Champions of Rome Demo & review

Champions of Rome asks a question before every bonus: eight free spins you keep, or a Deathmatch that multiplies the round by up to four and takes it all away if it falls short of a coin target. Yggdrasil released the 20-line gladiator slot in February 2019. It suits players who like to set their own risk, and its buy goes straight to that choice.

The intro names the two things that set the game apart: the buy and the Deathmatch multipliers. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

How Champions of Rome works

Line wins start at three of a kind on one of 20 fixed lines, read from reel 1. The 5x3 reels carry ten regular symbols, three high, three medium and four low, plus a wild, the Beast and the Free Spin symbol. At our bet each coin was worth $0.05, so the bet is 20 coins, and every coin figure on this page divides by 20 to give dollars at that bet.

How the features connect:

1. Two Free Spin symbols in the base game start the Gladiator Feature: one throw, four wilds.
2. Three or more start free spins with a coin prize, and you pick Training or Deathmatch.
3. In free spins a gladiator throws on every spin, and the Beast can add spins.
4. Deathmatch multiplies the round if it clears 450 coins, and pays a consolation if it does not.

Step 2 decides what kind of game you are playing for the next few minutes.

The Gladiator Feature: three weapons, four wilds

Each gladiator turns four positions wild, and his weapon sets the shape. The red gladiator's sword makes one 2x1 and one 1x2 wild. The green gladiator's mace drops a single 2x2 block. The blue gladiator's trident scatters four wilds at random.

In the base game two Free Spin symbols bring one throw, a small consolation for a near miss on the bonus. In free spins a random gladiator replaces every high symbol and throws on every spin, so the whole round runs with four extra wilds a spin. Where they land matters on a lines game. A block on reels 1 and 2, where every line begins, does more than the same block on reels 4 and 5.

Training on spin 74: the mace block on reels 1 and 2, an extra spin added, and $51.90 so far. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Champions of Rome free spins: Training or Deathmatch

Three, four or five Free Spin symbols start the round and pay 20, 300 or 12,000 coins straight away, which is $1, $15 or $600 at our bet. Then the game makes you pick.

The choice screen after our natural trigger on spin 74. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Training is 8 free spins, and everything they win is yours. Deathmatch comes in three levels:

Every level has the same target of 450 coins, $22.50 at our bet, won inside the free spins. Coins from the spin that started the round do not count toward it, and the target is measured before the multiplier. Reach it and the whole round is multiplied and paid. Miss it and every free-spin win is forfeited, replaced by a consolation prize of 40 to 200 coins or 5 Training free spins with the same gladiator.

So the levels are a trade. Each step up removes a spin and raises the multiplier while the target stays put, which makes the target harder to reach and the payoff larger when you get there.

The target also sets a floor under every Deathmatch that clears it. At level 1 a cleared round pays at least 900 coins, at level 2 at least 1,350 and at level 3 at least 1,800, before the coins from the starting spin. Set that against the 1,000-coin buy price and the levels split: a cleared level 2 or 3 always returns more than the buy cost, while level 1 can beat the target and still come in under it.

The three Deathmatch levels share one 450-coin target. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

The Beast adds spins

The Beast lands only in free spins, on reels 2, 3 or 4, and never more than one at a time. When a gladiator's wild lands on it, the round gains a free spin. That counts for more in Deathmatch, where every extra spin is another chance to reach 450 coins before the round runs out.

Champions of Rome bonus buy

The Buy Bonus button starts free spins for 1,000 coins, 50 times the bet, and you still choose the mode once you have paid.

The game's rules give no separate RTP or volatility for the buy, so that column is empty. Our level 1 round shows the arithmetic: the trident's random wilds reached 1,699 coins, far past the target, so the x2 applied, and with the coins from the starting spin the round paid $173.80.

Champions of Rome RTP, volatility and max win

The return to player is 96.4%, and no other version is listed. Yggdrasil's game page rates the volatility Medium-High. There is no fixed cap. The largest win recorded in a billion simulated rounds was 2,683x the bet, and the game page gives the top win as €268,300 at the highest bet.

Our Champions of Rome demo test

Spin 74 made the session. Three Free Spin symbols came in, we took Training, and the green gladiator's mace block went to work on the first two reels. The Beast added a spin, and the round ended on 1,636 coins, $82.80 with the trigger's own pay. Before it, the base game was a run of small line wins, with $17.30 on spin 70 the largest of them. At roughly eight seconds a spin, the hundred base rounds and that one bonus took a little over 13 minutes.

The settled board after the Training round, our biggest win of the session. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

We then bought each of the four options once. Two Deathmatch levels cleared the target and the x4 level did not, which is the screen below. Five rounds are nowhere near enough to rank the modes by return, so treat these results as a picture of how each one plays, not as odds. The sword gladiator and the 5-spin consolation never came up, so our account of those two leans on the game's help screens.

Deathmatch at x4 missed the 450-coin target and paid the smallest consolation. FluxPlays demo test, 3 November 2026.

Is Champions of Rome worth playing?

Yes, for players who want to decide how risky their own bonus is. The Training or Deathmatch pick is a real decision, and the 450-coin target turns each Deathmatch spin into a countdown you can follow. What holds it back is the stretch between bonuses, where most wins are small line hits, and a ceiling that sits low next to newer games.

Zeus vs Hades - Gods of War also opens with a choice, Olympus or Hades, but its free spins are built on sticky multiplier wilds and a 15,000x cap. Zeus vs Hades is the better choice for a higher top end. Champions of Rome is the one for a bonus that can be played safe, or gambled on purpose.

If you buy, the floor arithmetic above is the guide. Training keeps whatever it wins but has no multiplier. Level 1 is the gentlest Deathmatch, yet a narrow win there can still lose money against the price. Levels 2 and 3 are the honest gambles: a clear win beats the buy price, a miss pays a consolation and little else.

In the demo, buy one Deathmatch at each level and watch the coin count against 450. It shows quickly how much one missing spin changes the chance of a payout.