Book of Dead: the short verdict
Book of Dead is a ten-line reel slot built around one idea: before free spins start, a random symbol is picked to expand across whole reels. Land Rich Wilde as that symbol and the maths opens the route to 5,000x the stake; land a card symbol and the round is usually modest. There is no bonus buy and no extra mode, so it is easy to learn and quick to judge in the demo. Choose it for the suspense of the pick, not for a high ceiling.
19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). T&Cs apply. Not available to Ontario residents. Play responsibly.
Book of Dead is Play'n GO's Egyptian adventure slot from January 2016, and it still draws steady search interest in Canada. The game is a plain five-reel, three-row machine with ten paylines, an explorer named Rich Wilde, and a Tomb symbol that acts as both wild and scatter. All the drama sits in the free spins, where one randomly chosen symbol expands to fill entire reels.
This review covers how a spin and the free spins round work, what the 96.21% RTP listed on the provider's help page means for your money, how far 5,000x stretches at different stakes, and how the optional gamble works. It also explains what to expect from no deposit offers tied to this game and how Book of Dead compares with its sequel, Legacy of Dead.
How Book of Dead plays: five reels and ten lines
Every spin shows fifteen symbols on five reels. Wins come from matching symbols along the active paylines, and you can play anything from one to all ten lines. Your total stake is built from three settings in the game:
- Lines: 1 to 10 active paylines.
- Coins per line: 1 to 5.
- Coin value: the smallest step in the demo is 0.01 and the largest is 2.00.
In the provider's demo that gives a range from 0.10 (all ten lines at the smallest settings) up to 100 per spin. Real-money casinos convert this into their own C$ steps, so check the bet panel at your casino. Playing fewer than ten lines lowers the stake but leaves positions on the screen that can't pay, which matters most in free spins. The free spins maths below assumes all ten lines are active.
The symbol ladder
Line pays are quoted against the line bet, which is the total stake divided by the number of lines. The premium symbols are characters from the story: Rich Wilde at the top, then the Pharaoh, then Anubis and the falcon-headed Horus, which pay the same. Below them sit five card ranks, with A and K paying slightly more than Q, J and 10. The four character symbols already pay for two of a kind; the card ranks need three. The Tomb is separate from all of these, and it is what drives the game.
The Tomb: wild and scatter in one symbol
Most slots split the wild and the scatter into two symbols. Book of Dead folds both jobs into one symbol, the Tomb.
- As a wild it stands in for the regular symbols to complete line wins.
- As a scatter it pays anywhere on the screen, without needing a line: 2x the total bet for three, 20x for four and 200x for five.
- As the trigger three or more Tombs anywhere start the free spins.
Because one symbol does all three things, a spin with three Tombs is always worth watching twice: it pays its scatter prize, it may complete line wins as a wild, and it opens the feature. Five Tombs on one spin pay 200x before the free spins have even started.
Free spins and the expanding symbol, worked out
Three or more Tombs award ten free spins. Before the first one, the game picks one regular symbol at random to be the special expanding symbol for the whole round. Whenever that symbol lands during free spins and there are enough of it to pay, it grows to cover every position on its reel and pays on all active lines. The reels holding it do not have to be next to each other, because the expanding symbol pays with gaps allowed. Three or more Tombs during the round add another ten spins.
The expanding pay is easy to calculate. A full reel sits on every one of the ten lines, so the symbol's line pay is paid ten times. With all ten lines active, ten line bets equal one total bet, which means the line pay converts straight into a multiple of your total stake:
| Expanding symbol | On 3 reels | On 4 reels | On 5 reels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Wilde | 100x total bet | 1,000x total bet | 5,000x total bet |
| Pharaoh | 40x total bet | 400x total bet | 2,000x total bet |
| Anubis or Horus | 30x total bet | 100x total bet | 750x total bet |
| A or K | 5x total bet | 40x total bet | 150x total bet |
| Q, J or 10 | 5x total bet | 25x total bet | 100x total bet |
These figures cover the expanding wins alone, on one spin, with ten lines active, and the game's stated top win is 5,000x the total bet. The table shows why the opening pick matters so much. Rich Wilde covering all five reels is the route to the top prize, while a 10 or a J fills the screen for a far smaller amount. The pick is random, so the game gives you no say in it, but knowing the stakes of that moment is half the appeal.
