Book of Dead in Australia: Rich Wilde and the expanding symbol

What Book of Dead pays, by Play’n GO’s own numbers

Play’n GO released Book of Dead on 14 Jan 2016, and its own game record reads: 96.21% RTP in the standard version, “high” volatility on its rating, a 5,000x cap, and a hit-rate figure of 3.26, which we read as about one win every 3.26 spins. There’s no bonus buy. There is a gamble feature, which matters once a bonus is in play.

The book is the whole game. It’s the wild and the scatter in one symbol, and landing three or more of it is the only way into the free spins. Everything worth chasing happens there.

Can you play Book of Dead in Australia at SafeCasino?

SafeCasino’s Australian games page names Book of Dead and its sequel, Legacy of Dead, quoting about 96.21% and 96.58%. We then read SafeCasino’s full game catalogue on 18 Sep 2026, and it listed no Play’n GO titles at all. That read came from an address outside Australia, and casino line-ups can differ by country, so the Australian lobby may still show it. The only reliable check is your own lobby:

1. 1 Search the lobby Type Book of Dead, or Play'n GO, into the game search box.
2. 2 Try it in demo mode If it's listed, SafeCasino offers every game in demo mode, so a few hundred demo spins show you the rhythm first.
3. 3 Check the RTP version Open the game's info screen and look for 96.21%. The table below shows what the lower versions cost.
4. 4 No luck? Pick a close match The last section lists pokies in the same catalogue with the same board, theme or volatility.

You can search SafeCasino’s lobby in a minute, which beats depositing for a game that isn’t on your account.

How the expanding symbol pays

Three or more books anywhere on the reels start 10 free spins, and three more during the round retrigger it. Before the spins begin, one symbol is picked at random to be the special expanding symbol for the whole round.

During the free spins, whenever enough of that symbol lands to pay, it grows to fill every position on its reel. That’s where the game’s size comes from. Say the special symbol lands on reels 1, 2 and 3: all three reels fill from top to bottom, and each of the 10 paylines crosses three of that symbol. One three-of-a-kind becomes ten of them. Land it across all five reels and every line pays the top five-of-a-kind, which is the road to 5,000x.

Which symbol gets picked decides most of the round. A picture symbol pays far more than a card symbol, so two rounds with the same number of spins can end a long way apart. That’s high volatility in practice.

What a A$50 session looks like

Play’n GO’s hit-rate figure works out to about one win every 3.26 spins, but on a 10-line game a lot of those wins are smaller than the stake. The free spins carry the real value, and the game record we read gives no figure for how often they trigger. The stake you pick decides how many shots at them you get:

At 96.21%, one pass of A$50 through the reels costs about A$1.90 on average at any stake. What changes is the ride. At 20c you get ten times as many spins to land three books as at A$2, where the balance can run out before the free spins show up at all. On a high-volatility book game, we’d start at 20c to 50c and move up only once you’ve seen a few features. Wins recycle into play, so real sessions last longer than the table suggests.

Which RTP version is loaded

Play’n GO supplies Book of Dead to casinos at five RTP settings. The game plays the same on screen at every setting; only the long-run return changes:

The gap between the best and worst setting is A$120.30 on every A$1,000 you spin. SafeCasino’s Australian copy quotes about 96.21%, the top setting, but the info screen of the game in front of you is what counts. Our best paying pokies list ranks titles by RTP, and RTP and volatility explained covers why a 3.26 hit rate still feels streaky: a hit can pay less than the stake.

Gamble feature: when to skip it

After a win, Book of Dead offers a gamble: you stake that win on a guess, and a wrong guess loses it. It’s optional, and with a bonus running it’s a trap.

SafeCasino’s bonus terms count gamble and doubling features toward the A$8 maximum bet that applies while a bonus is active. Gamble a A$12 win and you’ve put A$12 on one decision, over the limit, and breaking that rule can cost you the bonus winnings.

With no bonus active, the choice is yours. A gamble can’t raise the game’s long-run return; at best it swaps a win you already have for a chance at a bigger one. It suits a player with a fixed target for the session and no one else.

Book of Dead vs Legacy of Dead

Legacy of Dead (2020) is Play’n GO’s follow-up on the same 5x3, 10-line board:

On paper Legacy wins by a nose: 0.37 points more RTP is A$3.70 less per A$1,000 spun, and its free spins can carry more than one expanding symbol. Book of Dead is the better-known name. Both come with the same availability caveat at SafeCasino, so search for both at once.

Pokies like Book of Dead in SafeCasino’s lobby

If your search comes up empty, these titles were in the catalogue on 18 Sep 2026, and each shares something with Book of Dead:

• Big Bass Bonanza (Pragmatic Play) plays on the same 5x3, 10-line board with high volatility, 4 of 5 on Pragmatic’s meter, and a 96.71% RTP. Its free spins use a collecting wild instead of an expanding symbol; our Big Bass Bonanza guide walks through it.
• Gold Rush with Johnny Cash (BGaming) is 5x3 with 25 lines, very high volatility and a 5,624x cap. Its free spins use the top symbols only, which packs the value into the feature the same way.
• Sun of Egypt 3 (3 Oaks) keeps the Egyptian theme but swaps the book for a Hold & Win feature with a x10,000 Royal Jackpot; its 95.61% RTP comes from review sites, as 3 Oaks doesn’t publish one. Jackpot pokies explains how those tiers work.

Whichever you play, the welcome package works the same way: each of your first four deposits is matched 100% up to A$1,000 with up to 300 free spins, with x40 wagering on pokies and the A$8 limit above. The welcome bonus guide has the stages, and the online pokies hub sorts the rest of the lobby by mechanic.