Book of Dead

Book of Dead: First Impressions

Play’n GO released Book of Dead on 2016-01-14, and it has since become the studio’s signature slot. The theme is pure Egyptian adventure. You get a lone explorer, a golden pharaoh, and a tomb glowing with treasure. Gold runs through the whole palette, from the ornate reel frame to the hieroglyph-covered pillars in the background.

I can recognise this one within seconds. It leans hard into that “tomb raid” mood, and the art pushes the gold-and-sand look without ever turning murky. My first impression from testing was how confident the presentation feels for its age. The soundtrack stays quiet during regular play, then swells into a dramatic score when the bonus symbols land. That contrast builds real tension without any flashy gimmicks.

What stood out most across 100+ demo spins was the clarity. Every control sits where you expect it, and the reels read cleanly at a glance. Spins resolve quickly, and the game never drowns you in pop-ups. The overall vibe is serious adventure rather than cartoon fun. If you want constant fireworks, it can feel restrained. That reserve is part of its identity, and it shows from the first few spins.

The Bonus Features in Detail

Book of Dead keeps its feature list short and focused. Each mechanic below plays a distinct role, and together they define the game’s character.

Wild

The Wild duty belongs to the golden Tomb symbol. As a Wild, it substitutes for any other symbol to complete a winning combination. Land it in the middle of a broken line and it bridges the gap. There are no extra multipliers or restrictions attached - it simply stands in wherever it helps most. I like that it stays easy to read at a glance. You don’t need to study a rules screen mid-session to get what it does. That simplicity also tells you a lot about the design: this game trusts its core loop instead of piling modifiers onto the Wild.

Scatter symbols

The same golden Tomb also acts as the Scatter. A scatter is a symbol that counts from any position on the reels, so it does not need to line up on a payline. Its main job is unlocking the bonus round, and it carries its own listed payouts too, which I cover in the paytable section. What I like here is clarity. The Tomb is distinct from the rest of the set, so I never confused it with a regular paying symbol during fast spins. It is the symbol that makes you sit up, because it points toward the bigger feature moment.

Free Spins

Landing three or more Tomb Scatters reveals the book and awards 10 free spins. This is the heart of the game, and it is the mode I mentally play toward when testing. The round runs on the same reels and paylines as the base game, but with one crucial twist: the expanding symbol, explained just below. During my demo sessions the trigger felt rare, which fits the game’s volatile nature. When the book finally opens, though, the anticipation is genuine. This is where the most memorable swings tend to come from.

Expanding Symbols

At the start of the free spins, one symbol is randomly chosen as the special expanding symbol. When it can complete a win, it expands to cover a whole reel, and the expanded symbols pay anywhere along an active line rather than needing to fall left to right in sequence. A high-value pick can turn an ordinary bonus into a screen-filling result. A low-value pick keeps things modest. That single random selection is where most of the game’s drama lives, and it is a strong visual cue too - you instantly see when the reels shift into a higher-impact state.

Gamble

After a win, you can take an optional gamble on the result. It is a pure risk feature. You choose to stake the win for a chance to increase it, and a wrong call takes it away. The gamble never improves the game’s underlying maths - it just redistributes what you already have. I left it alone in most demo sessions. If you enjoy a risk decision point after wins, it is there; if you dislike stacking variance on variance, it is easy to ignore entirely.

Reading the Paytable

The symbol set splits cleanly into two tiers, and the visual design makes the split obvious. At the top sits the brown-haired explorer, the game’s premium symbol. He pays 10x for just two on a line, 100x for three, 1000x for four, and a full 5000x for five. That two-of-a-kind payout is unusual and softens the base game slightly. Below him, the golden Pharaoh reaches 2000x for five, while the jackal-headed deity and the winged blue-and-gold scarab each top out at 750x for five.

The lower tier uses card-style royals. The A and K pay up to 150x for five, while the Q, J and 10 cap at 100x for five. They keep the reels readable and give the slot its classic, no-nonsense structure. My eyes always knew what was high theme value and what was filler, even on a small screen.

