Life of Brian is a slot machine developed by Ash Gaming exclusively for online casinos. The slot takes as its theme the 1979 comedy Life of Brian, produced by the famous British comedy troupe Monty Python. It’s a 5-reel 30 pay line slot with a strong theme, a progressive top prize, and loads of bonus features.

Most licensed slots are based on movies, TV shows, and characters that are popular in the present day. It’s common to see a slot based on the latest blockbuster action movie or a new video game release. Life of Brian was released 34 years before Ash Gaming’s licensed slot came out in 2013. What did they do to ensure success with a slot machine based on a movie that’s more than three decades old?

The Life of Brian slot machine by Ash Gaming uses characters, music, and scenes from the real film, combined with an easy-to-play slot game with lots of bonus features and a progressive top prize. The way the slot was put together, you don’t have to have seen the movie to appreciate the humor sprinkled throughout the game.

This post is a detailed review of the popular Life of Brian online slot game. I’ll cover the basics of the game, along with its origin story, then give detailed coverage on the game’s payouts, odds, rules, and many bonus features.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian (the Movie)

Though we sometimes think of Monty Python as a cult group, producing niche pieces of comedy that appeal to a limited audience, it’s important to remember that Life of Brian the movie was the fourth-highest grossing film of the year. A commercial and critical success, Life of Brian overcame some controversy over its plot to earn a permanent spot among the funniest movies of all time.

The film tells the story of Brian Cohen, a normal guy from Nazareth who just happened to be born next door to the place where Jesus was born. Confusion among the Three Wise Men leads to Brian’s accidental misidentification as the Savior of Humanity, and hilarity ensues.

The most famous moment in the film, and the one that will probably stand the test of time, is its climax, in which Brian is crucified. As Brian dies an excruciating death, the other victims on their crosses attempt to cheer him up with a Broadway-style song, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

If you think about it, this movie is perfect for license as a slot game. Between the silly songs, sight gags, and religious satire rampant in the movie, the designers at Ash Gaming had lots of material to form into a great online slot game idea.

Life of Brian Slot Machine – The Basics

Life of Brian is a progressive slot with an average RTP of 94%. That RTP figure makes this slot about average for online slot games, particularly those released by Ash Gaming. This slot’s progressive top prize resets to $100,000. Life of Brian offers free spins, re-spins, bonus rounds, and multiplier bonuses. Like all Ash Gaming online slots, Life of Brian doesn’t offer a gamble feature.

The game’s symbols are drawn heavily from the Monty Python film of the same name, featuring the film’s signature title script as the wild symbol, a cropped photo of the film’s hero Brian as the top regular symbol, and other film-specific images, such as Brian’s Mum, a Centurion, Mr. Cheeky, and the Temple of Brian. The game’s non-licensed symbols are standard face card icons.

How to Win the Life of Brian Progressive Jackpot

The biggest payout in the game is the progressive top prize, triggered randomly when the Foot of God stomps on the reels. There’s no way to win this prize besides playing, since the Foot of God will literally randomly stomp on the reels and trigger a reward. Very rarely, this reward is the game’s ever-increasing top prize, displayed on the left-hand side of the screen as you play.

The next-highest payout is a fixed 1,000x stake multiplier, earned by lining up the game’s logo symbol on an active pay line. The medium-value payouts are in the 200x to 500x range, all triggered for lining up combinations of licensed characters and ideas from the film.

Life of Brian Slot Machine Bonus Features

Ash Gaming loaded Life of Brian slots games with ten bonuses. Some of these features are triggered randomly, others occur based on different symbol combinations. The random nature and gorgeous design of the bonus features plays a big role in this slot’s popularity. It seems like you’re always navigating a bonus screen of some kind, particularly since most of them occur at random times and have nothing to do with gameplay.

Below is a quick guide to each of the game’s ten bonus rounds:

Foot of God Progressive Jackpot

The famous “foot of God” animated seen in all of Monty Python’s various film and TV releases appears randomly during the game and crushes the reels, revealing a cash prize. The game’s biggest payout, a progressive jackpot linked to Ash Gaming’s large online gaming network, regularly tops $1 million. There’s absolutely no skill to claiming that ever-growing top prize, just the luck of the Foot of God.

Life of Brian Wheel

When three Temple of Brian symbols appear on an active pay line, the Life of Brian Wheel appears. The wheel is broken up into four sections, each of which leads to a prize such as a cash payout, a bonus multiplier, or a mystery prize. Sometimes the Life of Brian Wheel will trigger one of the other bonus rounds on this list.

Stoning Bonus Game

A scene from the film showing Brian’s mom taking him to a ritual stoning appears. The game lines up eight characters and asks you to choose one to hit with a stone. The person you hit reveals a cash prize. Sometimes, an additional payout is triggered when one of the stoning victims is revealed to be a woman wearing a fake beard.

People’s Front of Judea Bonus

Another bonus round tied to a clip from the movie, in this section you’re asked what the Romans have done for you. You can choose Aqueducts, Education, Irrigation, Medicine, Roads, or Public Order. Each choice reveals a different multiplier.

Romani Ite Domun Bonus

After Brian is signed up for the People’s Front of Judea, he’s asked to paint anti-Roman graffiti on the walls of a castle. The more you’re able to paint before the sun rises, the more credits you win.

What’s So Funny? Bonus

In another scene straight from the movie, Brian is interrogated by Pontius Pilate. Your task is to choose which of the three guards won’t break out into laughter at Pilate’s speech impediment. The longer your guard lasts before laughing, the higher your bonus multiplier.

Wild Spaceship Respins Bonus

This one occurs randomly and only after losing spins. Brian falls through the reels and is captured by a UFO. One reel stack turns wild and locks that way. You only earn one free spin, but the reels will continue spinning until you win some sort of prize.

Pick a Holy Item Game

Three items are placed in front of Brian – a sandal, a juniper bush, and a gourd. Choose one item and the crowd will begin to worship it as a relic. Each item will reveal a different instant payout.

Pledge Your Allegiance Bonus

Brian is asked to join one of three anti-Roman factions: the People’s Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, or the Judean People’s Front. Each choice reveals a different bonus multiplier.

Always Look on the Bright Side Free Spins Game

When Cross of Brian symbols appear on reels 3, 4, or 5, you’ll play the Always Look on the Bright Side free spins game. The most popular and best-known song for the game plays as you select members of the Judea People’s Front Suicide Squad to compete for different numbers of free spins.

Crucifixion Bonus Game

When playing the Always Look on the Bright Side game, you can trigger the Crucifixion Bonus by lining up three scatter symbols during the bonus round. When that happens, you choose from six different crucifixion victims for a cash prize or a retrigger of the previous game’s free spins. It sounds gory but it’s actually pretty funny.

Conclusion

It’s true that Monty Python films don’t have the cultural cachet they once did. Gone are the days when my friends and I would stay up late giggling at Holy Grail or old episodes of Flying Circus. That said, Ash Gaming managed to reach way back into our cultural memory and take hold of what turns out to be a great idea for a slot machine.

The frequent bonus features and relatively simple gameplay on Ash Gaming’s Life of Brian slots go well with the way the designer has crafted a narrative that explains the movie’s plot. Slots players are known for having short attention spans – Ash Gaming recognized that and produced Life of Brian, an online slot that’s been popular all over the Internet for nearly a decade now.