How do you trigger free spins in Book of Dead?

Land 3 or more Tomb scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. You get 10 free spins, and 3 or more scatters during the feature add another 10.

What does the expanding symbol do?

Before free spins start, one ordinary symbol is chosen at random. After normal wins are paid, it can expand to fill its whole reel, but only when that creates extra wins on active lines. Expanded symbols pay even with gaps between reels.

What is the max win in Book of Dead?

The game shows a top prize of 250,000 coins. At the maximum 50 coin bet that equals 5,000x your total bet.

Is the Tomb symbol wild?

Yes. The Tomb is both the scatter and the wild. It substitutes for all other symbols and also pays as a scatter anywhere on the reels.

Can you buy the bonus in Book of Dead?

No. There is no bonus buy. Free spins only start from scatters.

How does the gamble feature work?

After a base game win you can guess a card's colour to double the win or its suit to quadruple it. You can gamble up to five times in a row, up to 2500 coins.

Book of Dead Guide: Rules, Expanding Symbol, Free Spins and Gamble

By the CasinoDemo editorial team · Updated 2026-11-09 · How we review

Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead is the Play'n GO slot that made the "book" format famous. It runs on 5 reels, 3 rows and up to 10 lines, and one symbol does double duty as wild and scatter. The free spins pick a single expanding symbol, and that one choice decides how big the round can get.

We opened the official demo, read the paytable and the full help file, and played 100 base game spins at a $1 bet. The free spins did not land in that session, so the bonus section below is built from the game's own rules, not from a round we played. There is no bonus buy in this game.

Play Book of Dead demo for free

Book of Dead at a glance

Provider: Play'n GO
Demo: Free, no sign-up

How Book of Dead works

The grid is 5 reels by 3 rows. Up to 10 lines can be active, and lines are always switched on in numerical order: 1, 2, 3 and so on. Wins pay left to right, starting from the leftmost reel, except scatters, which pay anywhere. Only the highest win is paid per selected line, and line wins are multiplied by the bet per line.

Your bet is built from three settings: lines (1 to 10), coins per line (1 to 5) and coin value. In the demo the coin value ran from 0.01 to 2.00. With all 10 lines on, that gives a range of $0.10 to $100 per spin. The demo opens at $1: 10 lines, 5 coins, 0.02 coin value, shown as a 50 coin bet.

There are no cascades, no multipliers and no ways to win. It is a classic line slot with one very strong special symbol.

Book of Dead base game with 5 reels and 3 rows of card symbols, Rich Wilde and scarab at a $1 bet — The base game at the default $1 bet: 10 lines, 5 coins per line.

Symbols and paytable

Paytable values are per coin on a line. Rich Wilde is the top symbol: 5000 for five, 1000 for four, 100 for three and 10 for two. The golden pharaoh pays 2000, 400, 40 and 5. Anubis and the scarab both pay 750 for five, 100 for four, 30 for three and 5 for two. These four premiums all pay for just two on a line.

The royals need three. A and K pay 150, 40 and 5. Q, J and 10 pay 100, 25 and 5.

The Tomb is the special symbol. It is the scatter and it is also wild, substituting for any other symbol to form a winning combination. As a scatter it pays anywhere on the reels: 200 for five, 20 for four and 2 for three, multiplied by the total bet and added to line wins.

The game shows "Win up to 250000 coins". At the maximum 50 coin bet (5 coins on 10 lines) that works out to 5,000x your total bet, which matches five Rich Wilde symbols on every line.

Book of Dead paytable for Rich Wilde, pharaoh, Anubis and scarab symbols with the 10 payline patterns — Premium symbols pay from two of a kind.

Book of Dead winning spin where a Tomb wild completes a line of kings for 200 coins, with Gamble and Collect buttons — In our demo the Tomb stood in for a K and the spin paid 225 coins ($4.50).

Free spins and the expanding symbol

Land 3 or more Tomb scatters anywhere and the book opens to award 10 free spins. Before the first free spin, one ordinary symbol is picked at random as the special expanding symbol. It stays the same for the whole free spins sequence.

Here is how the expansion works, in the game's order. First, normal winning combinations are paid. Then the special symbol may expand to cover all three positions on its reel. It only expands when that creates additional prizes along active paylines. Once expanded, the symbols do not need to sit next to each other: the help file says expanded symbols pay for any winning combination with gaps allowed, on any reels where a win is possible.

