Ghost of Dead

Theme and Design

Top Production With a Spooky Subterranean Tomb Vibe

Ghost of Dead adds a spectral twist to the classic Ancient Egyptian explorer narrative so keenly mined by Play n Go in the Rich Wilde series. It seems like a very natural progression.

We are taken deep into the cool of a shadowy tomb with a green spectral light shining out from behind the reel set, lighting up ornate stone pillars covered in cobwebs. It’s a well produced game with slick graphics and sharp symbols on the reels. The Anubis pot Scatters look particularly eerie, especially when they transform into Spectral Scatters to trigger the extra bonus round. There’s a kind of minimal soundtrack too with ghostly whispers to complete the haunted atmosphere.

RTP and Variance

Play n Go have provided 5 RTP settings with Ghost of Dead, a common feature of their games. It will be down to your casino operator to decide with level to run the game at.  The settings are 96.21%, 94.21%, 91.21%, 87.22% and 84.22%. If you play at 96.21% that is a good RTP, around average for an online slot. Any less is not so good. I verified the RTP at 5 UK slot sites I regularly use. This is what I found.

• MrQ (independent) – 96.21% RTP
• Barz Casino (White Hat Gaming) – 94.21% RTP
• All British Casino (L and L Europe) – 94.21% RTP
• Casumo (Independent) – 94.21% RTP
• BacanaPlay (Skill on Net) – 91.21% RTP

For Ghost of Dead, only MrQ is running the game at the optimum RTP level and I would recommend playing here if RTP is important for you.

Like most ‘Book of …’ slots this is a highly volatile game with so it will be unpredictable and I suspect much of the best wins will be saved back for the free spins round with expanders and re-triggers.

Maximum Win

The maximum payout on Ghost of Dead is 10,000x which is good for a game of its type – Book of Dead comes in at 5,000x for example – but not as high as the best potential Play n Go games like Kiss Reels of Rock (50,000x) or Clash of Camelot (35,000x).

Symbols and Paytable

Ghost of Dead runs on a standard 5 reel and 3 row reel set with 10 paylines, though due to the configuration of the game, you can actually reduce the number of paylines down to just 1 if you choose. In fact, using this system you can actually diminish the stake per spin to just 1p. Your choice!

The paytable itself is impressive with good value at the top end. The style of symbols will be familiar to anyone who enjoys these Egyptian slots. The low payers are the cards, 10 through to Ace. These are valued at from 0.4x for 3 10s up to 12x for 5 Aces. Premiums are the amulet, the cobra, the scarab and the Pharaoh. These are valued at from 0.4x for 3 amulets up to 1,000x for 5 Pharahos.

There is one other symbol to look out for – the Anubis pot which is the scatter and the wild. As a wild it will substitute for any other symbols to complete wins. As a scatter, it will trigger the free spins round, more on which in the next part. What I like most is that this special symbol also has its own value of 2x for 3 on a line, 4x for 20 on a line and 200x for 5 on a line.

Features and Gameplay

Ghost Spins and Awakened Free Spins Are Welcome Additions To The Book Of Format

Play n Go present a standard Book of format augmented by a couple of extras. It works well enough and there is enough differentiation from the original to make the game worth playing.

Ghost Spins In Base Game

The base game extra is called Ghost Spins and it’s like a one-spin version of the ‘Book of …‘ bonus. You’ll see a spectral green shape pass over the reels first, then one symbol will be chosen as an expander. A free spin ensues and IF the chosen symbol lands and by expanding can complete a winning payline then it does so.

3 Scatters Gets 10 Free Spins With Expanders

The main event, as always, is the Free Spins round. This is triggered by landing 3 or more Anubis pots on one spin. You pick 1 symbol to be the expander from a random selection of 3. Then, when it lands if it can expand to complete a payline, then it will.

And finally, landing 3 or more scatters again will re-trigger the round with 10 more spins. There is no limit to how many times this can happen.   

Spectral Scatters Trigger Awakened Free Spins With Extra Expander

We finish with this extra feature that elevates Ghost of Dead above the original game. If 3 Scatters land and transform into green Spectral Scatters then you are into the Awakened Free Spins round.

Here, as before, you pick 1 from 3 symbols to become the Expanding one. But now in addition, the game choose an extra random symbol to be another Expander to increase your chances of triggering wins.

This round can also be re-retriggered indefinitely by landing 3 more Spectral Scatters on one spin.