Athena’s birth was pure chaos: Zeus, terrified of a prophecy that his unborn kid would overthrow him, decided the best solution was to swallow the pregnant mother, Metis—because digestion totally cancels prophecies, right? Fast forward, Zeus gets the mother of all migraines, so Hephaestus cracks his skull open like a godly piñata, and out pops Athena, fully grown, armored, and screaming like she’s late for battle.

Moral of the story? Swallowing your problems only works until they explode out of your head, wielding a spear.

Thankfully, Thunderkick probably didn’t have to crack someone’s skull open to give birth to their new Ways of Athena slot.

Welcome to Mount Olympus

The Matching Mystery Symbol feature activates during each spin, with symbols potentially appearing on reels 2 to 5. A maximum of 2 Matching Mystery symbols can land per reel, and they transform into double symbols by matching the leftmost reel, effectively providing 2 payways per symbol.

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The Bonus Game is triggered by landing 3 scatter symbols, which awards 8 free spins. Additional scatter symbols increase the number of free spins by 2 each, up to a maximum of 44 spins. During the bonus round, Matching Mystery symbols that align with a scatter symbol on the leftmost reel convert into double scatter symbols. A collection meter is also active, filled by orbs from Matching Mystery symbols. The first fill increases payways per Matching Mystery symbol to 3, the second fill increases it to 5, and each fill awards an additional 2 free spins. Scatter symbols are not part of the collection meter.

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The BET+ feature offers three options to enhance gameplay:

• Bonus Boost: Doubles the likelihood of triggering the bonus game at a cost of 1.3x the bet per spin.
• Bonus Boost Plus: Increases the chance of triggering the bonus game by 5 times for 2.2x the bet per spin.
• Flames of Athena: Guarantees at least one Matching Mystery symbol on each spin for 5x the bet per spin.

The Feature Buy allows direct access to the bonus game, bypassing the base game entirely, for a cost of 100 times the bet.

Is the “Ways of Athena” slot worthy of the gods?

The Ways of Athena slot offers 243 ways to win spread across five reels. The slot allows betting from $0.10, with a maximum bet of $10 per spin. The slot features medium to high volatility and offers an RTP rate of 94.21%. If you’re betting at the maximum per spin, you’ll have a shot at winning up to $250,000 thanks to the massive 25,000x max multiplier.

The Ways of Athena slot serves up everything you’d expect from a Thunderkick slot—mythological flair, eye-popping visuals, and gameplay that packs a punch without requiring a degree in rocket science. It’s all about jumping in, spinning the reels, and letting the features do their thing. Sure, the base game can feel a bit rinse-and-repeat if you’re running on vanilla settings (sans BET+), but the occasional Matching Mystery symbol keeps things interesting. Add in the ways pay system, and you’ve got just enough excitement to keep the momentum alive as you hammer through a few spins. And when it looks this good, there’s plenty of motivation to keep going. I give the Ways of Athena slot a nine out of ten.

If you’re looking for a few other Thunderkick slots to try out, I recommend giving Odin’s Gamble and Not Enough Kittens a shot.