Play'n GO · 2016 · expanding symbol free spins
Book of Dead still will not go upright
A 2016 slot that everybody in Canada has heard of, and it has never had a portrait build. Turn the phone or do not play.
The phone check
Sideways only, and even then the controls sit close together. The stepper is a millimetre from the button that spends money. The demo pulls about 9 MB before the first tap registers, which on a poor bar is where the 2.2 s goes. Getting money back out is a separate count and we keep it at cashout.
One build, one return figure
Only one configuration of Book of Dead is licensed, at 96.21%, so there is nothing to check and nothing to get wrong. That puts it in the minority: 123 of 306 titles here ship in two or three builds, and nothing on screen tells you which one loaded.
Old code, and it shows
Play n GO shipped this on ten lines across a 5x3 board and the mobile wrapper has been patched rather than rebuilt. Sideways it is fine to look at. The controls sit in a tight cluster on the right, and the autoplay button is close enough to spin that people find themselves in a fifty spin run.
2.2 seconds to load, which is around the middle of this board.
Cheap enough to test properly
One cent a spin is the minimum, so a twenty dollar bankroll is about 2,000 spins. That is a real sample. High volatility, 96.21% on the single licensed build, 5,000x ceiling on the expanding symbol.
Legacy of Dead is the same idea from the same studio and does hold portrait.
The rest of it
| Studio | Play'n GO |
|---|---|
| Released | 2016 |
| Board | 5x3, 10 lines |
| Mechanic | expanding symbol free spins |
| Volatility | High |
| Top licensed return | 96.21% |
| House edge on that build | 3.79% |
| Max win | 5,000x |
| Minimum stake | C$0.01 |
| Spins on twenty dollars | about 2000 |
| Free demo | yes, no account needed |
| Tags | classic, popular |
Book of Dead: what people ask
What is Book of Dead and why is it everywhere?
A 2016 Play'n GO slot with the expanding symbol free spins mechanic that half the market copied afterwards. Ten lines, five reels, 96.21% back, and a 5,000x ceiling.
It is everywhere because it was the title operators attached free spin offers to for years, so an enormous number of Canadian accounts have played it whether they went looking for it or not.
How does the expanding symbol round work?
Three books trigger ten free spins and one symbol is picked at random before they start. When that symbol lands during the round it expands to fill its reel and pays without needing to be adjacent.
Draw a low value symbol and the round is a shrug. Draw the explorer and it is the reason people keep opening it. That is the entire distribution of the game in one sentence.
Can I play Book of Dead free?
Yes, the demo runs with no account. At one cent a line the stake floor is as low as anything on our board, so twenty dollars goes an extremely long way.
The handset story is less good. No upright build, 2.2 seconds to load, and the controls want a sideways phone.
Done with the demo?
Every app we have taken apart is at app teardowns, ranked on install size, crashes and how many taps stand between a balance and a submitted withdrawal. The full list of sites that ship one is at sites.
Play for real in the app →