Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead: Slot Overview

Famous (in the slot world) adventurer Rich Wilde has dressed up all archaeology-ish for another adventure in developer Play'n GO's online slot Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead. A bit of a piecing together from a variety of sources is this one. As well as starring the well-known explorer Mr Wilde, the game pulls in elements of the Play'n GO classic Book of Dead while also recycling the Eldritch-drenched gameplay of Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity.

Book of Dead influences seep in visually, because not only is Tome of Dead an Egyptian-themed game, it also borrows elements of some of the symbols from the older classic. Its location is quite the same, too, where the action unfolds in an ancient room held up by carved columns and the like. Is this a cute nod to the past or a lame way to save resources? The rest of Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead is quite different - the rules, features, and mechanics, though they've come from the other previously mentioned Tome slot; so, again, cute or a resource-saving exercise? You be the judge.

As for the gaming area, symbols drop onto a 5x5 matrix, forming winning clusters when 4 or more matching symbols are connected horizontally and/or vertically. Winning symbols disappear, and symbols fall down into the gaps to replace them, repeating till no new win appears after a drop. Players may stake 10 c to $/€100 per spin in this medium volatile game, which comes with a maximum RTP of 96.2% amongst the five possible return to player configurations.

Four canopic jars are the low pay symbols, while an Ankh, scarab, Anubis, and pharaoh are the high pays. Clusters of 4 OAK in size are worth 0.1 to 2 times the bet, going up to 3 to 100 times the bet for hitting a cluster made up of 10 or more matching symbols.

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead: Slot Features

On the extras side, Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead delivers several wild types, an All-Seeing Eyes effect, Ritual features, and a Banishment Free Spin.

Wild Symbols

Wild symbols substitute for all pay symbols and come in various forms. Alter Wilds may trigger ritual effects, while the Multiplier Wild may bring x2, x3, x4, or x5 multipliers in the base game or x2, x3, x5, or x10 in free spins. When more than one Multiplier Wild is present in a winning cluster, only the highest multiplier is applied. However, Multiplier Wild and Ammit the Devourer Wild values are multiplied. Ammit the Devourer Wild is a 2x2 wild that walks 3 times on the grid.

All-Seeing Eyes

An All-Seeing Eye may appear in the base game below the symbols. In Banishment Free Spins, 12 regular and 6 special eyes appear. In the base game, All-Seeing Eyes open by landing a win on their location, which awards 2 to 4 Alter Wilds when no more wins are formed. During the Banishment Free Spin, opening all regular All-Seeing Eyes summons the Ammit the Devourer Wild, while also opening 4, 5, or 6 special eyes, applies an x2, x3, x4 multiplier to it.

Ritual

All winning symbols and symbols affected by features charge the Ritual meter, triggering effects at various points.

• Protection - 8 charges award 2 to 4 Alter Wilds.
• Devour - 16 charges award a further 2 to 4 Alter Wilds. Winning with these triggers Devour. Devour aims at all positions 2 symbols away in all diagonal directions, as well as all positions 3 symbols away in horizontal and vertical directions, destroying symbols in those spots if possible.
• Judgment - 30 charges award another 2 to 4 Alter Wilds and winning with these triggers Judgment. Judgment upgrades a canopic jar to a statue.
• Banishment - 48 charges trigger the Banishment Free Spin.

Banishment Free Spin

When triggered, a Banishment Free Spin occurs with 3 Ritual features; plus, the Ritual can overcharge, meaning players get an extra Ritual feature for every 4 additional winning symbols up to a maximum of 7. The number of ritual charges and multiplier value are displayed on the Ritual Charger. A random Ritual feature is triggered when no wins are achieved after a cascade until they have all been used. The Banishment Free Spin ends when all Ritual Effects have played out.

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead: Slot Verdict

Rich Wilde has been around the block a few times now, poking and prodding into all manner of weird and wonderful corners from the Cthulhu Mythos to Ancient Egypt and beyond. Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead is like a quick whistle-stop tour of one or two of his past adventures, pressing together Book of Dead optics with Tome of Insanity mechanics. The result is fine, no issue, other than, yeah, seen it all before, so hopefully Rich isn't bored retreading ground he has been over before.

Hopefully, players won't be bored with the repeat either, and where Tome of Dead may fall short is that its theme use isn't as spectacular as it was in its Lovecraft-inspired cousin. The colours here just don't compare to the explosions of electric greens and purples of Tome of Insanity, plus the Egyptian theme, in general, is a lot more commonplace, ergo, harder to get excited about. On the other hand, online gambling reactionaries may prefer the familiar feel of a classic slot, which the Book of Dead references bring. Beneath the skin, virtually nothing separates the two games, so if charging a meter, unleashing features at set points, culminating in a single bring it on free spin sounds neat, then Tome of Dead does that - climaxing in a 5,000x the bet max win, though some may question the achievability of the figure (and rightfully so).

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Dead possesses a gaming style that Play'n GO has used extensively over the years, and the studio is good at designing this sort of thing. Tome of Insanity was a solid example, and so, by extension, is Tome of Dead. However, it might help if you're the sort of gambler who gets all weak at the knees in the presence of online slot celebrities or delights in reviving past glories in a modern cluster pays slot in order to get max thrills out of Tome of Dead.