How the Selection Works
When free spins trigger, the game engine randomly picks one of the 11 symbols. This pick happens before the first free spin begins. The selection is made by the RNG with equal probability for each symbol — no previous spins, bet size, or timing affects the outcome.
Symbol Rankings by Potential Payout
Here is every symbol ranked by its maximum payout when expanding across all 5 reels:
- Rich Wilde — 5,000x stake for 5 on a payline. The jackpot symbol. Pays from just 2 symbols.
- Pharaoh — 2,000x for 5. Second-highest premium, also pays from 2 symbols.
- Anubis — 750x for 5. Solid premium symbol.
- Horus Falcon — 750x for 5. Same value as Anubis.
- Book (wild/scatter) — 200x for 5. As expanding symbol it becomes very powerful since it appears on all reels naturally.
- Ace / King — 150x for 5. Decent low-end premium.
- Queen / Jack / 10 — 100x for 5. Lowest value but highest reel frequency.
Frequency vs Payout Trade-off
The reel strip for Book of Dead is weighted — lower-value symbols appear more times on each virtual reel than higher-value ones. This means card royals expand and cover full reels more often than Rich Wilde. A card royal expanding free spins round might feel disappointing but still pays out multiple times per free spin. A Rich Wilde expansion is rarer but each full-reel hit is massive.
From a pure expected value perspective, all symbols contribute approximately equally to the game's overall RTP because the reel weights are calibrated by the developer. The difference is variance: Rich Wilde expansions concentrate value into fewer, larger hits; card royals distribute it across many smaller hits.
What Players Experience
Most memorable Book of Dead sessions involve either Rich Wilde or Pharaoh expanding. A full-screen Rich Wilde on 10 paylines pays 5,000x × 10 = 50,000x total stake — at $1 per spin that is $50,000. At $0.10 minimum bet it is still $5,000. These hits are rare but real — they are documented regularly in player forums and streaming sessions.