Secret of Dead: Slot Overview

Type ‘Shai’ into a search engine and you’ll usually see two main results at the top. One points to a 90s R&B group whose track ‘If I Ever Fall in Love‘ climbed to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other relates to Ancient Egypt. In that context, Shai is tied to the idea of fate, or the God of Fate, in Ancient Egyptian belief, and it’s a theme developer Play’n GO has tapped into for yet another entry in its long-running line of ‘book of’ slots. Called Secret of Dead, it blends ideas seen in earlier titles such as Scroll of Dead and Legacy of Dead.

From the moment it loads, Secret of Dead looks instantly familiar, echoing several previous releases going all the way back to the original Book of Dead. Rich Wilde doesn’t feature here, and neither does his daughter Cat. Instead, the focus is firmly on classic ancient-world iconography. That said, the sense of déjà vu is broken slightly by one key detail: Secret of Dead runs on six reels rather than the usual five. Scroll of Dead also used six, but its sixth reel stayed locked in the base game and only became active once the bonus round began. In this game, the sixth reel is available throughout. It’s one of a few small twists in a slot that remains very familiar in style and feel—good-looking, but undeniably familiar.

With fairly volatile gameplay (8/10), it combines 6 reels and 3 rows with 1-10 adjustable paylines. Payouts land when three or more identical symbols connect left to right starting from the first reel—two-symbol premium wins are no longer part of the deal. While hunting for ancient riches, it’s also worth keeping an eye on the RTP, since it’s configurable from 96.2% at best to below 90 in the worst case, depending on the market. The game can be played on any device, and the betting range runs from just 1 p/c up to $/€100.

The symbol set is also close to what you’ll recognise from Scroll of Dead, starting with 10-A card royals that pay up to 25x your stake for six of a kind. Above them sit cobras, scarab beetles, cats, and what appears to be Shai, where landing 6 premium symbols on a line returns 100 to 500 times your stake.

Secret of Dead: Slot Features

Anyone familiar with a ‘book of’ slot will recognise the key mechanics used in Secret of Dead. The difference is that, rather than a book, the main symbol to watch for is the Ankh. Ankhs are both wild and scatter, meaning they can replace any other symbol, and landing at least 3 of them together triggers the bonus round.

More precisely, when 3, 4, 5, or 6 Ankhs appear, players receive a scatter payout of 1x, 10x, 50x, or 250x the bet, along with 8, 10, 12, or 15 free spins, respectively. Before the free spins begin, one of the pay symbols is randomly chosen to be the special expanding symbol. During the feature, whenever the selected symbol lands, it expands to cover all positions on its reel if it can produce a win. Expanded symbols pay across all active paylines from any positions—adjacency isn’t required to complete winning lines.

If 3 or more scatter symbols land during the bonus round, two outcomes follow. First, +5 additional free spins are added, and second, another pay symbol is randomly selected to act as an expander too.

Finally, Secret of Dead can also include an optional gamble feature that lets players attempt to increase their winnings. If chosen, you can double a prize by correctly predicting the colour of a face-down card, or quadruple it by guessing the correct suit. Gambling is allowed up to 5 times, or until reaching a maximum value of 2,500 coins.

Secret of Dead: Slot Verdict

Play’n GO clearly has a strong appetite for ‘book of’ slots, and Secret of Dead keeps that catalogue moving. It sits on the less adventurous end of the spectrum, since its two main departures from the standard book formula—the sixth reel and the additional special symbol in free spins—are both ideas Play’n GO has explored before. It may be the first time the studio has combined those two elements in a single release, though keeping track of every variation across the series isn’t easy. As usual with Play’n GO, the production quality is high and there’s little to criticise beyond the fact that the games can feel a bit too similar at times.

The same argument can be made for Secret of Dead, as it doesn’t introduce much that hasn’t already appeared in earlier versions. Most differences are technical and tend to offset one another. For instance, the sixth reel is active at all times here, whereas in Scroll of Dead you need to trigger free spins to unlock it. On the flip side, six-symbol combinations pay less in Secret of Dead, which makes full-screen expanded symbol wins less exciting. However, you can now pick up more free spins depending on how many scatters start the feature, and scatter payouts are generally bigger. With so many moving parts, it’s hard to separate everything and decide which setup is technically better. In the end, going with what feels right may be just as sensible. Secret of Dead does bring higher potential than its predecessors, which could be the deciding factor. This time, the maximum win reaches 10,000x the bet (when using all ten paylines), which is double the typical ‘book’ ceiling.

At the pace Play’n GO keeps releasing these titles, Ancient Egypt won’t have many mysteries left to reveal. Jokes aside, as noted earlier, Secret of Dead is difficult to pick apart: it’s a polished, well-presented ‘book’ alternative with enough small adjustments to tempt a few Ra fans into giving it a spin.