Banquet of Dead

Banquet of Dead: Slot Overview

Strangely, given their immense popularity, it had been a while since a 'book of' slot had ended up on the review desk, and who better to provide one than software designer Play'n GO? This is, after all, the studio that bestowed slots like Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead, and Ghost of Dead on the gambling world, so it knows a thing or two about books and dead. So numerous are these slots now that it must be getting tough for casino game makers to find pairs of words to bracket the 'of' in their titles. For this one, Play'n GO has come up with Banquet of Dead, which, unless you are absolutely famished, might not sound particularly appetising, but let's see.

Presumably, Banquet of Dead alludes to a feast in honour of those who have passed away, rather than anything sinisterly macabre, and the edible goodies laid about the game room are of the regular supermarket variety. Banquet of Dead is solidly drenched in Ancient Egypt, which is, of course, where Book or Ra began this style of gambling back in the day and is a topic Play'n GO is well acquainted with. As such, Banquet of Dead is a handsome game, possessing a recognisable Book of Dead vibe, though it's not an overly impactful slot visually. No complaints about what your eyes get to rest on, but a nagging feeling of having seen this sort of thing so many times before did linger.

For whatever reason, nostalgia perhaps, Banquet of Dead insists on using coins to express many of the values. So, when picking a stake, players can choose a coin value of 1 c to $/€2 and the number of coins they would like to wager from 1 to 5. In monetary values, this comes out to 10 c to $/€100 per spin. In sticking with tradition, Banquet of Dead is played on a matrix possessing 5 reels, 3 rows and 10 paylines. While generating a default RTP of 96%, Banquet of Dead runs on a highly volatile math model.

From the paytable, we come across fancy 10 to A card ranks as Banquet of Dead's low pay symbols, then what looks to be a fan, a plate of food, a crocodile statue, and a Cleopatra-type personality. Low pay symbols need at least 3 OAK to form a win, while highs pay out for 2 OAK or more. Values equate to 10x to 20x the bet for hitting 5 matching card ranks or 60 to 150 times the bet for a line of 5 premiums.

Banquet of Dead: Slot Features

Hey, what do you know? The Hourglass scatter in Banquet of Dead is also wild, so it can substitute for any non-expanded regular pay symbol. Furthermore, hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards 2.5x, 25x, or 150x the bet, respectively, as well as 7 free spins (hitting 2 scatters pays 0.5x the bet, but no free spins are awarded).

Free Spins

A special expanding pay symbol is randomly chosen for the free spins round. After any wins have been evaluated, the special symbol may expand to cover all positions on its reel. Special symbols only expand when they are able to create a win. What helps is that expanded symbols pay from any position along all paylines. Any gaps between them are fine. During the round, hitting 3 or more scatters retriggers +3 additional free spins, where it is possible to win up to 30 at the most.

After a spin, when the special symbols expand, the current lowest value low pay symbol (10, J, Q, Q, or A) is removed from the game for the next free spin onwards. If the removed symbol was the special expanding symbol, then a new special symbol is randomly chosen from the remaining non-scatter symbols.

Gamble Feature

Players may attempt to increase their prize in the optional gamble round. The task is to guess the correct colour of a face-down card to double the prize or guess the suit of a face-down card to quadruple the prize. It is possible to win the gamble round up to 5 times in a row and up to a limit of 2,500 coins.

Banquet of Dead: Slot Verdict

A while back, Play'n GO knocked it out of the park with Book of Dead, and like chasing the initial hit, the studio has returned again and again, rewriting the script in numerous 'book' slots using various twists and turns. Some have been more memorable than others, with features and or figures that offer enhanced or forgettable playtime, depending on the slot. While not a stuffed freak fest of outrageous creativity, Banquet of Dead is one that manages to stick out for a number of reasons.

One of the more convincing reasons for players who like to go big is Banquet of Dead's much larger-than-usual winning potential of 35,000 times the bet. If the 5Ks or maybe 10Ks in these sorts of slots don't do it for you anymore, then going on the hunt for Banquet of Dead's 35K might be the antidote you're after. Yet, having said that, Play'n GO max wins is not something you often see, so it's always good to take those numbers with a grain of salt.

Banquet of Dead wasn't necessarily more fun to play than something like Legacy of Dead, which adds special symbols rather than removes the current lowest royals from the grid. However, you can see how this system might end up being rather entertaining if you manage to whittle the game down to just the remaining premium symbols in a free spins round. Shame it stops at high pays. The mental image of removing everything but the highest-value symbol from the reels is a dizzying one.

Maybe next time. For now, when taking away the massive winning potential, which a chunk of players are unlikely to get very close to, let alone achieve, Banquet of Dead does lose some of its sheen. What's left behind the big numbers certainly isn't off-putting, though, so if another course of expanding special symbols in an Ancient Egypt setting with a feature innovation is calling, then Banquet of Dead is one to think over.