Book of Thieves: Slot Overview

Books and thieves aren’t an obvious match, particularly in slots where criminals are usually linked with gold, cash, and bank jobs. Still, the idea isn’t as strange as it sounds, because certain books can be worth a fortune. Consider Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Codex Leicester’, a 72-page notebook packed with his theories, sketches, and notes about the natural world, which Bill Gates bought in 1994 for $30.8 million. Parts of it can be viewed online, but it’s easy to imagine the level of protection Mr Gates uses to keep the original out of thieves’ hands. That little bit of bibliophile trivia sets the scene for Book of Thieves—an online slot from software provider Blue Guru Games that puts a scholarly, sneaky spin on the classic ‘book of’ slot format.

In Book of Thieves, players are whisked back to a Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham-style period, with the action set in a medieval village around dusk. Dark, brooding skies hang over a settlement of timber-and-tile buildings, while warm light spills from open doorways, lanterns, and candles positioned on either side of the 5-reel, 3-row game grid. Thieves certainly existed back then too, so the era fits the theme nicely.

Designed to run on any device, Book of Thieves comes with flexible staking, beginning at 10 p/c and topping out at $/€200 per spin. Book of Thieves is a medium volatile title, and it offers two RTPs depending on whether you purchase free spins or play standard single spins, with the latter returning 96.21%. The reels use 10 fixed paylines, paying for combinations of 3-5 OAK on low symbols or 2-5 OAK on the premium ones.

The lower-paying symbols are bronze, silver, and gold coins, plus a dagger and a cup, delivering 5 to 15 times the bet for landing five of a kind. Above them are 4 character symbols as the high pays, awarding 50 to 250 times the bet for a 5-of-a-kind result. Finally, Book of Thieves includes a book scatter symbol along with a dedicated wild. Wilds can appear on any reel, carry the same value as the highest-paying premium, and can substitute for any non-expanded pay symbol.

Book of Thieves: Slot Features

In line with what you’d expect from a standard ‘book of’ slot, Book of Thieves uses selected expanding symbols in both the base game and the free spins round. During the base game, watch the box on the roof of the outer building above the middle reel. When a symbol lands in this spot, it becomes the chosen expanding symbol for that spin. If the selected symbol on the main reels can create a win, it expands to fill its reel(s), after which the win is evaluated. Expanded symbols pay all lines from any position.

Free Spins

Hitting 3 or more scatter symbols triggers 10 free spins. Before each free spin begins, up to 3 symbols are randomly selected as the special expanding symbol. The chosen symbols expand one by one, taking turns whenever they can form a win, and they pay all lines from any position. Landing 3 or more scatter symbols awards an additional 10 free spins.

Buy Bonus

The bonus buy option unlocks the free spins feature. Players can purchase it for 70 times the bet, and this option comes with a theoretical return value of 96.08%.

Book of Thieves: Slot Verdict

Book of Thieves follows on from the earlier crime-tinged release Leprechaun Heist. Even though that one wasn’t a ‘book of’ slot, it was filled with shady characters up to shady business. Leaning into crime is also a sensible commercial move, since games that let players step into another role and do things they’d never attempt in real life remain hugely popular—something the Grand Theft Auto series has proven, still thriving long after the first entry launched in 1997.

We may be mistaken, but Book of Thieves doesn’t feel like the kind of release that will spark a franchise still flourishing decades from now. Even so, it sits within the virtually unstoppable slot tradition that began years ago with Book of Ra. These days, it almost feels expected that every studio will add its own entry to this long-running ‘book’ institution. Developers such as Play’n GO have certainly capitalised, putting out plenty of versions with tweaks and extra gameplay hooks to draw fans in. Book of Thieves also bends the usual formula by bringing expanding-symbol moments into the base game and allowing up to three expanding symbols during free spins. Neither idea is entirely new, but they also haven’t been overused to the point of exhaustion. The medieval thief setting also nudges the originality up a little.

Book of Thieves could have landed with more force if the symbol value cut hadn’t been quite so severe. It’s clear why Blue Guru Games chose that approach to keep things balanced when free spins can feature up to three expanding symbols at the same time. Even so, it seems to have reduced the game’s ceiling, with a max win of 4,786x the bet. That’s not wildly different from what a typical ‘book of’ slot offers, but combined with some pacing issues and the absence of standout visual flourishes—like more celebratory effects when symbols expand across reels—Book of Thieves doesn’t hit with the same visceral punch as a top-tier elite ‘book’ slot.