The Opening Ceremony for the London Olympics will take place on July 27. Thereafter the world will witness two weeks of contests in which the best sportspersons will vie for medals. Online casino players can complement that excitement by wagering on Olympics themed online slots. The leading software provider Playtech offers two such slots machines at its online casinos. The first of these titled Golden Games was for some reason released a year after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Playtech got the timing right for the second one titled Wild Games. It was released just ahead of the London Olympics. These slots games can be played at Playtech online casinos like Mansion Casino and Omni Casino.

Golden Games is a 25 paylines video slot. The high paying symbols are equipment used in Olympic sports. These include the stop watch, the tennis racket, the basketball and the weights. The special symbols are the Golden Games logo, the discus thrower and the Olympics flame. Many of these exhibit animations like the athlete releasing the discus. Instead of the usual high value playing card icons, Playtech has brought in sports logos crafted in gold in this slot machine. The Golden Games logo is the wild symbol. It substitutes for other symbols and also offers the highest line payout of 10,000 coins. The discus thrower is the scatter symbol and offers scatter payouts that are multiplied by the total bet. The Olympic flame is the bonus symbol. When it appears simultaneously on reels 1 and 5 then 20 free spins are awarded. The payouts are doubled during the free spins and the free spins can be retriggered infinitely. The standard Playtech gamble game is an option available after each payout.

Though Wild Games is also a Playtech Olympic themed slot game, it is different from Golden Games in some ways. The quality of animations reflects the advancement made in online slots software in the intervening period. The bulldog is the swimmer, the cheetah is the athlete and the hippo is the gymnast. The introductory clip shows all three animals participating in their respective events. These animals also appear as symbols on the reels. The wild symbol is the trophy, which also offers the highest line payout. Other symbols include the football, the basketball and the high value card symbols. The bronze, silver and gold medals are the bonus symbols. Three or more medals of the same type appearing anywhere on the reels activate the Win A Medal Bonus. Players have to pick one of the medals and are awarded a cash bonus depending on the number and type of medals.

Each of the animal participants has its own bonus game. The bulldog triggers the Freestyle Swim Bonus. 8 free spins are awarded to the player. Whenever a medal appears on the reels during the free spins additional free spins are triggered. The cheetah activates the 100M Dash Bonus. Again 8 free spins are awarded but in this case the medal symbols appearing in the free spins get converted to additional wilds. The hippo triggers the Balance Beam Bonus that also offers 8 free spins. In this case the hippo performs a balance beam routine. The player is awarded a multiplier to the free spins payouts based on the hippo’s performance.