Let me paint a picture for you – you’re a fledgling slot developer hoping to break into an increasingly overcrowded online market. You’ve created a handful of moderately successful online slots, but none has taken off in the way you had hoped for so far. What do you do next? In the case of Play’N’Go, it seems that somebody over there decided to create a clone of one of the most popular land-based casino slot machines of all time – Book of Ra – to see if that might be the golden ticket they had been searching for. And that, my friends, is the story of how Book of Dead came to be! As for the vital statistics, the game offers a below-average RTP of 94.25% alongside a middle-of-the-road jackpot of 5,000x the current stake.
One of my favourite features in this game is the dual-purpose wild/scatter symbols, as this setup ensures that scatters will never act as a blocker to other pay line wins. The main bonus round offers ten free spins with a randomly selected expanding symbol. Lower-paying symbols occur more frequently and are likely to create many more expansions, but you’ll need to get lucky with a high-paying symbol to stand a chance of taking home the game’s maximum jackpot of 5,000x your bet.
If you haven’t played this game or Book of Ra before then, you must try our free demo slot of Book of Dead! It’s available to play below.
| Provider | Play'n Go |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 10 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 5,000x |
| Bonus Buy | No |
| RTP | 94.25% |
| Our Rating | 9.0 |
Book Of Dead Slot Casino Bonuses
Book Of Dead Demo Slot
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Book Of Dead Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
As I mentioned earlier, Book of Dead is a direct clone of Novomatic’s title Book of Ra online slot, which is one of the most popular land-based casino slots of all time. I’m unsure as to why Novomatic chose not to take any action against Play’N’Go for what is surely a flagrant abuse of copyright; my best guess would be something to do with the fact that Novomatic had very little interest in the online slots industry until quite recently, but this is pure speculation on my part. A new online-only Book of Ra slot named Book of Ra: Mystic Fortunes was recently released, and it’s arguably a much more impressive game than Book of Dead. I wonder if Play’N’Go will decide to clone that one at some point, too?!
It might be a shameless clone, but that doesn’t mean that Book of Dead is a bit slot – after all, the game it copies is one of the most popular slots of all time! I’m especially happy to see a payout of 500x your bet for all five scatter symbols, as so many modern slots offer nothing for this particular combination. As for the regular symbols, Riche Wilde himself is the highest-paying of the bunch and will also pay you 500x your bet for a full payline of five of a kind, followed by the Tutankhamen mask, which has a return of 200x for all five symbols. There’s an Ancient Egyptian “horse guard” next, which pays 75x your bet for a complete payline, and then a nicely drawn scarab beetle insignia which shares the same return of 75x. The bottom half of the paytable consists of five royal symbols, which will pay you between 10x and 15x your bet for a five-of-a-kind combination,
The selectable paylines offered in Book of Dead mean that you can choose to play from as little as €0.01 per spin if you wish, although I suspect that most players will prefer to play all ten pay lines. With all lines activated, the minimum/maximum wagers are €0.10 and €100.00, respectively.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base gameplay of Book of Dead offers very few surprises. The slot utilises a traditional five reel, three row playfield, and the ten paylines are arranged sensibly to cover the most logical paths from left to right. You’ll need at least three matching symbols on adjacent reels to score yourself a win, except for the highest-paying scatter/wild and Riche Wilde symbols which both pay for two matches.
Book Of Dead Slot Bonus Features
Book of Dead includes just one main special feature, which is the free spin bonus round that is triggered by landing three or more scatter symbols during the base game. You will be awarded ten free spins regardless of the number of triggering scatter symbols, although the game does award a larger cash prize for four or five scatter combinations.
Free Spins
After activating the free spins feature, the game will begin scrolling through each of the main symbols to determine the expanding symbol for your bonus round. Each occurrence of your selected expanding symbol will grow to cover the entire reel where it lands for the duration of your bonus round and pay as a scatter.
This means you can land one symbol on reel one, plus another two on reels four and five, and still be paid for ten complete paylines of three-of-a-kind. If one expanding symbol appears on all five reels on a single free spin, you will be paid for a full screen of that symbol.
Lower-paying symbols are more likely to result in one or more full screen payouts, but only the highest-paying symbol can earn you enough to win the game’s maximum jackpot of 5,000x per spin.
Pros
- One of the most popular online slots ever to be created.
- Fun expanding symbol free spins feature.
Cons
- If you're new to online slots, you may have already played dozens of clones before discovering this title.
- The maximum win would have been better if it was 10,000x or more.
Final Thoughts
Although Book of Dead is a relatively simple online slot, the high value of the standard line hits and the expanding symbol bonus round combine to create an enthralling experience that will keep you coming back repeatedly. This game could undoubtedly be improved still further with some base game modifiers, so perhaps we will see a sequel released at some point in the future.
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