Waves of Poseidon

Waves of Poseidon Review

Pragmatic Play has done more to promote Greek mythology than most modern schools, and they’ve seen plenty of success in this popular genre over the years. The Waves of Poseidon slot plays out in a water world teeming with life, and the mighty god of the ocean is standing firmly by your side with his glowing eyes and golden trident. Bubbles rise gently toward the surface as you spin the 6x5 grid, accompanied by a dramatic soundtrack that builds to epic crescendos.

You start by choosing your bet level between €0.2 to €240 per spin, which should satisfy most types of players. You win by landing 8 to 12+ matching symbols anywhere in view, and the top-tier symbol is Poseidon himself. It’s followed by a dolphin, temple pillar, and cracked vase, awarding 50x to 12x your stake for 12+ in view. On the lower end, the same symbols pay 10x to 1.5x for 8-9 anywhere. The royals pay 2x to 10x for 12+ in sight, and 0.25x to 1x for 8-9 present on the grid.

Waves of Poseidon Slot - Reels Screen

The Wild symbol substitutes for any pay symbol to help complete or improve wins, but cannot substitute for special symbols. Speaking of, the trident bonus symbol takes center stage in Waves of Poseidon slot, activating and boosting the multiplier reel by up to x50 (applied to all its values). You can keep the multiplier reel active at all times by turning on the Ante Bet feature, and its multiplier value increases per consecutive tumble win.

Another way to benefit from the multiplier reel is by triggering the bonus round, where this feature is always active. The super bonus ups the ante with non-resetting multiplier reel values. However, it still resets to the lowest multiplier between free spins. With an above-average top-tier RTP of 96.55 %, Waves of Poseidon offers highly volatile gameplay (scoring 5 out of 5 on the in-game scale). The 28.81 hit frequency is around average, and you can win up to 5,000x your stake in this game.

Waves of Poseidon Features

The win multiplier system in Waves of Poseidon Pragmatic Play is somewhat complicated, but don’t worry, we’ll clarify how everything works below. Let’s dive in!

Ante Bet (not UK)

The Ante Bet feature is available in certain regions and keeping it on means you’ll pay 2x your regular stake. The benefit is that the multiplier reel is active at all times in the base game.

Tumble Wins and Bubble Multiplier Reel

The Bubble Multiplier reel is locked by default in the base game. However, it unlocks when you land a bonus symbol to upgrade its multiplier values. The multiplier reel has a default multiplier range of x1, x2, x2, x2, x3, x3, x3, x5, x5, x7, x7, x10, x10, and x20, and the bubble indicating the current multiplier rises one step per Tumble win. Winning symbols are removed and replaced via this tumble mechanic too, and the process repeats indefinitely as long as you keep landing new winning combinations.

Bonus symbols can carry multiplier values ranging from x2 to x50 (or no multiplier values at all). These boost all the multiplier reel values accordingly. If you reach the top of the multiplier reel, the bubble remains there until the end of the tumble sequence before being applied. Whatever multiplier you have achieved when the tumble sequence ends is applied to your total win, and you can land multiple bonus symbol multipliers within the same tumble sequence. Everything resets between rounds in the base game.

Waves of Poseidon Free Spins

Landing 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols within the same base game tumble sequence (or on the very same spin) triggers the Bonus Round, awarding 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. The multiplier reel is always active for the duration of the free spins round, and bonus symbols will always carry a multiplier of x2 to x50. Each scatter that lands awards +1 extra free spin.

Super Free Spins

If you trigger the bonus round with 6 scatters, you get the Super Bonus Round instead of the regular bonus round. This feature plays out similarly to the regular bonus, but the multiplier reel upgrades from bonus symbols never reset for as long as the super bonus round lasts. To be clear, the multiplier bubble still returns to the lowest multiplier between free spins.

Waves of Poseidon Slot - Free Spins

Waves of Poseidon Bonus Buy (not UK)

You’ll find two bonus buy options in Waves of Poseidon slot, both located above the Ante Bet button. Eligible players can pay 100x the stake to get 4 to 6 triggering scatters, but triggering with 6 scatters via this option does not award the Super Bonus Round. To get the Super Bonus Round, you need to pay 500x your stake via the dedicated button. This guarantees 4, 5, or 6 triggering scatters, awarding 10, 15, or 20 super free spins, respectively.

Theme & Graphics

The Waves of Poseidon game takes you to the bottom of the ocean, with the ruler of the realm, Poseidon, standing by your side with his stern gaze and golden trident in hand. He’ll philosophically stroke his beard once in a while, eyes glowing with ancient wisdom and power. Dolphins and schools of fish swim by in the background, where you can glimpse the ruins of a temple and sunlight streaming through the calm ocean surface. Dolphins are found on the reels too, in addition to more standard Greek mythology items.

Pros and Cons of Waves of Poseidon

Our Verdict

With Pragmatic Play being who they are, a game like Waves of Poseidon should come as no surprise to anyone. Whenever this studio delivers a smash hit like the original Gates Of Olympus, a wave of follow-ups, reskins, and spin-offs follows as surely as the sun is rising in the east. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and at least Waves of Poseidon is an attempt at something brand new instead of yet another rehash. The Greek mythology theme is fairly similar, though, with the ocean god replacing Zeus next to the grid.

That being said, I do not see Waves of Poseidon climbing the SlotRank charts to threaten its big brother anytime soon, and for a variety of reasons. The big appeal of Gates of Olympus is that massive multiplier boosts can come out of the blue, with accumulating multiplier values in the bonus round. In Waves of Posedion, things are a bit more complicated. Unless you activate the Ante Bet feature, multiplier boosts in the base game require bonus symbol multiplier reel upgrades.

In my experience, bonus symbols do not come along very often in the base game. Also, you’re not even guaranteed a multiplier when a bonus symbol finally appears, which can lead to frustrating anti-climax moments. However, whenever you hit one, you can expect a decent payout that helps keep you afloat during the excruciating stretch of 459 spins (on average) between bonus round triggers. Keep in mind that the Ante Bet feature does nothing to shorten this ordeal, which feels like a missed opportunity for this game.

There is also the issue of repeating multiplier values on the reel, making it harder to get to a significant value without bonus symbol upgrades. These tend to come more frequently in the bonus round, luckily, and this is where the game truly shines. With a few solid upgrades, even the bottom multipliers can do serious damage, and it's a plus that the super bonus can trigger organically. To conclude, Waves of Poseidon is a decent attempt at doing something new with similar ingredients as Gates of Olympus, but the concept probably needs a bit more polishing to have the same broad appeal.