The character symbols can pay on two reels
Rich Wilde, the Pharaoh, Anubis and Horus pay for two of a kind, so if one of them is chosen, two expanded reels are already a win: 10x the total bet for Rich Wilde and 5x for the other three. The card ranks need three reels before the expansion pays.
Book of Dead RTP and the 5,000x ceiling
Play'n GO does not print a return figure on its product page. The game-help page that the provider serves with the game lists the Book of Dead RTP as 96.21%, which is a house edge of 3.79%. Over an extremely long run, that means about C$96.21 back for every C$100 staked. Over one evening, the figure tells you very little, because a single strong free spins round can outweigh hundreds of base-game spins.
Casinos can be supplied with lower RTP builds of many games, and the provider doesn't list those versions for this title publicly. So the Book of Dead slot RTP you get is whatever the casino installed. Open the game's help screen before you play: it states the theoretical return for that build. If it reads lower than 96.21%, the game looks and plays the same, it just keeps a bigger share over time.
What 5,000x means in C$
The paytable states a top win of 250,000 coins at the 50-coin maximum bet, which is 5,000x the total bet. Plain multiplication at a few stakes:
- C$0.10 per spin: C$500 maximum
- C$1 per spin: C$5,000 maximum
- C$5 per spin: C$25,000 maximum
- C$10 per spin: C$50,000 maximum
As the free spins table shows, the cap lines up exactly with Rich Wilde expanding across all five reels. It is a ceiling, not an expected result, and Play'n GO does not say how frequently it happens. The provider also doesn't publish a volatility rating, so we don't assign one; what you will notice in play is that most of the big results depend on a single feature.
For more on how RTP and volatility interact, see our RTP and volatility guide.
The gamble feature: optional, and neutral on RTP
After a base-game win you can choose to gamble it on a face-down card instead of collecting:
- Colour: pick red or black. A correct guess doubles the win.
- Suit: pick one of the four suits. A correct guess multiplies the win by four.
A wrong guess loses the win. You can gamble up to five times in a row, and the feature stops once the amount reaches 2,500 coins. The provider states that the gamble does not change the RTP. In plain terms, it is priced fairly: it adds swing to a session without making the game better or worse on average.
That makes it a question of taste rather than value. If you prefer a session with fewer, larger outcomes, the gamble does that. If you are working to a fixed budget and want your money to last, collecting every win keeps things steadier.
19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). T&Cs apply. Not available to Ontario residents. Play responsibly.
Book of Dead free: what the demo can and can't show
You can play Book of Dead free on this page. The demo is Play'n GO's own build and runs with play money in a unit the game calls DEMO rather than Canadian dollars, so read every amount as play credits. The reels, the Tomb, the expanding symbol and the paytable are identical to the real-money version.
Because the whole game hinges on one feature, the demo is especially useful here. A few hundred play spins will give you a feel for:
- How long the gaps between free spins can be in your own sample.
- How different a round feels with a card rank as the expanding symbol compared with a character.
- How the base game holds up between features, which is where most of your spins happen.
- Whether the gamble suits your style.
What it can't show is your next result. Demo results are random in the same way as real ones, and a lucky or unlucky run of play spins says nothing about the next session.
No deposit bonuses and free spins on Book of Dead
Free spins offers are often tied to well-known slots, which is why searches such as "book of dead casino no deposit bonus" are common in Canada. These offers change constantly, so we don't list them in the article.
Before you accept any no deposit free spins Book of Dead offer, read the terms for four things:
- Stake per spin: free spins are usually fixed at a low bet, which also fixes how much the 5,000x cap could ever be worth.
- Playthrough: winnings from free spins usually have to be bet a number of times before you can withdraw them.
- Cash-out limit: many no deposit offers cap the amount you can withdraw from them.
- Expiry and eligibility: spins and winnings expire, and some offers are closed to certain provinces.
