Book of Dead is a very simple Slot. It has the same structure most modern Video Slots do - five reels and three rows. There are 10 paylines in total but you can adjust them and play with one to 10.
Free to Play IGT Slots Online
Day of the Dead slot review
Get ready for a trip into the heart of a fantastical version of the Día de los Muertos festival with the Day of the Dead slot machine game.
The rich, cartoon art design is filled with symbols inspired by the festival. It also captures the energy of a big celebration thanks to the many ways to win.
Dead Ed Slot Machine
With scatter prizes, wild symbols, multipliers and a bonus round, it feels like there’s always something happening on the reels. This energetic game is perfect for any player looking for an exciting session that’s different from the competition.
Symbols and appearance
Day of the Dead stays true to its namesake with a fun and festive design. The background is a colorful offering site with the reels lined in decorative turquoise stone.
The symbols are nicely contrasted against this frame. The machine uses a stylish, cartoon design for the symbols which leaves them bright and kind of soft. All of the symbols are in theme. Food offerings, flowers and incense make up the lower value symbols.
The higher value spaces feature the Day of the Dead logo, a skeleton Mariachi band and a pair of skeletal dancers. The wild spaces stay on theme as colorful coffin cookies, as do the scatter and bonus spaces with their colorful skulls.
In general, all of the little details are well done. Several of the spaces go through animations when they trigger a win.
The scatter skull spins around, the wild space has a little skull come out of the coffin for a victory lap and the dancers do a short grim fandango.
The Mariachi band will pop up on the screen to play in honor of a big win. Mariachi-style festival music also plays during the spins, only interrupted by the themed sound effects that play for some of the symbols.
It’s a very atmospheric experience that keeps the energy level high.
Day of the Dead: Core Gameplay
This free to play slot machine also does a lot to keep the player glued to the screen. This is a five-reel game, but the spaces aren’t in a traditional grid. The slots use a hexagon shape that has 19 spaces in total.
Players have to bet a flat 50 “coins” to play, with the player picking the value of the coin. Day of the Dead’s big twist is the almost complete freedom for the paylines. There are officially 720 ways to win.
Symbols simply need to be in at least three consecutive reels to trigger a win, and paylines don’t have to start from the left side of the game. Right-to-left matches are also valid.
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There’s a rarer scatter symbol, which pays out for merely appearing on the reels at least three times even if they aren’t consecutive. A set of five scatter symbols offers the highest single payout in the game.
Wild spaces can appear in the second, third and fourth columns and can fill in for anything except for scatter or bonus symbols.
Compare Game Features – Paylines – RTP
| Software | Bally |
| Type of Slot | Video Slot |
| Paylines | 720 |
| Reels | 5 |
| Min. Bet | 50 Credits |
| Max. Bet | 2500 Credits |
| Max. RTP | 92.52% to 94.91% |
| Max. Jackpot | 2,500x Coin Value/50x Total Bet |
| Features | Scatters, Bonus Rounds, Free Spins |
| Free Play | Yes |
IGT’s Patented MultiWay Xtra™
Day of the Dead also includes IGT’s MultiWay Xtra™ system to provide even more ways to win. This feature offers a multiplier system for winning paylines.
If a winning set has extra matching symbols in one of the winning reels, then those symbols act as a multiplier. The multipliers also impact each other.
For example, a set of three bread symbols with an extra bread space in two reels would pay 4x the usual payout. Since wild symbols can often appear in stacks, this comes up a lot as a cool mini-jackpot.
It is important to note that while there are a lot of potential ways to win, most of the lower value symbols only help cut losses on the 50 credit bet.
Players will need to hit multiple paylines or stack multipliers to really get ahead unless they get lucky with higher paying symbols. A short run of losses can really hurt.
The game can see some big swings so players who don’t want to try and ride them out should be wary.
The bonus round: free spins
While playing the regular game, getting a bonus symbol in each of the five reels triggers the bonus round. One combination of five bonus symbols grants the player eight free spins, but bonus symbols can form more than one payline in one game.
If multiple paylines form, then they also award free spins. Players can start the bonus game with as many as 96 free spins.
The bonus game itself is just a slight variation on the main game with a slightly different design. There are still bonus symbols available during free spins, and getting five in consecutive reels will add another eight spins to the counter.
If a player manages to make 240 free spins, the game will max out and force an exit.
