we've come to expect by now, these 1000 slots blow the potential wide open, and the win cap in Wisdom of Athena 1000 is double the previous game at 10,000x the bet. It's all impressive stuff in theory, but in practice, there isn't much separating the two slots, gameplay-wise.

That's no bad thing, though, since after dropping games like Sweet Bonanza 1000 and Gates of Olympus 1000, Pragmatic Play does know how to throw together an impressive scatter-paying slot. Wisdom of Athena 1000 is another one that makes excellent use of tumbles and multiplier symbols before turning the heat up further in free spins due to the persistent grid unlocking progress and, more importantly, the persistent total multiplier. With Wisdom of Athena 1000, Pragmatic Play has taken an already highly playable scatter-paying slot and significantly increased what the game is capable of.