Hunt for the Pharaoh’s Riches as We Navigate Through the Ancient Tombs of the Ghost of Dead Slot!
The Ghost of Dead slot is a forthcoming release from game developer Play'n GO and is due for official release on the 16th of September 2021.
Mr Green Casino will be adding this slot to their casino on the official launch date. It's a hectic month for Play'n Go, with a whole host of other online slot titles due out throughout September, including Sisters of the Sun, Dr Toonz, The Wild Class and Curse of Cleopatra are scheduled for release this month!
If you aren't yet tired of either the "Ancient Egyptian theme" or Book slots such as Book of Ra Deluxe, Book of Dead, then Ghost of Dead may certainly look very appealing as it is more of the same both in terms of design and features with a few new twists to the basic mechanics which may well pique your interest after reading.
The backstory blurb for this particular Book style slot sets the scene as,
Pharoah Unas has been resurrected and is looking for worthy mortals to reveal his hidden treasure. Navigate your way through ancient tombs as you journey to the pharaoh’s riches with the guide of this living spirit. Expanding symbols will help along the way.
Are you worthy of his treasures?
There is nothing new there, so let's break down the base game mechanics and features and reveal what lurks in Ghost of Dead that makes it stand out from the competition.
Ghost of Dead - Base Gameplay
On initial inspection, the Ghost of Dead slot looks fairly typical in comparison to any other "Book" style slot, you have a 5x3 reel set, 10 paylines, expanding symbols during the free spins and full bonus re-triggers, along with a paytable that promises maximum wins of 5000x stake for the highest paying symbol when fully expanded.
The reels are made up of a mix of Royal symbols (A, K, Q, J and 10) along with 4 suitably "Ancient Egypt themed high paying symbols, Scarab, Ankh, Snake and Mask symbols. The usual "Book" symbol or in this slot Canopus symbol acts as both a wild symbol and scatter symbol.
There is an option to alter the number of paylines from 1-10, given the mechanics of this slot, it can be quite handy to attempt to play with fewer paylines at a higher stake and the bonus triggers will occur with scatters anywhere on the reels, as will the expanding symbols!
Ghost Spin
There are a few minor additions to this slot, however, that impact the gameplay. Firstly, during any regular base game spin, a Ghost Spin may activate randomly. The Ghost appears covering the reels and selects any regular or high paying symbols, which then act as a special Expanding Symbol.
This chosen symbol is then highlighted in gold and can form winning combinations across non-adjacent reels. In essence, this is the same kind of feature that occurs in all Book bonus rounds, but on this slot, there is a random chance you get a base game spin with the same functionality.
Think of this almost as a taster of what the bonus round will be like. This feature can and does occur quite frequently in our playtesting, helping to break up the gameplay whilst waiting for a bonus trigger.
The next big difference is the ability to trigger 2 different free spins modes thanks to the regular Scatter and Spectral Scatter symbols. These two different free spins modes are explained later!
Game Features Summary
- 5×3 Reels, 1-10 Variable Paylines "Book-style" slot
- 3 or more Scatters or Spectral Scatters in the base game triggers the Free Spins Bonus Round
- 2 Unique Free Spins Rounds on offer
- Expanding Symbols Feature
- Bonus Rounds can be fully re-triggered
- Maximum Wins per spin are 5000x Stake
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Ghost of Dead - Gameplay and Bonus Features
Ghost of Dead Slot - Technical Summary | |
---|---|
Paylines | 10 Variable |
Variance/Volatility | High |
Free Spins | Yes |
Multipliers | No |
Re-Trigger Bonus Round | Yes |
Special Features | Ghost Spin Feature Expanding Symbols Free Spins Awakened Free Spins Full Bonus Re-Triggers |
RTP (Return To Player) | 96.21% Default Version |
Game Provider | Play'n GO |
Release Date | 16/09/2021 |
Ghost of Dead Slot Free Spins Bonus Features
The bonus rounds are where things get a little different in Ghost of Dead compared to other Book slots. In contrast, all of the bonus features have been used before in previous Play'n Go slots, such as Book of Dead, Legacy of Dead and numerous other Dead/Book named titles.