Final thoughts
The Day of the Dead game is a really great machine. Anyone looking for fast, exciting gameplay should have a fun time. The experience is incredible. Between the art, music and chaotic slots, it feels like a little festival.
The base game can provide big wins through the multipliers, and the free spins can really stack up for lucky players. The listed 92.52% to 94.91% RTP is a little disappointing and may drive more serious players away, but it’s not too bad of a premium for players who really like the energy of it.
At the very least, it’s a great slot machine for a quick pick-me-up session.
- Reels:
- Bonus Features:Yes
- Coin Values $/£/€:
- Wild Symbol:Yes
- Scatter:
- Progressive:Yes
- Software:
A Friendly Zombie Themed Slot with Locking Wild Symbols
Zombie slot are all the rage at the moment. The Walking Dead TV series having brought this genre from the realm of B-movies back into the mainstream. Ed, the main character in this slot, is a far friendlier type of zombie. The Better Off Ed slot is a cartoon-like design. It features disembodied eyes, a full moon over a graveyard and even a brain.
There is a lot going on in this game. Ed appears at random to drop wilds onto the screen. Bats fly past giving you access to a picks game (and jackpot wheel if you pick right). The highlight is a free spins bonus game, where wilds become sticky – locking on to the reels for the duration of your bonus.
Better Off Ed – Setup and Base Game
Compared to the depth of the features, the setup of this slot is straightforward. There are 30 win-lines, which are not adjustable. You can spin from 30c and up from there. Wins start at 3 of a kind. You’ll need to see the spider-web animation for a 5 of a kind win before the prizes start to get decent.
The highest paying symbol is Ed. You will see a very green zombie head, looking a mix of friendly and weird. Other higher paying symbols include a graveyard silhouetted against a full moon, a gravestone with an arm appearing from the ground, and a ‘Caution’ sign, showing a walking stick-drawing of a zombie.
Wild symbols show the word ‘Wild’ with a red background with a brain design. These appear on reels 2 through 5, and help make up wins by combining with the regular symbols.
Playing card symbols make up the smaller wins. With so much else going on in the game, these do not dominate the reels.
Ed Appears at random in the base game. He will sometimes pop up from over the reels, and other times walk in front of them. When he appears, he drops extra wilds onto the reels – sometimes a lot of them.
Locking Wilds in the Free Spins Bonus
3 special free spins symbols need to hit reels 1 to 3 to trigger this bonus. You’ll then get 10 free spins. Any wilds that hit during this feature get a little padlock on them, and stay in place. As the bonus progresses, you can have a lot of spots covered in wilds – making it better as you go.
You can retrigger for 5 more spins with 3 of the bonus symbols. Retriggers are extra valuable, since the end of this bonus is the most profitable part.
Graveyard Picks Game
At random bats (a lot of them!) will fly over the reels. Those reels then disappear, leaving 2 rows of gravestones in their place. You pick 3 of these. Most of them have a win in credits behind. One has a wheel symbol, which has a skull in the middle of it.
If you get the skull you go to a second screen, which shows a big wheel, with a zombie arm as the stopper. There are free games, credit prizes or jackpot wins on this wheel. You get to spin once to see what you have won!
Dramatic Cartoon Zombie Design
This slot comes with a tall screen, and Bally have made the most of this space to put together an entertaining and dramatic design. Ed has a quirky look. He wants to be fierce, though ends up looking quite sweet. Sound effects are like those moments from a movie when classical music strikes up for the dramatic fight scenes.
Dead Ed Slot Machine Gun
You will find plenty of animations. My favourite is when Ed walks over the screen dropping wilds. Unexpectedly (at least the first time) he then turns towards you, opens his mouth and you see this getting bigger and bigger until he bites the entire screen. The wheel bonus is also well designed. This wheel looks like it was constructed out of bones!
Do You Have the ‘Brains’ to Play Better Off Ed?
Dead Ed Slot Machine
The Better Off Ed slots machine is an easy recommendation for a fun session next time you see it in a live casino. There are all the right elements in one game. The base reels have random extra wilds for sudden wins. There are also two bonus games. While 10 free spins might seem low, you can easily get 5+ locked wilds, bring you plenty of wins for those last few spins. The graveyard bonus can get you to the wheel – and so the progressive jackpots are in play.