The Basic Idea
Book of Dead is a 5-reel, 3-row video slot with 10 adjustable paylines. You set your bet, hit spin, and the reels stop on a random combination. Land matching symbols across a payline from left to right and you get paid.
The golden Book of Dead is the game's most important symbol. It acts as both a wild (substituting for other symbols to complete wins) and a scatter (triggering the bonus round). Land three or more Books anywhere on the reels and you'll get 10 free spins. Before those spins start, the game randomly picks one symbol to expand and fill entire reels during the feature. That's where the big numbers happen.
If you want to get a feel for how it all works before spending any money, check out the free demo and spin without any risk.
Step by Step: How a Spin Works
- Set your bet size using the coin value or bet selector at the bottom of the screen. Bets start at $0.10 per spin and you can also choose how many of the 10 paylines to activate.
- Press the Spin button. The reels start moving and the random number generator determines the outcome instantly, before the animation even finishes.
- The reels stop. Any symbol combinations that landed are now visible across the grid.
- The game checks each active payline from left to right. Matching combinations are highlighted and any winnings are added to your balance automatically.
- If a bonus feature triggers, the game will launch it at this point. Otherwise, you're ready for the next spin.
The free spins round kicks off when three or more Book of Dead symbols land anywhere on the reels at the same time. The game then randomly selects one symbol from the paytable to be the special expanding symbol for your entire free spins session. During those 10 spins, that chosen symbol can stretch to cover a full reel whenever it appears, which dramatically increases the chance of it hitting across multiple paylines at once. If you land three more Books during the free spins, the feature retriggers and you get another 10 spins on top, keeping the same expanding symbol.
Symbols, Paytable and Features
The lower-paying symbols are the card royals: 10, J, Q, K and A. They show up often but pay modest amounts. The premium symbols are where real money comes from. Rich Wilde, the explorer protagonist, is the top-paying symbol in the game. The Egyptian gods — Osiris (the pharaoh), Anubis and Horus — sit in the middle tier and pay well when you land four or five on a line. The golden Book of Dead sits in a category of its own: it's the wild and the scatter combined. There's no separate wild symbol and no separate scatter. It does both jobs.
The Gamble feature appears after any paid spin win. You can choose to gamble your winnings on a card colour guess (double or nothing) or a card suit guess (quadruple or nothing). It's optional. You never have to use it. Most experienced players skip it because the risk of losing a decent win usually isn't worth the upside, but it's there if you want it. You can also adjust the number of active paylines down from 10, though playing fewer lines means some symbol combinations simply won't pay out, even if they land.
To see exact payout values for each symbol, open the in-game paytable by clicking the Info or Paytable button, usually shown as a small 'i' icon or a menu icon at the bottom of the game screen. The paytable scales all values to your current bet size, so the numbers you see always reflect what you'd actually win at your chosen stake.
Common Controls and Settings
The control layout in Book of Dead is straightforward. Here's what each setting does and when you'd actually use it.
| Control | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Bet size selector | Sets the total amount wagered per spin, from $0.10 up | Before every session; adjust based on your bankroll |
| Spin button | Starts a single spin | Every spin you want to play manually |
| Autoplay | Spins automatically for a set number of rounds or until a limit is hit | When you want hands-free play; set a loss limit before starting |
| Quick/Turbo spin | Speeds up the reel animation so results appear faster | When you find the default spin speed too slow |
| Paytable/Info | Opens the full paytable with symbol values and feature rules | Any time you need to check payouts or feature details |
| Sound settings | Mutes or adjusts music and sound effects independently | When playing in a shared space or if the audio gets repetitive |
A Simple Example Session
Say you sit down with $20 and decide to play at $0.40 per spin with all 10 paylines active. That gives you 50 spins before your starting balance runs out, assuming no wins at all. In practice, smaller wins from royal symbols will come and go, keeping your balance moving. The first 20 spins might return a handful of small payouts totalling around $3 to $4, which is normal for a high-volatility slot. Nothing dramatic, just the regular rhythm of the game.
On spin 23, three Book of Dead symbols land and the free spins trigger. The game randomly selects Anubis as the expanding symbol. Over the 10 free spins, Anubis expands and covers full reels on several occasions, landing across multiple paylines simultaneously. The feature pays out 25x your $0.40 bet, which is $10.00 credited to your balance. That single feature round has nearly recovered your session spend.
After the free spins end, you're back to base game play with $14 remaining. You continue at the same $0.40 stake. Some sessions the feature pays more, some less, and sometimes it doesn't trigger at all within a 50-spin run. That's what high volatility means in practice: results swing hard, and no session outcome is predictable. The $10 feature win above is one possible outcome, not a typical guarantee.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Starting with a bet that's too large for your bankroll. At $2 per spin, a $20 budget gives you just 10 spins. High-volatility slots need room to breathe. A smaller bet per spin stretches your session and gives the features a chance to trigger.
- Deactivating paylines to save money. Playing fewer than 10 paylines doesn't reduce volatility in any useful way. It just means winning combinations on inactive lines pay nothing. Keep all 10 active and adjust your coin value instead.
- Using autoplay without setting loss limits. Autoplay can burn through a balance quickly if you're not watching. Always set a stop-loss limit in the autoplay settings before walking away from the screen.
- Expecting the free spins to trigger on a schedule. There's no set number of spins between feature triggers. Each spin is independent. The feature could hit twice in a row or not appear for 200 spins. Neither outcome means anything about what comes next.
- Gambling winnings every time with the Gamble feature. The card-colour guess has roughly 50/50 odds. Repeatedly gambling small wins to chase a bigger payout will erode your balance over time. Use it sparingly if at all.
- Chasing losses by increasing bets mid-session. Raising your stake after a losing stretch doesn't improve your odds. It just puts more money at risk. If your session isn't going well, the right move is to stop, not to bet bigger.
For more on managing your money and setting sensible session limits, the strategy guide covers all of this in detail.