Book of Dead is Play’n GO’s Egyptian tomb slot and the game that turned Rich Wilde, its explorer character, into a series. It follows the book-slot formula closely: ten lines, one symbol that is both wild and scatter, and a free spin round in which a single randomly chosen symbol expands across the reels. It is one of the most widely stocked slots in European casinos, and it is a high-volatility game rather than a gentle one.
- Free spins
- Expanding special symbol
- Book is wild and scatter
- Gamble on wins
- Studio
- Play’n GO
- Released
- 2016
- Layout
- 5 reels, 3 rows
- Ways to win
- 10 lines, selectable from 1 to 10
- Volatility
- High
How It Plays
Five reels, three rows and ten paylines. The lines are selectable rather than fixed, so a spin can run on anything from one line to all ten — though playing fewer lines mainly reduces how much of the screen is being paid for, not the cost per line.
Wins are paid left to right from the leftmost reel, three or more matching symbols on an active line, with only the highest combination on each line counting. The stake is built from the coin value and the number of active lines, so the panel shows a total bet rather than a single slider. The available range starts at a few cents a spin and the ceiling depends on the casino, so check the bet menu in the game itself.
Symbols
The top of the paytable is Rich Wilde himself, followed by three Egyptian symbols — a golden pharaoh mask, Anubis and the falcon-headed Horus. Below them sit the card ranks from ten to ace, which make up most of what lands on screen.
Rich Wilde is the highest-paying regular symbol, at 5,000 times the line bet for five of him on a line — a figure that only realistically appears when he is the expanding symbol in free spins. The book is a separate case: it acts as a wild, substituting for every regular symbol, and as a scatter that pays and triggers the bonus from any position on the reels.
Bonus Feature
Three or more books anywhere on the screen award ten free spins. This is the whole of the bonus content — there is no second feature, no wheel and no jackpot.
Before the free spins start, the game draws one special expanding symbol at random from the regular symbols. During the round, that symbol behaves differently from the rest: when enough of them land, they expand to fill every position on their reels and pay regardless of whether the reels are adjacent. Which symbol gets drawn matters a great deal. Rich Wilde or the pharaoh mask expanding across four or five reels is where the game’s large results come from; a ten or a jack is a far quieter round.
Three more books during the free spins retrigger the feature, and a new special symbol is drawn for the new round. Each draw is independent of the last, and so is each spin — a session without a bonus does not make the next spin any closer to one.
Controls
The panel runs along the bottom of the screen. Lines sets how many of the ten are active, Coin Value sets the value of the coin, and Bet Level adjusts the coins staked per line; Total Bet shows what the current combination costs. Max Bet raises everything to the top of the range in one press.
Autoplay takes a number of spins and offers stop conditions — on a bonus, on a single win above a chosen amount, or when the balance moves past a limit you set. There is also a card gamble after a win, where guessing the colour of the next card doubles the amount and guessing the suit pays more, with a wrong guess taking the whole win. Some operators switch the gamble off, so it may not appear.
Every game also carries an information panel with its rules and its return-to-player figure for the build running here. That panel is the accurate source; a number copied from elsewhere may describe a different build — see how to read RTP.
Pros and Cons
Book of Dead is a high-volatility book slot with one feature and no filler around it. Base game spins are mostly quiet, and the game only really happens in the free spins, where the expanding symbol either lands well or does not. That structure suits players who are comfortable with long stretches of nothing in exchange for the chance of a round that pays several hundred times the stake.
It is a poor fit if you want steady small returns, decisions to make, or variety within a session — there is no second bonus to break the pattern, and the base game is thin. It is also worth being blunt about the maths: the expanding symbol is drawn at random every time, and nothing you do between spins changes what comes next.
- Free spins with an expanding symbol that can cover several reels at once
- Book acts as both wild and scatter, so it works in two ways
- Simple ten-line structure that is easy to read
- Retriggers redraw the special symbol, so a long round can improve
- High volatility means long stretches with nothing in the base game
- Only one feature — no second bonus, no jackpot
- The value of a free spin round depends on a random draw you cannot influence
- Base game is thin: card symbols make up most of the screen
18+ or the legal age where you live. This game carries a house edge like every other. Play only with money you can afford to lose.
More From Play’n GO
Other titles by the same studio in our lobby.
Questions
- How do the free spins start?
- Three or more book symbols anywhere on the reels award ten free spins. The books do not need to be on a payline.
- What is the expanding symbol?
- Before the free spins begin, the game picks one regular symbol at random. During the round that symbol expands to fill its whole reel when enough of them land, and pays even if the reels are not next to each other.
- Can the free spins be retriggered?
- Yes. Three or more books during the round award another ten spins, and a new special symbol is drawn for it.
- Is the book a wild or a scatter?
- Both. It substitutes for every regular symbol in line wins, and it also pays and triggers the bonus from any position on the screen.
- Does a long dry run mean the bonus is due?
- No. Every spin is calculated independently, and the reels have no memory of what came before. A game that has not paid for an hour is exactly as likely to pay on the next spin as it was on the first.