Playtech releases Olympic-themed Golden Games Online Pokies

If you found yourself glued to the telly during last month’s Summer Olympics, and happen to like playing the pokies online, you may find your curiosity piqued by Playtech‘s latest release. The interactive gaming software giant has unveiled Golden Games, a new online pokies geared toward sports fans.

This latest creation – albeit a little late for the Olympic Summer Games – features a retinue of thematic graphics. And thankfully, the designers were kind enough to forgo the usual playing-card symbols, infusing a complete Olympic motif that features gold medals, sports equipment and a full range of athletic characters.

Golden Games Online Pokies Features

Golden Games is a 5 reel, 25 payline poker machine with a bet range of 0.01 to 5.00 per line (a max bet of 0.25 to 125.00), and a max payout of 10,000 credits. It’s highest paying symbols include a Stop Watch, Tennis Racket, Basketball Goal, and Dumbbell. On the lower end (in place of generic playing-card symbols), we have gold-embossed representations of a Cyclist, Boxer, Fencer, Sprinter and Swimmer.

The game’s most affable symbols are the Gold Medal, which is the Wild symbol and features the Golden Games logo; a Discus Thrower, paying multiplied Scatter wins; and the Flaming Torch Bowl, which is a Bonus icon that’s capable of awarding free spins.

The Golden Medal Wild plays the traditional role, taking the place of any other symbols (except Scatter and Bonus) to create the highest possible winning combination. However, when they appear together on an active payline, they can also pay out their own combination rewards of 10 credits for 2 Wilds, 100 credits for 3, 1,000 credits for 4, and the online pokies’ highest payout of 10,000 credits for 5 on a line.

The Discus Scatter is a lucrative symbol that pays a multiple of a player’s triggering bet. When 2 Scatters appear anywhere on the reels, the payout is 1x the bet, increasing to 5x for 3, 25x for 4 and 250x for 5.

The Torch Bowl Bonus symbol is the most illusive to be found in the new pokies. Online players will be especially happy if they happen to land two of them, on the 1^st and 5^th reels, at the same time. This triggers the Golden Games Bonus, awarding 20 Free Spins, plus a 2x multiplier on all winnings received throughout the free spin phase.

Is Golden Games Worth A Spin?

Honestly, I was a little thrown off by Playtech’s color choices. There’s so much shimmering green and gold that, for a moment, I was expecting a St. Patrick’s Day theme. And while there are basic sound effects during each spin, there’s no background music. I’m okay with that, though, because honestly, with some pokies, online players like myself have either come near to falling asleep to the rhythmic droll, or simply toggled the music off when its too wild or erratic.

Otherwise, Golden Games seems to have a low- to mid-volatility, which I personally enjoy. It keeps the credits rolling in enough to maintain a bankroll, while delivering fun, sporty animations with each win. The only negative is that it’s very rare to trigger the free spins bonus. After about 200 spins, I only hit it once, although it was profitable enough to regain all my losses leading up to that point.