Roman Fruits Slot by Playtech

Strip away the laurel-crowned emperor in his gilded cuirass and red cape, and the terracotta villas spilling down the green hillside toward the citadel, and what's left is a plain fruit machine. Gold sevens, a golden bell, red cherries, blue grapes, a lemon, an orange, a purple plum and a red watermelon slice line up across the reels on ten fixed paylines. The Roman dressing is paint over familiar mechanics, and anyone who has played Logic Labs' other fruit slots will recognise the engine and the jackpot game right away.

The one twist in the base game is the Wild. It only shows up on reels 2, 3 and 4, and whenever it lands it stretches to fill the whole reel, standing in for every symbol except the two Scatters. Catch a full column of Wilds and it lines up wins across the board. Grab two or three expanding reels at once and most of the grid pays. These expanding Wilds are what give the base game any teeth.

Two different Scatters open the bonus round. The Shield can drop on any reel, while the Goblet only turns up on reels 1, 3 and 5, and together they run the free spins.

The part that actually separates this from a three-reel machine is the Joker Flip Jackpot. Four levels sit above the reels: Joker, King, Queen and Jack. Any spin can fire it at random, even a dead one that pays nothing, and a bigger bet shortens the odds. When it hits, you drop into a pick-a-card game and keep flipping until you collect three matching cards to claim that level's prize. All four levels are progressive and seeded, and the top Joker pool starts large, large enough to hand out far more than the reels themselves ever reach. The jackpot is the reason to keep the stake up.