Table of contents
Special Expanding Symbol
A special expanding symbol is one ordinary symbol that Book of Dead picks at random before a free-spin round and keeps for the whole sequence. When it can add a win, it stretches to fill all three positions on its reel. Any symbol can be drawn, including the Ten.
- Game:
- Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead (a Play'n GO video slot)
- Type:
- Slot game
- RTP as published:
- Five configurations rather than one number: a default of 96.21%, plus 94.25%, 91.25%, 87.25% and 84.18%, with the operator choosing which one its lobby runs.
- Max win:
- The game states its ceiling in coins rather than as a multiplier: 250,000 coins.
Which Symbol Gets Picked
The game draws it, not the player, and it draws from the whole symbol set. Play'n GO states the rule before anything else about the round: "Before a free spin sequence begins, an ordinary symbol is randomly chosen to act as a special expanding symbol during the entire free-spin sequence."
Ordinary is the load-bearing word. Rich Wilde can be drawn, and so can the Ten.
The icon appears beside the spin counter the moment the round starts, so a second is all it takes to know whether the next ten spins are worth watching.
Each Expanding Symbol, Paid for Five on a Line
| Symbol that can be drawn | Pays for five on a line |
|---|---|
| Rich Wilde | 5,000 |
| Pharaoh mask | 2,000 |
| Anubis or Horus | 750 |
| Ace or King | 150 |
| Queen, Jack or Ten | 100 |
Figures current as of ; the operator's live terms prevail.
When the Symbol Actually Expands
Only when expanding pays.
The rule is conditional, and the client spells the condition out: the symbol "will expand only when additional prizes can be awarded along active paylines for winning combinations". A reel full of the drawn symbol that would add nothing simply stays shut.
That is why a feature can look flat for several spins and then detonate. Nothing is being withheld; the condition just has not been met yet.
Gaps Allowed, but Only Here
Inside free spins the expanded symbols pay with gaps, and that is the single biggest difference from the base game. Play'n GO puts it twice, once as "Expanded symbols do not need to appear adjacent to each other to result in a winning combination" and again as pay "with gaps allowed".
In the base game a line win has to start on the leftmost reel and run without a break. During the round an expanded symbol on reels one, three and five still counts. Compared with the base rules that is a real loosening, and it is where the large feature totals come from.
Base Game Rules Against Free-Spin Rules
| Rule | Base game | Inside the free-spin round |
|---|---|---|
| Where a win must start | Leftmost reel | Any reel a combination can form on |
| Gaps between symbols | Not allowed | Allowed for the expanded symbol |
| Symbols covering a whole reel | Only the tomb scatter substituting | The drawn symbol, on any of the 5 reels |
| Bet size | Set by the player | Locked to the bet that triggered the round |
What We Drew, Twice
The Ten, both times. Two recorded sessions, two features, and the cheapest symbol on the paytable came up on each of them.
It still paid. In the second run three reels of Tens returned 1,550 coins on a single spin and the round closed at 3,250. We mention it because every promotional screenshot of this game shows a grid packed with Rich Wilde, and that is the draw nobody should expect. Two out of two is not a probability, and we are not presenting it as one.
