Pompeii Pokies
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, it flooded the ancient Roman city of Pompeii with molten lava. Gamers playing the Pompeii pokie, though, will hope to trigger a lucrative landslide of gold coins.
A Reel Power pokie manufactured by Aussie developer Aristocrat, Pompeii is loosely based on the eponymous city, with graphics depicting towering temples, spinning gold coins (each etched with Julius Caesar’s immortal line: “I came, I saw, I conquered”) and an erupting volcano.
Offering 243 ways to win, Pompeii is an enticing pokie spread over five reels. Various symbols play across the reels, including a chariot, a sword and shield, a Roman helmet, a gold coin, a dolphin, an embellished shield and the wrathful volcano itself. There are also the typical playing card symbols like 9, 10, Jack, Queen and King. The reels themselves are superimposed over a backdrop of ill-fated Pompeii, which is flanked by mighty colonnaded buildings.
Pompeii Stakes
Begin your time in Pompeii by choosing your coin value, from 0.02 to 1.00. The amount of credits you play with can be 25, 50, 75, 100 or 125. Your bet is equal to your coin value multiplied by your credit value, so the bets can range from 0.50 to 125.00. After you’ve decided what you’re willing to put in play, there’s nothing left to do but spin. And hope. And maybe, if you’re religiously inclined, pray.
Pompeii
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A Reel Chance of Big Wins
Some pokies offer 15 pay-lines; Pompeii promises no less than 243. The wild symbol, which as you might expect is the volcano itself, substitutes for all other symbols and multiplies wins by a factor of three when it appears on the second reel. Land the erupting volcano on the fourth reel and your win is multiplied by a factor of five. If you’re lucky enough to see both on a winning line, the multiplier leaps to 15. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the volcano holds the key to hitting the jackpot in Pompeii. Just be aware that it appears only on the second and fourth reels.
Incidentally, that jackpot is worth 12,500 coins and is triggered during the maximum bet spins, when you land five amulets on any of the 243 active pay-lines.
Triggering Free Spins
Everybody loves a freebie, and for gamers, there’s nothing quite like winning free spins. Free spin features are a bit of a staple of Aristocrat games, and they serve to keep punters coming back for more.
To win some free spins on the Pompeii pokie, simply land three or more gold coins on adjacent reels. These scatter symbols appear sporadically, so do keep an eye out for them. Depending on just how many coins you hit, you’ll be given 10, 15 or 20 free spins. What’s more, the bonus feature can re-trigger during the free spins round itself – and re-triggering is much more common than you might think. This is because the wild symbol – the volcano, remember – substitutes for scatters.
If you land five dolphin symbols with a wild on both the second and fourth reels, the pay-out is a mammoth 30,000 credits. If you’re not lucky enough to hit the wilds, five dolphin symbols yield 2,000 credits, which is the same jackpot as for landing five helmets. Five chariots, meanwhile, yield 1,000 credits.
It’s Going to Blow!
Just like Mount Vesuvius itself, Pompeii is highly volatile. You’ll probably have heard this term before if you’re big into pokies, but essentially it means there’s a greater likelihood of winning big when compared with other games. On the downside – and there is always a downside, lest we forget – high volatility means you’re more likely to go longer between bumper pay-outs.
It’s one of those classic catch-22 situations, and the player himself will best be able to decide whether Pompeii is for him. Certainly the pay-outs are attractive, but by the same token, one could flog himself silly playing this game and chasing the dream.
A Fiery Game
The inhabitants of Pompeii were helpless in the face of the fearsome erupting volcano, but gamers playing the eponymous pokie are likely to fare better. Pokies with 243 pay-lines may be volatile, but they also promise what all gamblers lust for: a big pay-out. When you do land a big win, you’ll certainly know all about it: the volcano in the background shakes the screen, as if magma is once more flowing over the rim of Vesuvius. Proceed with caution…