Being a big fan of “Book of” type slots I was delighted to hear that Nolimit City were coming out with their Book of Shadows slot in August 2020. Although this type of game has been done to death already, Nolimit City were always going to put a different spin on things, but has it worked out well? Can it match some of the other classics like Book of Dead or Book of Ra, it’s a tall order but if any company is capable it’s certainly Nolimit City!
Book of Shadows Slot
-
Bonuses
-
Base Game
-
Graphics and Sound
-
Value
Summary
Book of Shadows is a fresh and welcome new take on the “Book of” type slots. The locking reels provides a handy feature to trigger the free spins bonus round if you’re in the UK where bonus buys aren’t available. Otherwise it may just be more cost effective to simply buy the bonus and guarantee that it spin in immediately. Where it really excels, except for deviating from the over used Ancient Egyptian Theme, is with it’s 3 to 5 rows. This really allows you to up the risk/reward levels and provides a real thrill to the game. Overall, Book of Shadows slot won’t be replacing Book of Dead as my go to “Book” slot but it will certainly get a fair amount of play time from me and I certainly highly recommend it.
Overall
4.5Pros
- Huge Maximum Win Potential
- Adjustable Paylines
- Lock in Reels
Cons
- Extremely Volatile
Book of Shadows Slot Stats | |||
RTP: | 96.01% | Volatility: | Very High |
Software: | Nolimit City | Max Payout: | 30,338x |
Min Bet: | 0.10 Coin | Max Bet: | 200 Coins |
Paylines: | 10/15/20 | Reels: | 5 |
Release Date: | August 2020 | Progressive Jackpot: | No |
How it Pays and Plays
Book of Shadows slot has 5 reels and starts with a 3 rows. However, this can be increased to 4 or even 5 rows, increasing the paylines available incrementally from 10, 15 to 20. You’ll have to put an extra 1.5x on the stakes to open to the 4th row and 2x to open the 5th row up. This sounds like risky business and it is. However, doing so provides you with incredible potential should you hit the bonus round.
The RTP is set at 96.01%, however opening 4 rows increases it to 96.07% and 5 rows ups it a little further to 96.19%. A respectable RTP at all levels.
As you would expect the Book of Shadows slot is highly volatile and it is capable of payouts up to 30,338x your stake, which is pretty monstrous, you would need all 5 rows in play for this though.
Betting levels range from 10-20p/cents up to a fairly hefty maximum of $/£/€100-200. This depends on how many rows you have in play.
Symbols and Graphics
Book of slots takes on a horror theme and looks genuinely pretty spooky. Set on the background of a sinister looking woodland with skulls visible in the tree roots, it makes a stark contrast from your typical Ancient Egyptian style.
Low paying symbols range from 10 through to Ace. Premium symbols include a butterfly, an animal skull, a neon pink cat, an eye in a jar and the top paying symbol is a ghostly looking woman who’ll pay 500x for 5 of a kind.
The Book of Shadows symbol acts as both the Wild and the Scatter, paying the same amount as the top paying symbol.
Lucky Locks Bonus Feature
Here you can lock up to 4 reels in place and pay a fixed amount to spin any single reel. The cost will depend on the potential the spinning reel has. It’s an interesting one to try if you have landed 2 Scatters but also something to be careful with as it can gobble down your balance in next to no time.
Win Gamble
You’ll be given the opportunity to gamble each win you land. This is the typical Red or Black card pick. You can gamble this all the way up to the free spins bonus.
Free Spins Bonus
Land 3 book of Shadows symbols and you’ll get the free spins bonus to trigger. The amount of free spins will depend on the rows you have open as below:
- 3 Rows: 14 Free Spins
- 4 Rows: 12 Free Spins
- 5 Rows: 10 Free Spins
Here the Book of Shadows will open across the screen and flick through the pages to land on a symbol. If you don’t like the symbol it lands on you have one opportunity to change it for another random symbol.
The symbol you have been given will be highlighted in gold and if it’s a lower paying symbol it will expand to cover the whole reel should you land 3 or more of them. This will pay on all win lines regardless of whether or not the symbols are in a line. The same happens for premium symbols but you only need to land 2 for them to expand.
The bonus can be retriggered by landing 3 more Book of shadows symbols. You will not be awarded with another symbol however, you just stick with the one you originally were awarded.
Bonus Feature Buy
For 60x, 90x and 120x your stake for 3, 4 and 5 rows active you can immediately buy your way into the feature round if you don’t want to play through the base game waiting for it to trigger. This is not available to UK based players. I would also urge caution with this method as it can also eat your balance rapidly.