That is why the pick matters so much. Rich Wilde as the expanding symbol pays for two reels, and five expanded reels of him is the top result in the game. A royal needs three reels to pay at all.

Three or more scatters during free spins retrigger the feature for another 10 free spins. Free spins are played at the same bet and the same lines as the spin that triggered them.

Book of Dead intro screen explaining that 3 or more Tomb scatters award 10 free spins with a special expanding symbol — The intro screen sums up the bonus: 3 Tombs, 10 free spins, one expanding symbol.

Book of Dead paytable page for the Tomb scatter wild, its scatter pays and the expanding symbol free spins — The Tomb is both wild and scatter.

The gamble round

After any win in the main game you can press Gamble instead of Collect. You then guess either the colour of a face down card, a 1 in 2 chance to double the win, or its suit, a 1 in 4 chance to quadruple it. You can gamble up to five times in a row, up to a limit of 2500 coins. The rules state that gamble does not change the overall RTP. It is turned off during Auto Play, and some jurisdictions or operators disable it.

We saw the Gamble and Collect buttons after our wins in the demo but always collected.

Bonus buy

Book of Dead has no bonus buy. The only route into free spins is landing 3 or more Tomb scatters.

Our demo session

We played 100 base game spins at $1 with the demo balance of 25,000. Small line wins came often, mostly 25 to 125 coins. The best single spin we saw paid 225 coins ($4.50), helped by a Tomb wild. Two Tombs landed several times, but never the third. The balance finished at 24,969, a loss of $31 over the session.

That is one short session, not an average. It does show the shape of the game: the base game keeps you ticking along with small hits, and the large wins depend on free spins with the right expanding symbol.

RTP, max win and bet range

The demo help file does not print an RTP figure, so we are not quoting one. Play'n GO games can run at different RTP settings at different casinos. Open the help screen in the version you play to see the figure that applies there.

The top prize is 250,000 coins, which is 5,000x the total bet at maximum coins. Bets in the demo ran from $0.10 to $100 with all 10 lines active. Any unfinished round is saved for you to resume, and malfunction voids all pays and plays.

Book of Dead game rules screen describing free spins, the special expanding symbol and the gamble feature — The official help file for free spins, expansion and gamble.

Our verdict

Book of Dead has lasted because the idea is clear. One symbol is wild and scatter, one random symbol expands in the bonus, and the result swings hard on which symbol you get. The base game is plain and our 100 spins never reached the free spins, which is typical of a game that saves its value for the feature. There is no buy and no ante, only the old school gamble. Try the free demo to get a feel for how long the wait for three Tombs can be.

How to play Book of Dead free in Canada

Press Play demo for free on the game page and the Play'n GO demo loads with virtual credits. There is nothing to download, no account to create and no deposit to make, and it works in your browser on desktop and mobile.

Use the demo to see how the bonus round plays out and whether the game's pace suits you.

Playing Book of Dead for real money in Canada

Real-money online gambling in Canada is regulated province by province. Ontario runs a regulated market where licensed operators are overseen by iGaming Ontario and the AGCO; other provinces offer play through their own provincial sites, such as PlayNow (British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan), Loto-Québec, PlayAlberta and ALC in Atlantic Canada.

The legal age is 19 in most provinces and 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. Only play at sites licensed where you live, set limits before you start, and treat gambling as entertainment, never as a way to make money.

Book of Dead FAQ

How do you trigger free spins in Book of Dead?: Land 3 or more Tomb scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. You get 10 free spins, and 3 or more scatters during the feature add another 10.
What does the expanding symbol do?: Before free spins start, one ordinary symbol is chosen at random. After normal wins are paid, it can expand to fill its whole reel, but only when that creates extra wins on active lines. Expanded symbols pay even with gaps between reels.
What is the max win in Book of Dead?: The game shows a top prize of 250,000 coins. At the maximum 50 coin bet that equals 5,000x your total bet.
Is the Tomb symbol wild?: Yes. The Tomb is both the scatter and the wild. It substitutes for all other symbols and also pays as a scatter anywhere on the reels.
Can you buy the bonus in Book of Dead?: No. There is no bonus buy. Free spins only start from scatters.
How does the gamble feature work?: After a base game win you can guess a card's colour to double the win or its suit to quadruple it. You can gamble up to five times in a row, up to 2500 coins.

More Play'n GO slots

Sources

Official Play'n GO game page