Ben Hur - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

It has 5 reels, 3 rows and 20 paylines. The game’s RTP is 96.34 per cent, but its variance level is not known. It is based on the story of the Jewish prince Ben-Hur who became a Roman slave. It features wilds, scatters and free spins.

Introduction

Ainsworth started life in 1995 as a manufacturer of slot machines and made the natural progression into online slots while maintaining their presence in physical casinos. The Ben Hur online slot is a 2022 release that is based mainly on the 2016 movie, although any Ben Hur slot review must acknowledge that the shadow of the 1959 classic hangs over it. It’s a fairly conventional game in terms of grid, paylines and overall mechanics, unlike games that make a virtue of departing from the norm like Nolimit City’s Fire in the Hole slot, but sometimes convention is perfectly satisfactory.

Ben Hur is an Ainsworth online slot played on a 5-reel, 3-column grid with 20 fixed pay lines. The minimum coin size is 0.05 and the maximum 2.50.The minimum bet size is therefore 1.00 and the maximum is 50. There are 11 regular symbols: Ben Hur, Chariot & Horses, Slave Galley, Shield & Swords, Helmet and the 6 highest plying cards. The wild is a wooden shield and the scatters are a gold coin and a bag of coins.

Theme, graphics and soundtrack

Compared to the dramatic spectacle of the Ben Hur movies, this is visually a little tame. Online slots are of course limited in what they can do when they have to devote the screen to conventional reels, but a few surprises in the limited animation would be welcome. As for the frantic music, it seems to have strayed in from a different kind of game.

Ben Hur RTP and variance

Ben Hur’s RTP is 96.34 per cent but its variance is not recorded, although some sites which feature free casino slots rate it as high. 

How to play Ben Hur

Here's quick guide to getting started with this choice of slots:

1. You can change the bet by clicking on the coins icon and use the arrows. You can also click on Max to select the highest bet possible.
2. Click on the auto button to open the Auto-play menu. This gives you a choice of automatic spins from 5 to 25. The number of spins remaining will be show on the auto button. If you press this button again you will exit auto play.
3. The balance meter at the bottom left displays your credit balance which is updated after each spin. Your winnings will be shown to the right of the screen.
4. Click the Spin button or use the space bar to spin the reels at the chosen bet level. Stop the reels by pressing the Spin button a second time.
5. The substitute (wild) symbol will substitute for all symbols except for the scatters. 
6. The coin scatter appears on all reels in the base game. The bag of coins appears on all reels during free games.
7. All wins are counted from the leftmost reel, paying left to right on adjacent reels, excluding scatters. Scatters pay in any position. Only the highest win is paid on each line, except scatters. All your wins on different lines are added together.
8. Please play online slots responsibly. If you are playing for money, make sure you stay within the limits of what you can afford to lose. We support safe gambling initiatives and urge you to make use of time out and self-exclusion features. When the game stops being enjoyable you should stop playing.

Bet sizes and paytable wins

The bet size ranges from 1.00 to 50. The maximum possible payout is 125x.

The paytable values run from 3x to 5x and the highest paying multiplier values for each symbol are as follows:

Ben Hur

5 = 4.00

Chariot & Horses

5 = 3.50

Slave Galley

5 = 3.25

Shield & Swords

5 = 3.00

Helmet

5 = 2.75

Ace, King

5 = 2.25
        
Queen, Jack

5 = 1.75

10, 9

5 = 1.25

Wild

5 = 6.25

Scatter

5 = 50.00

Max-win 8,000x

Volatility High

Top RTP 96.82%

Ben Hur bonus features

Battle Feature

If you land 3 or more gold coins during the base game you will trigger the Battle Feature. You then need to choose between 6 options:

• Helmet Feature = 14 free spins, stacked helmet symbols
• Shield Feature = 13 free spins, stacked shield symbols
• Galley Feature = 12 free spins, stacked galley symbols
• Chariot Feature = 11 free spins, stacked chariot symbols
• Ben Hur Feature = 10 free spins, stacked Ben Hur symbols

If you select the question mark you have activated the 6th Mystery Feature which will award at random one of the following:

• Helmet Feature 19, 14 or 9 free spins
• Shield Feature 18, 13 or 8 free spins
• Galley Feature 17, 12 or 7 free spins
• Chariot Feature 16,11 or 6 free spins
• Ben Hur Feature 15, 10 0r 5 free spins

Whenever the bag of coins appears it awards a bonus prize. The maximum bonus is 100x the bet and the minimum is 4x the bet. Any of three shields (scatters) numbered +1, +2 and +3 may appear during the free games feature and award, respectively, 1, 2 or 3 additional free games.

Ben Hur review: our verdict

As online slots go, Ben Hur is unspectacular. It doesn’t really do justice to its source and the bet range and maximum payout are both disappointing. However, there was just enough going to keep our interest.

Disclaimer: Ben Hur trademark / license is owned by Ainsworth. This site is not endorsed by Ainsworth.