Scourge of Rome

Theme and Design

The Ancient Roman theme is a stalwart of the slots world, but Play n Go has finally come up with a genuinely inventive take on it. Instead of opting for a background of the Colosseum, they’ve instead chosen to explore the invasion of Hannibal on Carthage. As such, you’ll find elephants and weapons on the reels and a greener, less decorative overall design than you’d usually expect from an Ancient Rome slot.

It’s great to see a big developer like Play n Go taking a much loved theme and giving it a genuinely inventive rework. They’ve got the ability of an incredible design department and a unique idea and as such, Scourge of Rome’s design is a runaway success.

RTP and Variance

Play n Go often feature multiple RTPs in their games, so we strongly suggest checking which RTP you’re playing before you start. The default RTP of 96.20% is plenty strong enough, offering a good return on your stake. However, the remaining RTPs of 94.20%, 91.20%, 87.20%, and 84.20% go from not very generous to totally rubbish.

With high volatility a good RTP is key. So, for the default RTP and high variance combination, we think Scourge of Rome deserves a solid 7 out of 10 in this category.

Maximum Win

You can’t complain at a 40,000x max win! Play n Go are very much dangling a carrot, but with that high volatility you’ll need to spin the reels a few times before you can get close to it! With that said, the fair RTP will make the dry spells in this game easier to stick out.

Symbols and Paytable

The base game is played on a 6 reel, 4 row set up but in the free spins round this can change. The reels both shrink and grow allowing for different winning combinations. In the base game there are 4,096 ways to win, where you must land 3 or more symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel.

This game has eleven pay symbols as well as a wild. The low value symbols are the playing cards (10, J, Q, K, A) and these pay out 1x to 1.4x the bet for 6x symbols. The premium symbols are the pictures (dagger, chalice, ring, goat mask, and warrior). These pay out from 4x to 6x the bet for a 6x symbol win. The most premium symbol of all is the elephant which pays 20x the bet for a 6 of a kind win and also pays out as low as a 2 of a kind win at 0.5x the bet.

Features and Gameplay

Scourge of Rome has a decent selection of features that help to keep the quest for that 40,000x max win exciting. Let’s take a look at how they all work.

Wild Flip Feature

There are two wild symbols in this game, Hannibal (a 1x1 symbol) and Hannibal and Sirius (a fully reel height). Both can substitute for all symbols except scatters to complete win ways.

The Hannibal wild can land on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 and if 2 or more land on a single spin then this MAY trigger the Wild Flip feature. Each wild that’s joined with a win has a 50% chance of becoming the Hannibal & Sirius wild (taking up the full reel). Normal Hannibal wilds don’t appear in the free spins round. 

Free Spins

The scatter symbol is a snowcapped mountain with Scatter emblazoned across it. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters triggers the free spins round to start with 10, 15, 20, or 25 spins respectively. You can win a total max of 115 free spins.

Once the free spins round starts all elephant symbols are sticky and ignore gaps in the reels. At the start of every spin some symbols at the bottom of the reels will freeze and at the end those symbols will fall from the reel, reducing the overall grid size. After this, a new full row is added at the top, increasing the overall size.

It is also possible for a warhorn symbol to appear during this round. When one lands, all elephant symbols move one step up before the frozen symbols fall. If you have fewer than three elephants then the warhorn symbol also brings the total up to three.