In short: Book of Dead is Play'n GO's 2016 Egyptian adventure: five reels, ten lines and a free spins round in which one randomly drawn symbol can fill entire reels. It is about as stripped-back as a high-volatility slot gets, which is a big part of why it is still a lobby fixture a decade on. It fits players who are happy to sit through a plain base game for the chance of one big bonus.
Ten lines and a tomb
Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, almost always shortened to Book of Dead, came out on 14 January 2016. The grid is five reels by three rows with ten paylines, and you can play anywhere from one to ten of them, with an adjustable coin value and autoplay. Rich Wilde is searching a labyrinth beneath the dunes for the book itself. It was his third adventure after Aztec Idols (2013) and Pearls of India (2014), and the character has since carried a whole family of games, from Tome of Madness to the Cat Wilde spin-offs.
The tomb symbol does two jobs. It is the wild, standing in for every other symbol on a line, and it is the scatter, paying up to 200x for five anywhere on the reels. Above the 10-to-A royals sit the themed symbols: Osiris pays up to 200x, and five Rich Wildes on a line pay 500x.
The free spins: one draw decides the round
Three tombs award ten free spins. Before the first spin, the game picks one ordinary symbol at random to be the special expanding symbol for the whole round. After normal line wins are paid, that symbol expands to cover all three positions on its reel, but only when doing so creates an extra win. Expanded reels pay on any active line, and they do not need to sit next to each other. Three more tombs during the round add another ten spins, with the same symbol still in play.
That draw is where the game keeps its value. A reel full of Rich Wildes is the 5,000x jackpot, and a full screen of him is the round everyone remembers. Draw a 10 or a J instead and the symbol can expand all round while paying modestly, because the royals sit at the bottom of the paytable. In the free demo, the useful habit is to note which symbol is chosen and how many reels it fills before judging a bonus.
RTP, volatility and the 5,000x top prize
Book of Dead's standard RTP is 96.21%, the figure Ontario-regulated casinos show in their game info. Play'n GO does not publish return figures on its own website, and operators can choose lower-RTP versions of its games, so open the paytable inside the game and check the number before staking real money. Why the same slot can have different RTP explains how one title ends up with several settings.
Volatility is high. Base-game hits are mostly small line wins, the free spins carry most of the return, and the 5,000x ceiling depends on one particular symbol being drawn and then landing across the reels. Long dry spells between bonuses are normal, not a sign that something is wrong.
Many casino versions also offer an optional gamble after a base-game win: guess a face-down card's colour or suit to multiply the win, or lose it on a wrong guess. Play'n GO's own description of the game does not mention it, so whether you see it depends on the version a casino runs.
Book of Dead GO Collect
Play'n GO revisited the game on 26 February 2026 with Book of Dead GO Collect. It keeps the expanding symbol and the 5x3, ten-line layout, but adds gold Stater coins that build toward a Treasure Vault plus a Treasure Gamble. Trade coverage gives it a medium-high volatility rating and an RTP range of 84.2% to 96.2%, a wide spread worth checking before you play it.
Who will enjoy it
Book of Dead rewards patience more than anything else. There are no cascades, meters or collectors, just ten lines, a wild-scatter and one feature, so you always know what you are waiting for. That clarity is its appeal, and it is also why the game can feel repetitive in long sessions.
If you want something happening on most spins, look elsewhere. If you like a short rulebook and a bonus that can swing from forgettable to huge on a single random pick, this is the original that the many Egyptian book slots are measured against.
