Book of Dead is the Egyptian adventure slot that made Rich Wilde famous, and one of the most played games in UK casinos ten years after release. This review explains how the Book of Dead slot pays, why its RTP varies from casino to casino, and where to find Book of Dead free spins.
Book of Dead is a 5×3, 10-line slot from Play'n GO, released in 2016, with a headline RTP of 96.21%, high volatility and a 5,000× max win. The book is both wild and scatter: three or more give 10 free spins with one random expanding symbol that fills its reels and pays on every line. Casinos can run lower RTP versions, so check the figure in the game's information screen. 19 UK casino offers give Book of Dead free spins; the best is 200 Free Spins on Book of Dead at Kwiff.
2016 Book of DeadPlay'n GO
| Provider | Play'n GO |
|---|---|
| Released | 2016 |
| RTP | 96.21% Casinos may run lower RTP versions |
| Volatility | High |
| Max win | 5,000× |
| Layout | 5×3, 10 lines |
| Stake in the UK | Up to £5 a spin (£2 if you are 18 to 24) |
| Bonus buy | Not available in Great Britain |
| Free spins offers | 19 at UK casinos, 1 with no wagering |
Facts from the studio and our slot catalogue. RTP is the headline figure; UK casinos can run lower versions, shown in the game's info screen.
Set a budget and a stake. We work out the average cost of play at the game's 96.21% RTP. Real sessions swing well above and below this average.
The Book of Dead slot is a 5×3 game with up to 10 paylines. You can play from one to ten lines, but almost everyone plays all ten, because the free spins feature pays across every active line. Wins pay from left to right. The Book of Dead symbols are the explorer Rich Wilde at the top, followed by a pharaoh mask, Anubis and a Horus statue, with card ranks at the bottom of the paytable. The Book of Dead slot provider is Play'n GO, a Swedish studio with a UK Gambling Commission licence.
The book itself does two jobs: it is the wild, substituting for other symbols, and it is the scatter that starts the bonus. The base game is plain on purpose. Most of the game's return sits in the free spins round, and the base game mainly pays for the wait.
Three or more books anywhere on the reels give 10 Book of Dead free spins. Before the round starts, one symbol is chosen at random to be the special expanding symbol. During the free spins, whenever that symbol lands on enough reels to form a win, it expands to fill those reels and pays on all active lines, even when the symbols are not next to each other. Three or more books during the round add another 10 spins with the same special symbol.
The symbol you get matters a great deal. A low card symbol needs three reels to expand and pays small amounts; Rich Wilde needs only two and pays the most. Five reels of expanded Rich Wilde symbols is the route to the maximum win. This is why two Book of Dead bonus rounds can feel completely different.
The Book of Dead RTP is 96.21% in its standard version. Play'n GO also supplies lower configurations, down into the mid-80s, and each casino chooses which one to run. That makes Book of Dead one of the games where the casino's choice matters most. Open the information screen inside the game and scroll to the end of the rules to see the RTP at your casino.
The gap is not small. On £1,000 of total stakes, 96.21% means an average cost of about £38; a version in the mid-80s would cost around four times as much on average. If the figure is well below 96.21%, the same game at another UK casino is the better deal.
The Book of Dead max win is 5,000× your stake, which is £25,000 at the £5 UK maximum. It is a high volatility slot: free spins can take hundreds of spins to arrive, and a round with a weak expanding symbol may pay only a few times your stake. On the other side, a round with Rich Wilde expanding on four or five reels can pay hundreds or thousands of times the stake. Expect most sessions to be quiet, with the occasional large swing.
Book of Dead includes an optional gamble after a win in the base game: guess a card's colour to double the win or its suit to quadruple it, with a wrong guess losing it. If your casino's version shows the gamble button, you can ignore it; it does not improve your long-run return and adds risk to every win you use it on.
Book of Dead is one of the most common games for UK free spins, after the Big Bass slots and Starburst. 19 offers in our database give Book of Dead free spins, including 4 sister sites that give 70 spins for a £15 deposit. Book of Dead free spins no deposit offers are rare at UK licensed casinos: almost every offer needs a deposit first. Most carry 10× wagering on the winnings; the main exception is 200 Free Spins on Book of Dead at Kwiff. Our Book of Dead free spins page compares every offer, with the deposit, wagering, cap and expiry of each.