A free spins offer is a way to try the real-money game with less of your own money at stake, not a source of income. The house edge applies to bonus spins exactly as it does to paid ones.
Where to play Book of Dead online in Canada
Any casino Book of Dead appears at runs the same game, but not always the same settings. What changes from site to site is the RTP build, the C$ bet steps and whether the gamble is switched on. Your province decides which sites are legal for you:
- Ontario: a regulated market run through iGaming Ontario. Play at registered operators only.
- Alberta: a regulated market since 13 July 2026, open to operators registered with AGLC.
- Elsewhere in Canada: a provincially run site is the government-run choice; internationally licensed casinos also accept players, but no province licenses them. A casino's footer normally names the body that licenses it.
- Minimum age: 19, or 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.
The Canadian playing guide has the details for each province. To play Book of Dead online on a phone, open it in the mobile browser; the game needs no download.
Staying in control
Slots are entertainment that costs money over time. Set a budget and a time limit before you start, use the deposit limits your casino offers, and stop if the session stops being fun. A feature-driven game like this one can go a long time between free spins rounds, so plan your stake around the number of spins your budget buys: C$50 is 500 spins at C$0.10 or 50 spins at C$1.
Book of Dead vs Legacy of Dead and other Egyptian slots
Play'n GO's own sequel is the closest comparison. Legacy of Dead keeps the 5x3 grid, the ten lines, the Tomb and the expanding symbol, but changes how free spins grow.
| Book of Dead | Legacy of Dead | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | January 2016 | January 2020 |
| Listed RTP | 96.21% | 96.58% |
| Free spins awarded | 10 | 8 |
| Retrigger | +10 spins | +8 spins and another expanding symbol |
| Expanding symbols | 1 chosen at the start | Up to 9 via retriggers |
| Max win | 5,000x | 5,000x |
Legacy of Dead returns slightly more on paper and lets the round pile up several expanding symbols, while the Book of Dead slot game stays with the original single-pick format. If you want the same Egyptian setting with a much higher ceiling, Hacksaw's Le Pharaoh lists 15,000x and a set of modern bonus options. Valley of the Gods by Yggdrasil is another Egyptian title in our catalog, and fans of simple line slots can compare 9 Masks of Fire.
Related Play'n GO titles outside our list include Book of Dead GO Collect, Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness, and Cat Wilde and the Pyramids of Dead. Browse the full slot games list to compare them all side by side.
Book of Dead specification
Source: www.playngo.com and the game's in-game rules, checked 22 October 2026. A dash means the provider does not publish the figure.
What works and what does not
Pros
- The expanding symbol pays on all active lines with gaps allowed, so its reels don't need to be neighbours
- The Tomb is wild and scatter at once and pays up to 200x the total bet anywhere on the screen
- Simple rules - ten lines, one feature, no extra modes - so the demo teaches you everything
- Free spins retrigger: every 3+ Tombs during the round add 10 more spins
- Provider help page lists a 96.21% RTP; the optional gamble does not change it
Cons
- No bonus buy, so free spins only arrive by landing three Tombs
- A 5,000x top prize is low beside newer slots in our list that reach 25,000x or more
- Play'n GO publishes no volatility rating, so you judge the swings from the demo
- The demo shows play-money DEMO units, not C$
How the feature works
Three or more Tomb symbols anywhere award 10 free spins, and three or more during the round add 10 more. Before the round starts, one regular symbol is picked at random as the special expanding symbol. When it lands in enough numbers to pay, it expands to cover its whole reel and pays on every active line, even if the reels are not next to each other. The Tomb itself is wild, pays 2x, 20x or 200x the total bet for 3, 4 or 5 anywhere, and triggers the feature.
Symbols and pays
Book of Dead compared
Book of Dead with a real balance
Up to CA$1,500 welcome offer + 100 free spins. Same game, same maths as the demo - set a budget before you start.
Start With Up to CA$1,50019+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). T&Cs apply. Not available to Ontario residents. Play responsibly.
Written by Owen Brassard, Slot analyst
Fact-checked by Nadia Roy, Fact-checker - every figure on this game page is compared with the provider's own published material.
Updated · Our review process
