Book of Dead by Play'n GO, in-game demo screenshot (26 October 2026)
Where to play it
Most slot pages start with the theme. This one starts with a warning, because with Book of Dead the theme is the least interesting thing about it.
Play'n GO lets each casino pick one of five return-to-player settings for the game: 96.21%, 94.25%, 91.25%, 87.25% or 84.17%. Same Book of Dead slot, same graphics, same Rich Wilde, same sound when the books land. The only visible difference is one line buried in the rules. If you play Book of Dead with bitcoin at an offshore casino, there is a fair chance you will meet one of the lower settings sooner or later, so learning to spot it is the most useful thing on this page.
Book of Dead RTP: five settings, one game
Here is what each setting means on C$1,000 of total wagers. That is not a lot of play: at C$0.50 a spin it is 2,000 spins, an evening or two for a regular player.
| RTP setting | Expected loss per C$1,000 wagered |
|---|---|
| 96.21% | about C$38 |
| 94.25% | about C$58 |
| 91.25% | about C$88 |
| 87.25% | about C$128 |
| 84.17% | about C$158 |
The bottom setting costs roughly four times what the top one does over the same play. No bonus offer makes up for that over a few months.
How to read the RTP in the paytable
- Log in and open Book of Dead in real-money mode. The demo at some casinos loads a different build, so check the version you would bet on.
- Open the game menu (the icon with three lines or the settings gear, depending on the casino's game frame).
- Go to the game rules or paytable section, not the short "how to play" tooltip.
- Scroll to the bottom. Play'n GO writes the theoretical return as a percentage there.
- If it reads 96.21%, you are on the full version. Anything else is a reduced build.
Takes about thirty seconds. Some casinos also print the RTP in the game tile info, which is handy, but the in-game rules are the source we trust. If a casino hides the rules page entirely, we treat that as an answer.
The book, the explorer and the rest of the reels
The grid is 5×3 with 10 paylines, and unusually for a modern slot you can lower the number of active lines. Leave them all on; fewer lines just means fewer ways to win for a slightly smaller stake.
The book symbol does two jobs. It is the wild, substituting for anything, and it is the scatter. Rich Wilde himself is the top-paying symbol, followed by the Egyptian figures, then the card ranks. Base-game hits are mostly modest. Five Rich Wildes on a line is the best regular result, and it is rare.
Ten spins and one expanding symbol
Three or more books anywhere give 10 free spins. Before they start, the game picks one random symbol to be the special expanding symbol for the whole round.
During free spins, whenever that symbol lands on enough reels to form a win, it expands to cover every position on those reels and pays on all lines, even when the reels are not next to each other. A special symbol on reels 1, 3 and 5 still pays. That is the whole engine of the game. A low card as the special symbol usually produces a modest round. Rich Wilde or one of the high Egyptian symbols covering four or five reels is how the 5,000× maximum happens.
Three more books during the round give another 10 spins with a second pick, so a decent round can turn into a long one.
The gamble button
After any win you can gamble it: guess red or black to double it, or guess the suit for four times. The game is fair, but every gamble is a fresh chance to lose a win you already had. We never use it on bonus wins and rarely on anything else. If you enjoy it, set yourself a rule, like only gambling wins under 2× your stake.
Stakes for a high-volatility classic
Book of Dead swings hard, and the free spins can stay away for a few hundred spins. Picture C$150 moved over as USDT. At C$0.30 a spin that is 500 stakes, which is the range we like for this game. At C$1.50 a spin it is 100 stakes, and one quiet stretch can finish you before a single book round.
The minimum bet can go down to C$0.01 at some casinos, which is useful for checking the RTP line and the feel of a site without risk. If you fund in BTC rather than a stablecoin, remember that your balance in dollars drifts with the price while you play.
If you like Rich Wilde, or just the expanding symbol
Rich Wilde has his own series at Play'n GO, including Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness, but none of the follow-ups took over lobbies the way this one did. The expanding-symbol bonus has been copied by dozens of "book" slots from other studios; quality and RTP vary wildly, so the paytable check applies to them too.
For something with the same all-or-nothing free spins but a different look, try The Dog House, where sticky wilds do the work. Wanted Dead or a Wild is the same idea turned up several notches. And Big Bass Bonanza is the friendliest of the bunch at 96.71% on its full build.
Our verdict
At 96.21% Book of Dead is a fine game with a simple, tense bonus round, and we understand why it never left the front page. At 84.17% it is one of the most expensive ways to play a slot online. Same game, different deal.
So we play it only after checking the rules. How we test the casinos themselves is laid out in our crypto casino reviews, and the full slot list in the slots guide.
Questions players ask
Why does Book of Dead pay less at some casinos?
Play'n GO offers the game at five RTP settings and the operator picks one. The visuals and rules stay identical, only the long-run return changes. The setting is printed at the bottom of the in-game rules.
Can I play Book of Dead with bitcoin in Canada?
Yes, at offshore crypto casinos that carry Play'n GO games, which most large ones do. Many of those sites do not accept players from Ontario or Alberta, so check the casino's terms for your province before depositing.
Is the demo version a good way to check the RTP?
Not always. Some casinos run a different build in demo mode, so the figure you see there may not match the real-money game. Check the rules while logged in and in real-money mode.