Book of Dead free play means the demo version, which uses play credits instead of money. You can try a Book of Dead demo at UK licensed casinos after you register and pass the age check that UK rules require for free play. The demo is useful for seeing how often books land and how the expansion pays. It cannot predict how the real-money game will go, and the demo may run a different RTP version from the one the casino uses for real money.
The UK stake limit is £5 a spin, or £2 if you are 18 to 24. Each spin lasts at least 2.5 seconds, and autoplay, turbo mode and bonus buy are not allowed. Book of Dead never relied on any of those features, so the game plays the same way for UK players as it does elsewhere.
Book of Dead is part of a large family of book slots built on the same idea: a symbol that doubles as wild and scatter and an expanding symbol in free spins. Book of Ra Deluxe from Novomatic is the older classic with a 95.10% RTP; Legacy of Dead, also from Play'n GO, is a close relative. Eye of Horus from Blueprint shares the Egyptian theme but uses expanding wilds and symbol upgrades instead. If you like Book of Dead's rhythm, these are the natural next games to try.
Book of Dead is worth playing if you enjoy a simple base game and an all-or-nothing bonus round. The expanding symbol is easy to follow and exciting when the right symbol comes up, and 5,000× is a strong ceiling for a 10-line game. The catch is the RTP: at its best version the game is fair value, but at a low version it is one of the more expensive slots to play. Check before you spin, and play it where the casino runs 96.21%.
There is no way to make sure you win on Book of Dead: every spin is random and the RTP is fixed by the game version. Play all 10 lines so an expanding symbol can pay across the whole screen. Keep stakes small relative to your budget, because the feature can take a long time; on £50, 10p to 20p a spin gives you far more chances to reach it than £1. Use a free spins offer on the game where you can. Skip the gamble, check the RTP version at every new casino, and set a deposit limit before you start. The National Gambling Helpline is free on 0808 8020 133.
These UK licensed casinos give free spins on Book of Dead to new customers. The best offers come first: no wagering before wagering, then by casino score.
18+ T&Cs. New customers. Wager £20 on slots within 5 days of your first deposit; 40 spins a day for 5 days on Book of Dead. No wagering on spin winnings, withdrawals from spins capped at £250. Bank cards only.
18+ T&Cs. New customers. First deposit £10+ for 120 spins worth 10p on Book of Dead. Spin winnings carry 10× wagering within 30 days, with a maximum bet of 10% of the winnings or £5, whichever is lower. Check the current terms.
18+ T&Cs. New customers. Opt in and deposit £15+ for 70 spins on Book of Dead, to use within 10 days. Winnings are paid as bonus funds, capped at £100, with 10× wagering. Skrill and Neteller deposits do not qualify. No code needed.
See all 19 offers with Book of Dead spins →
Book of Dead next to the original book slot, another Egyptian favourite and a newer Egyptian release.
| Book of Dead | Book of Ra Deluxe | Eye of Horus | Le Pharaoh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider | Play'n GO | Novomatic | Blueprint Gaming | Hacksaw Gaming |
| Released | 2016 | 2008 | 2017 | 2024 |
| RTP | 96.21% | 95.10% | 96.31% Best | 96.18% |
| Volatility | High | Medium-high | Medium | Medium-high |
| Max win | 5,000× | 5,000× | 500× | 15,000× Best |
| Layout | 5×3, 10 lines | 5×3, 10 lines | 5×3, 10 paylines | 6×5, 19 lines |
| Free spins offers | 19 Best | None | 1 | None |
| Best offer | 200 Free Spins on Book of Dead Kwiff | None | 100 Free Spins on Eye of Horus, no wagering Virgin Bet | None |
96.21% in the standard version. Play'n GO also offers lower versions, and the casino chooses which one to run, so check the game's information screen.
5,000× your stake, which is £25,000 at the £5 UK maximum stake.
Three or more books give 10 free spins with a random expanding symbol that fills its reels and pays on every line.
Rich Wilde. He needs only two reels to expand and pays the most.
Yes. Free spins can take a long time to arrive, and the size of the bonus depends on the expanding symbol.
19 UK casino offers in our database give spins on it. The best ones are shown on this page.
