Covers the classics people search for by name, the Scandinavian studios, and the slots that make a budget last.
Updated
This page carries figures checked on the date above, and that window has now passed. Studios publish new RTP settings and casinos change their rules: re-check the sources at the foot of the page.
Book of Dead is the slot we measure every other book slot against. Five reels, three rows, ten lines, Egyptian tomb art, and one feature that does all the work. Play'n GO released it in January 2016, and it's easy to forget how bare the formula is.
Here's the thing I'd put on the box. The 96.21% RTP you'll see quoted everywhere is the best of five settings. Bigwinboard lists the full set as 96.21%, 94.25%, 91.25%, 87.25% and 84.18%, and the casino, not you, picks which one runs. Play'n GO's own game page doesn't print an RTP at all.
So this page is half a guide to the game and half a guide to checking which version of it you're looking at.
At a glance
Best for
Players who like one simple feature and can sit through long quiet stretches
The catch
Five RTP settings; the lowest, 84.18%, is a very different game
Free spins
Ten spins, one random expanding symbol, retriggers
Base game
Plain lines and a wild-scatter book, nothing else
Check before you spin
The RTP figure in the game's info screen
Play instead if...
You want the same idea at a higher top setting: Legacy of Dead
Slots that share what makes Book of Dead what it is, in Spin Score order, at most two per provider. Book of Dead itself is scored in the spec sheet above. Spin Score = 40% RTP, 15% max win, 30% free spins round, 15% base game. How we score
Top of the list, and it isn't a book slot at all. It ranks first on two numbers: Big Time Gaming lists a 96.9% RTP and playin.com, the studio's official Evolution site, shows a 77,800x max payout, both near the ceiling of our scale. Its free spins score only 5 because the studio doesn't publish how the round works. What you do get is Reel Clone: adjacent reels can copy into three to six identical reels on any spin, which gives the base game far more life than Book of Dead. Volatility is rated 10 out of 10, so budget for droughts.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Return to playerData · 40%9.7
Max winData · 15%10.0
Free spins roundEditors · 30%5.0
Base gameEditors · 15%7.0
What it is: An Egyptian Megaways slot with up to 117,649 ways. On any spin, adjacent reels can clone into 3 to 6 identical reels.
Free spins round: Sources describe Full Reel Wilds and Reel Clone; the free spins details are not published by the provider, so this is scored as a standard round.
Base game: Cloned reels can burst into 3 to 6 matching reels on any spin, plus full reel wilds.
RTP, volatility and max win as Big Time Gaming publishes them, checked on November 3, 2026. A casino may run a lower RTP setting: check the game’s info screen.
Same Egyptian afterlife, very different machine. Hand of Anubis is a 5x6 cluster-pays grid from Hacksaw, and it climbs to second on the strength of its bonuses: Underworld free spins build per-reel multipliers up to x9,999, and four bonus symbols open Judgement, a hold-and-win drop round. Its base game is ordinary. The catch is familiar: Bigwinboard lists four RTP settings from 96.24% down to 88.41%, so the info-screen check applies here too. Max win is 10,000x, double Book of Dead's.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Return to playerData · 40%7.7
Max winData · 15%7.2
Free spins roundEditors · 30%9.0
Base gameEditors · 15%5.0
What it is: A dark Egyptian cluster-pays slot on a 5x6 grid where Soul Orb wilds carry growing multipliers. Three bonus symbols open Underworld free spins and four open the Judgement hold-and-win round.
Free spins round: Two distinct bonuses: Underworld builds per-reel multipliers up to x9,999 that must be unlocked, and Judgement is a hold-and-win drop round with stacking multiplier blocks.
Base game: Random red and blue Soul Orb wilds with growing multipliers add some action, but most spins are plain cluster results.
RTP, volatility and max win as Hacksaw Gaming publishes them, checked on November 3, 2026. A casino may run a lower RTP setting: check the game’s info screen.
This is the one I'd point a Book of Dead fan to first. Same studio, same 5x3 grid and ten lines, same expanding-symbol free spins, but extra scatters add more expanding symbols, and retriggers are unlimited. Its top RTP setting is 96.58% against Book of Dead's 96.21%, which is why it scores 6.9 to 6.5. Max win is the same 5,000x. It shares the problem too: five settings, the lowest 84.55%, so read the paytable info before you commit a cent.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Return to playerData · 40%8.7
Max winData · 15%6.0
Free spins roundEditors · 30%7.0
Base gameEditors · 15%3.0
What it is: A 5x3, 10-line book-style slot where tomb scatters award free spins with special expanding symbols.
Free spins round: Free spins use expanding symbols and can retrigger without limit, and extra scatters add more expanding symbols than Book of Dead.
Base game: The base game is plain lines with a wild-scatter, so it is mostly waiting for the feature.
RTP, volatility and max win as Play'n GO publishes them, checked on November 3, 2026. A casino may run a lower RTP setting: check the game’s info screen.
Tied with Legacy of Dead on every factor, so it sits fourth only by the frozen order. It's the book formula without the Egyptian dressing: three orb scatters give eight free spins with a random expanding symbol, and high-paying symbols need only two more to expand. Top RTP is 96.58%, max win 5,000x. The base game is just as quiet as Book of Dead's, and the same five-setting ladder (down to 84.55%) applies. A minimum bet of 0.01 per Bigwinboard makes it the cheapest way to try the idea.