It does seem like it's the first time where 2 of them have been combined. Book slots are fantastic, so subtle changes are really all that is required!
Whilst we aren't celebrating this as some dramatic, game-changing innovation, it is definitely nice to have what looks to be a more potent bonus feature (Spectral Scatters) that could trigger on any spin!
Regular Free Spins
Landing 3 or more regular Scatter symbols on any reel in the base game trigger the Free Spins Round, with an initial 10 starting spins.
You can then choose one of three random symbols from this screen that will act as the special Expanding Symbol during the bonus round. The bonus round plays out like a regular Book slot with highlighted golden symbols expanding to award pays on all 10 paylines.
The bonus feature can be fully re-triggered by landing 3 or more Scatter symbols with 10 additional Free Spins awarded and the same initial symbol selected as the expander.
Regular Scatter symbol
In the base game, you will notice at times during the spins that the regular scatter symbols may change in colour and become a Spectral Scatter.
If you manage to trigger the bonus round with 3 or more of these, you can look forward to the Awakened Free Spins.
Again you then get to choose one of 3 random symbols, which will become the special Expanding Symbol during the bonus round.
The Ghost chooses a second special Expanding Symbol at random during each spin of the Awakened Free Spins, giving you in effect 2 expanding symbols during the feature.
The Awakened free spins feature can also be fully re-triggered by landing 3 or more Spectral Scatters symbols with 10 additional Awakened Free Spins awarded.
The initially chosen Expanding symbol will be kept for re-triggered rounds.
Spectral Scatter symbol
Paytable
The paytable displayed below shows the premium win symbol payouts based on a €5 stake size, the highest paying premium symbol in base gameplay awards a 500x stake win for a 5 of a kind.
The maximum win across all 10 paylines can occur either during the Ghost Spin feature or either of the free spins rounds where Expanding symbols are in play and the Highest paying symbol has been chosen.
Ghost of Dead Slot - FAQ's
Ghost of Dead Review
Ghost of Dead Final Opinions
Play’n GO certainly haven’t re-invented the wheel in Ghost of Dead. It’s a “Book” slot, part of their long continuing “Dead” series of machines that do exactly what you expect it to do in terms of gameplay.
The additions of the Ghost Spin feature, along with the 2 slightly different bonus rounds, do help break up the gameplay. However, wouldn’t it have been nice to have an exceptional bonus trigger that could only occur during a Ghost Spin?
The awakening spins are definitely more exciting of the two and the one you should be hoping to trigger, given that you can choose 1 symbol and have a second awarded on every free spin.
I won’t lie; I was expecting a Legacy of the Dead style bonus feature where multiple symbols would become unlocked with bonus triggers, but maybe wishful thinking on my behalf given the RTP probably cant cater for such a feature!
On the note of RTP, it would be fascinating to see how much of that is built into the Ghost Spin feature. Since this is effectively one free spin of a bonus round with the special expanding symbol, it is possible to land some huge wins from it, which poses the question as to whether the bonus round may be slightly harder to trigger or less generous overall in terms of wins given the similar RTP on all book slots (94-96%).
In essence, if you already love book slots, then this is well worth checking out on release. It tows the line enough to classify itself as a proper Book slot and injects enough small changes to make it relevant and worth looking at. The Ghost spin really helps break up the base gameplay, which on Book slots can generally be a case of waiting for a bonus trigger or hoping for a nice big payline win to keep your balance looking healthy.
There does seem to be some confusion and discrepancies on whether the max win is actually 5000x or 10,000x, with promotional material stating both. The paytable is also somewhat confusing in terms of what is actually the max win and if there is a win cap. Once clarified, we will update the review to reflect this.
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