Gates of Olympus and the clones: what's the difference?

One of the most common questions in the inbox goes something like this: I've found a game that looks indistinguishable from Gates of Olympus, but it's called something else and comes from a studio I've never heard of. Is it the same game? The answer is no — but it's also not accidental that it looks similar.

There are three kinds of relation in this genre, and they are consistently mixed together. There are the official successors from the same provider. There are games from other studios that copy the math and presentation. And then there are games where only the theme is the same and the engine inside is something entirely different. Here's how to tell them apart.

01The original and its own successors

Gates of Olympus udkom 13. februar 2021 fra Pragmatic Play. The numbers are familiar: 95,51 procent i RTP, high volatility, 5.000 gange the stake as a cap. The feature list includes Avalanche, Cascading, Pay Anywhere, Free Spins med multiplikator, Buy Feature, Bonus Bet and RTP range. The latter means the game exists in several versions, and the figure you see depends on which configuration the casino has chosen.

Pragmatic has since built further on their own framework. Gates of Olympus Super Scatter from 28. april 2025 raises the RTP to 96,5 procent and the ceiling to 50.000 times the stake, and the listing adds a sequence label that explicitly marks it as a continuation. Olympus Wins Super Scatter from 4. juni 2025 runs the same 96,5 procent but stretches the ceiling all the way to 100.000 times.

Then there are the odd family members. Gates of Olympus Roulette from 9. april 2026 is not a slot but a roulette product with an Olympus layer on top: 97,3 percent in RTP and a cap of 10.000 times the stake. And Games in Olympus 1000 from maj 2025 sits at 95,51 percent — the same number as the original — with a cap of 15.000 times.

02What a clone actually copies

When a smaller studio makes a game in this style, it's rarely the code that's copied. It's the combination of mechanics, because that combination has proven to sell. Looking at the feature lists, the exact same sequence repeats itself: Avalanche, Cascading, Pay Anywhere, Scatter Pays, Free Spins Multiplier, Random multiplier, Bonus Bet, Buy Feature.

The sequence appears in Sky of Olympus from Formula Spin with 96,3 procent, high variance and 15.000 times as a ceiling. In Lightning of Olympus from Skywind Group with 96,5 procent and the same ceiling. In Royalty of Olympus Xmas from Barbara Bang with 96 procent and 15.000 times. In Zeus of Olympus from PlayStar, where neither RTP nor max win are provided in our source. And in King of Olympus from Playtech Origins with 95,47 procent and 5.000 times.

Many of them also carry the label Gonzo mechanic — that is, cascades with an increasing multiplier through a win sequence. It's an older idea than the Olympus wave, but it has become a fixed part of the package. The point is that the similarity is real and intentional: you get a very familiar experience, and the differences are in the numbers, not in the feel.

03Where the copies stand out in numbers

This gets interesting, because in one respect several imitators beat the original. Gates of Olympus står med 95,51 procent. Sky of Olympus står med 96,3, Lightning of Olympus og Gems of Olympus med 96,5, Gods of Olympus: Aphrodite fra studiet Mount Olympus med 96,89 og Olympus Trueways fra BGAMING med 96,84. In purely theoretical terms, they therefore return more to the player than the original.

But RTP alone does not determine how a game feels. Olympus Trueways layers Multiway with over 1.024 ways, splitting symbols and stacks on top of the cascades, and Chronicles of Olympus Assembl'em from Alchemy Gaming runs 96 procent with Multiway, symbol collection and fixed jackpots and a cap of 11.000 times. It's no longer the same machine — it's a different calculation in the same outfit.

The other route also has titles where the numbers are sharply lower than the original. Olympus Divine Reels from Spinberry sits at 93,18 percent, and the two Inspired Gaming titles, Aphrodite Legends of Olympus and Zeus Legends of Olympus, both stand at 94,5 percent. So no: similarity in appearance doesn’t tell you where the figure will land.

04When the name sounds the same, but the engine is different

The third category is the one that most often surprises. Here only the theme is shared. Rise of Olympus Bingo from Play'n GO, released 8. juni 2026, is not a slot: the feature list includes lottery, pick bonus and fixed jackpots, RTP is 96 procent and the cap is 5.000 gange. Rings of Olympus from Turbo Games has virtually no features beyond multipliers, runs at 97,34 procent and tops out at 700 gange the stake.

Olympus Power Link from Fugaso is yet another example: 96,15 procent, medium-high to high variance, 10.000 times as a ceiling, and a feature list built around Link Win, respins and fixed jackpots. There are no cascades at all. Put it next to Gates of Olympus, and the only shared word is in the title and the colour palette.

Therefore the name is a poor starting point. Two games can have Zeus in the title and be as different as a card-game variant and a cluster-paying slot. The feature list is the only reliable entry point.

05How to tell the difference in thirty seconds

Open the game's info screen and look for three things. First: are there cascades? The words Avalanche or Cascading decide whether you're in the classic branch. Second: does it say Pay Anywhere or Scatter Pays? Then there are no paylines, and symbols count regardless of position — that's the core of the Gates model. Third: does it say Hold and Win, in which case the game belongs to a completely different family, regardless of what the front promises.

Then note the RTP and look for wording about variable RTP. Among the titles where our source explicitly mentions RTP range are Gates of Olympus, Gates of Olympus Super Scatter, Games in Olympus 1000, Fortune of Olympus, Rise of Olympus 1000 and Rise of Olympus Extreme. There the figure is not a promise, but one of several possibilities.

And remember that an imitation is not illegal or dishonest in itself. Mathematical models cannot be protected, and many of the copies are technically well built. The problem only arises if you think you're buying the original — and pay the original's expectations into a game that's set up differently.