Free Norse Mythology Slots

What the sagas supply, and what reaches the reels

Most of what survives of Norse myth comes from two collections compiled in 13th-century Iceland, the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. They give slot designers a compact cast. Odin is the one-eyed god of wisdom and death, Thor the thunder god who carries the hammer Mjölnir, and Loki the trickster. Valkyries, whose name means "chooser of the slain", take fallen warriors to Valhalla.

The hammer is the real-world anchor: about 1,000 Viking Age hammer pendants have been found across Scandinavia, the Baltic and Russia. In two of these three games Thor's hammer or a raven acts as a scatter, and the gods double as names for features.

Three games, three different jobs for the gods

ThunderStruck II treats the gods as a ladder. It pays 243 ways on five reels, and its free spins, the Great Hall of Spins, open as four modes named for Valkyrie, Loki, Odin and Thor, unlocked by triggering the feature again and again. In the base game Thor can strike before a spin and turn one to five reels wild. It dates from 2010, and its pacing reflects that.

Fury of Odin Megaways is the modern design: six reels whose heights change every spin, up to 117,649 ways, tumbling wins, and a Fury icon on a strip above the grid that gives wilds to every position beneath it. Free spins start at ten and carry a rising multiplier, and the studio lists a 15,000x top win.

Hall of Gods is the plain one. It has 20 lines, an expanding wild and free spins with a 3x multiplier. Separately, hammers landing on reels three, four and five open a shield game that ends in a Mini, Midi or Mega progressive jackpot. Of the three, Fury of Odin Megaways carries the most moving parts, and Hall of Gods the fewest, with a low-key rhythm and a distant jackpot attached.

Listings that disagree

A Norse theme says nothing about return or swing. The listed RTPs differ: 96.65% for ThunderStruck II, 95.97% from the studio for Fury of Odin Megaways, and 95.30% on Evolution's page for Hall of Gods. Volatility is labelled mid for Hall of Gods and high by databases for Fury, while listings for ThunderStruck II disagree, from low to high. Operators can run other settings; why the same slot can have different RTP explains how.

A progressive jackpot, as in Hall of Gods, is paid for out of part of the theoretical return, which means regular wins account for less of the headline figure. It may not be offered in every jurisdiction.

The demos are the studios' own builds, using virtual credits only. Play in Ontario is for adults 19 and over. If gambling stops being enjoyable, call ConnexOntario on 1-866-531-2600, and see our responsible gambling page for further tools.