How the score breaks down, and the fine print
Return to playerData · 40%8.7
Max winData · 15%6.0
Free spins roundEditors · 30%7.0
Base gameEditors · 15%3.0
What it is: A 5x3, 10-line slot where three Magical Orbs award eight free spins with a randomly chosen expanding symbol.
Free spins round: Eight free spins with a random expanding symbol, retriggerable, and high symbols need only two more to expand.
Base game: The orb wild-scatter is the only base game feature, so most spins are plain.
RTP, volatility and max win as Play'n GO publishes them, checked on November 3, 2026. A casino may run a lower RTP setting: check the game’s info screen.
Demo buttons open the free-play version on the game studio’s own site: no deposit, no account. We are not paid for them. How we make money
How Book of Dead plays
There's very little to explain about the base game, and that's the point. Symbols land on ten fixed lines. The book is both wild and scatter. That's it.
No cascades, no random modifiers, no collect meters. Our editors score the base game a 3 out of 10 for exactly this reason: most spins are quiet until three books show up. Bigwinboard rates volatility 10 out of 10, which in practice means long runs of small hits and dead spins between the features that actually move a balance. Bets run from 0.10 to 50 per spin according to Bigwinboard, so the range is narrower at the top than Play'n GO's newer games.
If you want a demo, the button on this page opens Play'n GO's official practice launcher. It's the easiest way to find out whether the rhythm suits you before money is involved.
The free spins round, in detail
Three or more book scatters award ten free spins. Before the round starts, one symbol is picked at random to be the special expanding symbol. During the spins, whenever enough of that symbol lands, each one grows to fill its whole reel and pays on any line it touches. Three more books inside the round retrigger it.
Everything rides on which symbol gets picked. Draw a high-paying symbol and a few full reels can reach the top of the paytable. Draw a low card symbol and the round can end with very little. That spread is where the high volatility comes from.
We score it 7 out of 10. It's simple, but it can fill the screen, and the moment of the pick is still a good bit of design. The max win is 5,000x your stake, per Bigwinboard, which is modest next to the slots ranked below.
RTP settings: the part that matters most
Book of Dead ships with five return-to-player settings, according to Bigwinboard: 96.21%, 94.25%, 91.25%, 87.25% and 84.18%. Play'n GO lets the operator choose. Nothing about the look of the game changes between them.
The gap is huge. RTP is a long-run average over millions of spins, not what a session returns, but over that long run the house keeps about 3.79% of stakes at the top setting and about 15.82% at the bottom one. That's more than four times the cost per spin for the identical game.
Our Spin Score uses the highest published setting, which gives Book of Dead 6.5. Run the same formula at 94.25% and it falls to roughly 4. At 91.25% or below it drops under 4, because anything at 94% or less earns the minimum RTP score.
How to check: open the game, tap the menu or info button, and look in the rules or paytable text for the theoretical return. If it doesn't say 96.21%, you're on a lower setting. More on how this works in our guide to RTP. Every setting has a negative expected value; the top one just loses more slowly.
Who it suits, and who should skip it
It suits a player who enjoys waiting for one big feature, knows the base game will be dull, and has set a budget that can absorb long dry runs. It also suits anyone who wants to learn what an expanding symbol slot is from the game that made the format popular.
Skip it if you like something happening on most spins. Skip it on a short budget, too. And honestly, skip it at any casino that won't show you the RTP in the info screen.
Is it overrated? A bit. It's a 2016 game with one trick, and its own studio has since published versions of that trick with a higher top RTP.
What to play instead
The slots ranked above are picked for an Egyptian or book-style feel, then ordered by Spin Score. For the closest match, go to Legacy of Dead: the same layout and a better top setting. Rise of Merlin is the same machine in a wizard costume. If you'd rather have a busier base game, Queen of Riches Megaways and Hand of Anubis both score higher, but both are harsher on volatility. The Play'n GO studio page has the rest of the catalogue, and high-volatility slots lists the wider field.
Frequently asked questions
What is the RTP of Book of Dead?
The highest setting is 96.21%. Bigwinboard lists four lower ones: 94.25%, 91.25%, 87.25% and 84.18%. The casino chooses which runs, so check the game's info screen.
What is the max win on Book of Dead?
5,000x your stake, according to Bigwinboard. Play'n GO's game page doesn't list a max win.
How do you trigger free spins in Book of Dead?
Land three or more book scatters anywhere on the reels. You get ten free spins with one randomly picked expanding symbol, and three more books retrigger the round.
Is Book of Dead high volatility?
Yes. Bigwinboard rates it 10 out of 10. Expect long quiet runs, with most of the game's value sitting in the free spins.
Is there a strategy for Book of Dead?
No. Every spin is random and every setting has a negative expected value. The one useful step is choosing where to play: a casino running the 96.21% version costs you less over time than one running 84.18%.
Further reading
Official sources
Play'n GO: Book of Dead– Release date, game features and the official demo launcher, checked November 3, 2026
Bigwinboard: Book of Dead review– RTP settings 96.21/94.25/91.25/87.25/84.18%, max win 5,000x, volatility 10/10, bets 0.10-50, 10 lines, checked November 3, 2026
