St Louis 1904: Slot Overview

Relax Gaming partner and (currently blacklisted) LeoVegas owned studio Blue Guru Games clearly likes a good narrative, and this time it’s serving up a real one. The focus is the St Louis Olympic Marathon of 1904, a race that plays out like a chaotic slapstick skit: 32 men started, yet only 14 finished – the lowest completion rate in Olympic history. In one twist, American Fred Lorz reached the line first but was exposed for taking a lift in a car, while Cuba’s Félix Carvajal still managed fourth place despite lying down with stomach cramps after eating rotten apples from an orchard. Dubbed by Olympics.com as ‘the most bizarre spectacle in Olympic history’, the episode is now reimagined in Blue Guru Games’ online slot, St Louis 1904.

Not a runner? That’s fine; apparently, plenty of the real-life entrants in St Louis had never even run a marathon before. Another strange detail is the conditions: a scorching, dusty day with only a single water stop at the 12-mile point. Blue Guru Games nods to that discomfort in St Louis 1904 with scene-setting touches like insects, thermometers, and an overall hot, dust-choked base game backdrop. Even some of the runners on the pay symbols don’t look like they’re enjoying themselves. Still, it’s sport – the Olympics, no less – and the motto ‘Citius Altius Fortius’ (Faster Higher Stronger) sits across the top of the gaming grid as a motivational banner.

The reels use a traditional layout of 5-reels and 3 rows, while the top corners show there are 10 paylines to form wins on. A highly volatile theme gets a matching highly volatile math model, delivering an RTP of 95.92%. Stakes in St Louis 1904 run from 10 c to $/€50 per spin, and bonus buys are available via the buy button on the left-hand side.

St Louis 1904’s paytable is packed with race-themed items. From the lowest value to the highest, there are buckets of water, apples, thermometers, shoes, bottles, Money Medal symbols, and 4-character symbols. Hitting 5 of a kind with non-character symbols pays 5 to 20 times the stake, while the remaining 4 pay symbols return 50 to 200 times the stake for a 5 OAK result.

St Louis 1904: Slot Features

Money Medal symbols also function as Cash Prize symbols. In free spins, Money Medals award instant prizes when they land at the same time as a Wild Collector symbol. Money Medals can hold values of 2x to 5,000x the bet. The Wild Collector can appear on all reels during the free spins feature. It substitutes for every symbol except the scatter.

Money Medal Respins

When 3 Money Medal symbols land on the leftmost reel, the Money Medal respin feature may be triggered. In this feature, Reels 2-5 can respin to add more Money Medal symbols and create instant cash prize paylines.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols grants 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. In the base game, if 2 scatters appear, a second chance feature may activate:

• Second Chance Dogs – scatters drop down one position, and the non-scatter reels respin.
• Whirlwind – a scatter may be revealed on a random reel.

Before the free spins begin, up to 5 reel modifiers can be chosen at random:

• More Money Medal symbols.
• More Wild Collector symbols.
• More Cars, Rotten Apples, and Pack of Dogs.
• Instant multiplier – starts the round at level 2 with the x2 multiplier.
• Free spins +2 – extra starting free spins and increased spins for each retrigger.

During free spins, the Wild Collector gathers all values from Money Medal symbols. Any Wild Collector symbols are collected as well and added to the progressive free spins meter. Each fourth Wild Collector collected retriggers the feature, awarding extra free spins and a multiplier. The multiplier is x2 at level 2, x3 at level 3, and x10 at level 4. This multiplier affects Money Medal collections during the retriggered spins.

At the end of a free spin, if Wild Collectors are present but Money Medals are not, the Pack of Dogs feature may activate, adding Money Medal symbols into random reel positions. When there are Wild Collectors but no Money Medals at the end of a free spin, the Rotten Apples feature may trigger, converting random symbols into Money Medals. At the end of a free spin, if there are Money Medals but no Wild Collector, the Car feature can trigger, introducing fresh Wild Collectors.

Bonus Buy

From the bonus buy screen, players can purchase the following:

• 10 free spins triggered by 3 scatters for 70x the bet. RTP 96.22%.
• 15 free spins and 1 guaranteed modifier triggered by 4 scatters for 145x the bet. RTP 96.15%.
• 20 free spins and 2 guaranteed modifiers triggered by 5 scatters for 270x the bet. RTP 96.16%.

St Louis 1904: Slot Verdict

Oddly enough, this St Louis 1904 review began with an online rabbit hole, simply searching the game’s title. That quickly turned into a fascinating read about one of the strangest moments in Olympic history. With that context, curiosity about what St Louis 1904 would deliver was properly sparked. Blue Guru Games had landed on an unusual concept, and the first impression looked encouraging – the next thought was essentially: let’s see it. Anyone familiar with wild symbol collector slots can probably guess what came next.

Exactly – the immediate reaction on reading the rules was, ‘this is just a Big Bass Bonanza wannabe’ (yawn). The similarities are so extensive that it becomes almost humorous – much like the marathon’s own backstory. Was that intentional? If yes, it’s a decent gag, though it feels more likely Blue Guru Games aimed to ride the success of Big Bass Bonanza while having some fun with the theme. In the “true story retold as a slot” category, St Louis 1904 sits alongside titles like Aussies vs Emus, Terracotta Army, and Napoleon vs Rabbits. Mechanically, though, St Louis 1904 is firmly in Big Bass territory. The max win is notably strong compared to similar games, coming in at 10,000x the bet (in a billion simulated spins). And after landing a hefty 2,787.3x the base bet from a bonus buy, it’s easy to see why this format still has an audience.

St Louis 1904 is a peculiar blend: a storyline you probably haven’t encountered in a slot before, paired with mechanics you see everywhere. That said, players who still enjoy Big Bass Bonanza-style gameplay but are tired of fish should find St Louis 1904 a good fit. Even so, the combination of genuinely fresh touches and heavily recycled ideas leaves a slightly strange aftertaste once everything’s said and done. In its defence, St Louis 1904 does show real creativity; the animations are polished and the theme concepts are smart, so as a cheeky Big Bass Bonanza alternative, it’s not a total write-off.