In this incarnation of the endless Book of Ra imitations, the player is presented with a main character who is no longer a copyright dodging rip off of movie hero Indiana Jones. Instead, the hero, Rich Wilde, is a rip off of computer game hero Nathan Drake.
Beyond that, the formula is much the same – Ancient Egyptian grave setting, hieroglyphics and sarcophaguses on the reels – with updated graphics and bit more gloss on everything. If you have enjoyed the Book of Ra slot and its many imitators before, then you will find nothing to surprise you in Book of Dead.
The graphics are more or less the same as the older games, with a higher resolution and a bit more polish on the artwork being the main upgrades.
The sound effects and music have also been lifted from the old Play’n’Go standard skin, but given a little upgrade in sound quality and complexity. Music does a fair job of setting up a desert atmosphere for the player, but very little else is as well-tailored in the sound effects.
The animations are serviceable, but again are the generic Play’n’Go animations with only the font changed. They lack the Egyptian or adventure movie flare that would hold the game together.
Book of Dead has a base game and a free spin bonus. Both are played on a five reel slot with three rows and ten configurable win lines. You can set the game to any number between 1 and all 10 lines.
The base game has very few other features, but does sport a gamble feature for those who want to crank the volatility of this slot up even further.
Overall, Book of Dead feels like a very standard slot, not doing a lot of different things but doing what it does competently.
Among all the hieroglyphs on the reels, one stands out as special: the Book symbols acts as both a wild symbol and as a scatter.
As a wild, the Book symbol substitutes for all other symbols. While as a scatter, the Book symbol pays out from anywhere on the reels, regardless of whether it is on a winline or not.
Three Books will pay out twice your bet per spin, four will pay out twenty times your bet per spin, and five symbols gets you two hundred times your bet per spin. This is on top of any winlines it is part of as a Wild.
Three or more Books will also trigger ten free spins. During the free spins, a symbol is chosen to expand on any reel where it will result in an additional win. While regular symbols must run left to right starting from reel one, the expanding symbol can appear anywhere on a win line to produce a win.
Free spins can be retriggered by hitting three or more Scatters during the free spins, effectively adding another ten spins to your remaining spin counter.
The return to player of this game is 96.21%. This is within the bracket of roughly 96% that we use as our yardstick for average.
The range of bets on the site we tested ran from a minimum bet per spin of $/£/€0.01 if you play just one line or $/£/€0.10 if you play all ten. Maximum bet on the site we tested was $/£/€100.00 per spin.
The volatility of this game is as great as the pyramids at Giza; Play’n’GO rate it as 10/10 the highest level of volatility they produce. This ultra-high volatility makes this slot an excellent match for our preferred slot machine strategies.
Book of Dead is one of the most popular slots out there. This is largely because it evokes popular culture figures in a recognisable setting, and does a similar but slicker job than its direct competitor Book of Ra, which is something of a classic.
On top of these solid fundamentals, we like it for its high volatility and decent return to player. Both features make it a good match for our slot strategies.
We strongly recommend this one.
