Book of Dead in South Africa: Expanding Symbols and the Gamble Round
Book of Dead, released by Play'n GO in January 2016, is a book slot: one symbol is both the wild and the scatter, and the free spins round turns on a single random choice made before the round starts.
On this page
How Book of Dead works
Five reels, ten paylines, an explorer in an Egyptian tomb. The base game is deliberately conventional and does not pretend otherwise.
The book symbol does two jobs at once: it is the wild, substituting for other symbols, and it is the scatter that triggers free spins. Three of them anywhere starts the bonus.
The bonus is the part worth understanding. Before the free spins begin, the game picks one symbol at random and makes it the expanding symbol for the whole round. After the ordinary wins are counted, that symbol can expand to cover its whole reel, and by Play'n GO's rules it expands only when that adds a prize on the active lines, paying without the usual need to sit on adjacent reels.
That single random choice decides almost everything about how the round goes. Draw a high-value symbol and modest coverage pays well. Draw a low-value one and you need it to fill several reels before it means anything. You have no influence over the draw, and no way to know it in advance. It is the entire lottery of the game compressed into one moment.
The gamble feature, and why we suggest leaving it alone
After a win, the game offers a gamble on a face-down card. By Play'n GO's rules, guessing the colour doubles the win with a 1 in 2 chance and guessing the suit quadruples it with a 1 in 4 chance, up to five times in a row and up to 2,500 coins, and the gamble 'will not impact the overall RTP'.
So it is not a trap for your return, but it is a bet of the whole win: by our arithmetic both options give back, on average, what you put in, and each go can take the win to zero. Used repeatedly it raises the variance of your session without raising its expected value. The player who gambles every win and the player who gambles none end up in the same place on average, but the first one gets there via a much wilder ride and far more empty sessions.
The rules switch the gamble off during Auto Play, and Play'n GO's rules for some markets, such as Spain and Portugal, have no gamble at all. If your copy has it, the sensible default is to collect.
Book of Dead RTP and volatility 📊
Play'n GO gives Book of Dead's return to player as 96.21%.
Paying for Book of Dead in rand
Book of Dead is in the lobby at 4 operators we list: all of them take Ozow and cards; 2 take Capitec Pay; 3 take cash vouchers.
The smallest first deposit for Book of Dead among them is R1, at Hollywoodbets and Luckyfish.
Book of Dead winnings are paid by EFT to an account in your own name, after FICA.
Get FICA done first · How to deposit in rand · Every payment method
Is Book of Dead legal in South Africa? 📜
Book of Dead is a slot, which licensed bookmakers carry under their provincial betting licences.
All 4 operators we list for Book of Dead hold a South African provincial licence.
Before you play with real money ⚠️
Set your Book of Dead budget and a deposit limit before the first round, not after a losing one. If it stops being fun, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation helpline is free on 0800 006 008.
Pros, cons and verdict ⚖️
- Simple, readable and fast on any phone
- The expanding-symbol round is genuinely suspenseful
- A known quantity: it has been in the market long enough to be well understood
- Base game is plain by modern standards
- The round's outcome hinges on one random draw you cannot influence
- The gamble feature adds variance dressed up as a reward
Book of Dead has lasted because the core idea is good: one random choice, then a round that lives or dies by it. It is less elaborate than the Pragmatic titles around it and quicker to read on a small screen, which counts for something on a phone. Leave the gamble feature alone and it is a clean slot that does exactly what it says.
Book of Dead FAQ ❓
What is the expanding symbol?
Before free spins begin, one symbol is chosen at random. During the round it can expand across its whole reel, and by Play'n GO's rules only when that adds a prize, paying outside the normal adjacency rules.
Can I influence which symbol is chosen?
No. It is drawn at random before the round and you cannot see or affect it.
Should I use the gamble feature?
By Play'n GO's rules it 'will not impact the overall RTP': a colour guess doubles the win 1 time in 2, a suit guess quadruples it 1 time in 4. It raises variance without raising the return, so our suggestion is to collect.
Is Book of Dead available in South Africa?
The casinos at the bottom of this page are the ones we have found carrying Book of Dead.
Where to play Book of Dead in South Africa
Licensed South African operators we have found carrying Book of Dead, each with its licence and our score, and the date where we saw the game in the lobby ourselves. Ordered by that score. How we score Offers checked September 2026.
