How-To Guide

How to Play Gates of Hades Without Guessing

In short: Gates of Hades is a 6x6 cluster slot worked by a single button. Set a total bet anywhere from $0.20 to $240.00, spin, then let blocks of five or more connected symbols pay. The game ships without an ante bet.

You need about a minute to learn this one, because the interface amounts to a stake control, a spin button, two purchase panels. We read all seven rules screens in the official client on to be sure nothing was hiding behind them.

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Published

The bet panel of Gates of Hades headed BET MULTIPLIER 20x
The control people mistake for an ante bet, read in the official demo client on . Source: our own screenshot.
Game:
Gates of Hades (a Pragmatic Play 6x6 cluster-pays video slot)
Type:
Slot game
RTP as published:
96.52% theoretical, stated verbatim on the game's own rules screen
Max win:
10,000x the bet, a hard cap that applies in both the base game and the free spins round.

Note: Setting a stake and pressing spin is the whole of it. Two controls cause most of the confusion. The bet menu is headed BET MULTIPLIER 20x, which reads like a paid upgrade. The two purchase panels are priced as multiples of your stake rather than as fixed sums, so the figures on them move whenever the stake does. Every number below comes from the client's own rules screens, or from the session we logged on .

Table of contents

What You Need Before You Start

Before you start, check these prerequisites; each one takes a minute and saves a wasted round.

The Gates of Hades base game on a 6x6 grid with one scatter
The full interface before a first spin, in the official demo client, . Source: our own screenshot.

How a Round Plays, Step by Step

Follow these steps in order; the index below jumps to any step, and each step names the control it uses.

The settings window listing GAME HISTORY, TOTAL BET $2.00
Every switch the game offers, with no ante or double-chance option among them. Source: our own screenshot.
  1. Step 1: Open the client
  2. Step 2: Set the total bet
  3. Step 3: Ignore the 20x label
  4. Step 4: Press spin
  5. Step 5: Watch for connected blocks
  6. Step 6: Let the tumbles finish
  7. Step 7: Read the meters above the reels
  8. Step 8: Decide about the buy panels

Before You Play Your First Spin

Step 1: Open the Client

Load the game from a casino lobby or the studio's free host. Nothing installs, and the free host let us straight in without registration.

Step 2: Set the Total Bet

Press the plus or minus key beside BET to open the bet menu. Move BET, then COIN VALUE, until TOTAL BET shows the figure you want, anywhere from $0.20 to $240.00.

Step 3: Ignore the 20x Label

The panel header reads BET MULTIPLIER 20x. That describes the fixed twenty-coin structure behind every spin, which names the stake rather than a paid upgrade. Every control in the client leaves it exactly where it stands.

Step 4: Press Spin

A single press runs the round. Holding the space bar switches to turbo instead.

Reading the Gates of Hades Grid

Step 5: Watch for Connected Blocks

Symbols pay in blocks of at least five touching one another left-to-right or top-to-bottom. Diagonals sit outside the rule.

Step 6: Let the Tumbles Finish

Paid symbols go. Survivors drop. New ones fall in from above. The round ends when a drop pays nothing.

Step 7: Read the Meters Above the Reels

A wild deposits its multiplier into the meter positioned above its own reel. A cluster is subsequently multiplied by the aggregate of the meters occupying the reels that its constituent symbols touched.

Step 8: Decide About the Buy Panels

The two boxes on the left charge 100x or 500x your total bet to skip straight into the feature round.

Tip: The meters reset in the base game, holding only during free spins, so a fat base meter is worth zero to the round that follows it.

The first of seven rules pages, listing pay values for all
The rules screen that defines what counts as a win, read in full on . Source: our own screenshot.

A stake of $0.20 runs the same maths as a stake of $240.00; the multiplier ladder stays where it is however much you risked.

If a control looks like it ought to exist yet you cannot find it, that is usually the answer. Ante bets, double-chance switches, bet-multiplier upgrades: all absent here. It leaves the two buy panels on the left as the only paid shortcut the game sells, which is worth knowing before you go hunting through the settings menu for a cheaper one.

Key Terms Used on This Page

Total bet
The amount staked per spin, $2.00 by default in the demo and adjustable across a $0.20 to $240.00 range.
Coin value
The per-coin denomination, $0.05 at the opening setting, multiplied by the bet level and the fixed twenty coins.
Cluster
A paying block of at least five identical symbols touching horizontally or vertically somewhere on the 6x6 grid.
Tumble
The drop replacing paid symbols; the rules set no limit on how many can chain inside one spin.
Multiplier meter
The counter above a reel collecting wild values, cleared after each base round and held for a whole feature round.

Not sure yet? Try the free demo first and learn the round with play money before any deposit.

Try the free demo first →

Deposits and identity checks stay on the operator's own secure site.

More on this game, from the same section first:

What Else Do Readers Ask?

These are the operational questions the client answers but the marketing copy does not, taken from the seven rules screens and our own logged session.

Is there an ante bet in this game?

No, all seven rules screens and the settings menu carry none, and the only paid route into the feature is a purchase.

What does BET MULTIPLIER 20x mean?

The label describes a fixed twenty-coin bet structure, so a $0.05 coin at bet level two produces the $2.00 total the client opens on.

Which stake did we test on?

We tested on a $2.00 total bet for every logged spin, which sits near the bottom of the range the client allows.

Do diagonal matches ever pay?

No, the rules limit paying blocks to symbols connected horizontally or vertically, so five in a diagonal line returns nothing at all.

Where is the return figure shown?

Rules page four prints it, beside the volatility badge and the stake limits, and every casino serves that same screen inside the game.

How do we test a slot's controls?

We open the studio demo, read all seven rules pages, change every setting we can reach and log what each control actually does.