The Spindle of the Fates: a ring board from Greek myth

In Greek myth, three sisters rule every life: Clotho spins the thread, Lachesis measures it and Atropos cuts it. Nocturn Play turned that story into a round board, and the poster gives the third sister the starring role – an older woman in purple, a gold-edged hood over grey hair, closing a pair of shears on a glowing thread against white marble. The Spindle of the Fates demo is free to play here, in your browser, without registering.

A board of rings instead of reels

The screen shows four concentric rings of twelve squares, crossed by twelve rays running from the centre to the edge. Set your bet, press Spin, and the rings turn before stopping one by one, from the centre outwards. A win needs three matching symbols on the same ray, starting from the centre. If the fourth square on the outer edge matches as well, the ray pays its bigger four-in-a-row prize. A ray only pays its best line, and wins from several rays add up.

The symbols come straight from an ancient market stall: obol, knucklebone, pomegranate, purple shell and laurel at the lower end; trident, mask, amphora, helmet and lyre above them, with the lyre paying most. The spindle is the wild. It stands in for everything except the shears and never appears on the centre ring, because the centre fixes the symbol a ray is playing for.

The Golden Thread respins

This is the feature you will see most often in the base game. Each winning ray pulls a golden thread. Lachesis then spins one ring again, and any new winning ray is multiplied by the number of threads pulled so far. The sequence carries on for as long as each respin pulls a new thread. It is worth watching closely in the first few dozen spins of the demo, because it explains why some small hits suddenly grow.

Atropos' Shears: the free spins

Shears land only on the outer ring. Three or more open Atropos' Shears with 8 free spins, plus 2 for every extra shears symbol, up to 20 spins. Two things change during the bonus:

• The cut. At the start of each of the first three free spins, Atropos removes the smallest symbol still in play. It does not come back, leaving more room for the better symbols.
• The golden ring. Every edge square shows ×2, ×3, ×5 or ×10, and that multiplies the win of its ray.

If all twelve golden threads are pulled during a free spin, you hit the Great Spindle, the maximum win of 5,000× the bet.

Testing the buy and planning a session

The Atropos' Shears button buys the bonus for 62× the bet, with eight free spins and the golden ring. Because the demo uses play money, you can buy it several times and see how much the three cuts change the board. A good routine: 150 spins at a low bet to learn the rays and the Golden Thread, then three or four bonus buys, then Autoplay with the option to stop at the Shears. The board fits a phone screen well.

Demo credits are virtual and have no value. The same game runs for real money at the casinos below.