The Tomb is the special symbol, and its paytable role goes beyond substituting. It pays anywhere on the reels: 2x for three, 20x for four, and 200x for five, with those wins multiplied by your total bet and added to any payline wins. All standard line wins pay left to right. Telling symbols apart is easy - the four hand-drawn Egyptian premiums look nothing like the plain gold-trimmed royals, so you register a good hit instantly.

[Auto-generated symbol-payouts table goes here]

Gameplay, Bets and How to Play

Book of Dead runs on a classic 5-reel, 3-row grid with 10 fixed paylines. There is nothing exotic about the layout, and that is part of the appeal. You are not dealing with huge grids or hundreds of ways to win. Instead you get a tight reel window where every stop is easy to track, which is a big reason the game still feels approachable years after release.

A round follows a familiar rhythm. You set your stake, hit spin, and the five reels stop left to right. The bet range runs from 0.01 to 100 per spin, so it suits very small-stake testing as well as much larger play. Any winning combinations light up along their paylines, the win counts up, and you either collect it, gamble it, or roll straight into the next spin. An autoplay option handles repeated spins at the same stake if you prefer a hands-off pace.

The base game feel is uneven by design. In my demo sessions, dry stretches of ten or fifteen spins were common, broken up by mid-sized hits from the premium symbols. The session shape swings rather than drips. That is also where watching the reels changes your attention. Two Tomb symbols on screen always raise the question of whether a third will land, and a Wild sitting in the right spot can nudge a borderline line into a win. The named features - Wild, Scatter symbols, Free Spins, Expanding Symbols and Gamble - all flow from that one symbol or a single post-win choice, which keeps the action easy to follow without side meters or mini-games.

How to play:

1. Open Book of Dead in demo mode or at a licensed casino.
2. Set your stake anywhere in the 0.01 to 100 range using the bet controls.
3. Press spin and read the outcome across the 10 paylines when the reels stop.
4. Watch for Tomb symbols - three or more start the bonus round.
5. After any win, collect it or take the optional gamble, and adjust your stake only when the level suits your planned session.

Under the Hood: RTP and Volatility

Book of Dead carries an RTP of 96.21%. RTP, or return to player, is the theoretical percentage of all wagers a slot returns over millions of spins. It is a long-run average, not a promise. A 96.21% figure tells you nothing about what your next spin, or your next hundred spins, will actually do. It sits slightly above the common industry midpoint, which is respectable for a game with this much top-end potential. In a short demo run, results can still swing far from that number in either direction.

The volatility rating is High, and the game earns it. High volatility means wins arrive less often but skew larger when they come. Expect longer losing runs than in a low-volatility game, balanced against the chance of one bonus round doing serious work. That is the trade you accept when you sit down. It is built for moments, not for a steady drip of small wins.

The maximum win is 5000x your stake. Treat that as the game’s stated ceiling, not an expected outcome - it needs the best expanding symbol filling the screen during the free spins. The wide 0.01 to 100 bet range matters here too, because it lets you scale your stake down to match the swings rather than being forced into one level.

Playing Book of Dead: Casinos, Mobile & Payments

Finding Book of Dead is rarely a challenge. It is one of the most widely carried Play’n GO titles, so a search for its name in a licensed casino’s games lobby usually surfaces it right away, often in the classics or popular sections. Because the theme and name are so recognisable, it tends to be easy to spot once you are in the right area.

I recommend starting in demo mode. The free version runs the same reels and bonus flow, so you can watch the Tomb symbols, see how the free spins trigger, and get a feel for the pace before staking anything. Given how streaky the game is, that preview has real value - it is also a clean way to check the rules screen and confirm what the special symbol does.

Some markets offer versions with extra options such as bonus-buy access, but availability varies by operator, jurisdiction and game version. Do not assume a specific version is there until you see it in the actual lobby. On mobile, the 5x3 layout adapts well. The grid stays large and readable on a phone screen, and the controls collapse into a compact bar that works in portrait or landscape without misclicks.

Before playing, check the displayed RTP in the game rules, confirm the bet range suits your budget, and make sure the operator supports your device and preferred payment method. Withdrawal terms and payment options differ by jurisdiction and operator, so read those conditions before you deposit rather than meeting them as a surprise later.