How the Book of Ra bonus round plays out
From the spin that lands the third Book to the last Free Game, step by step.
Triggering the round#
The Free Games start the moment three or more Books appear anywhere on the five reels. Any position counts: the Book is a scatter, so a Book on reel one, one on reel three and one on reel five count just as much as three in a row. The same spin pays the scatter win, 2x, 20x or 200x the total bet for three, four or five Books, on top of any line wins.
The round then runs at the bet and lines of the spin that triggered it. That detail matters for one simple reason: the Free Games pay per selected line, so a trigger with all 9 lines in play gives the expanding symbol nine lines to work with.
The expanding symbol, step by step#
Before the first Free Game, the game picks one symbol at random to be the Special Expanding Symbol for the whole round. From then on, every time that symbol lands, it stretches to fill all three positions on its reel. It then pays on each selected line as if the reels holding it were side by side, so expanded reels at positions one, three and five still form a winning line.
The pick decides how big the round can get. The four high symbols, Explorer, Mummy, Statue and Scarab, pay from just two on a line, so even two expanded reels make a win. The card royals need three. A Mummy expanding on all five reels with 9 lines in play pays 2,000x on each line, 18,000 times the line bet in one Free Game. The Explorer in the same spot pays 5,000x on each of the nine lines: 45,000 times the line bet, the top prize of the round.
Keeping the round going#
Books still land during the Free Games, and three or more of them retrigger the feature. The Free Games are played at the bet and lines of the spin that triggered them, so a retrigger gives the round more games to deliver. The original Book of Ra slot page shows how this round fits the rest of the game.
The Book outside the bonus round#
In the base game the Book is a wild. It stands in for any symbol to complete a line, which is why a pair of Explorers and a Book on a played line pays as three Explorers. The one exception is the Special Expanding Symbol during the Free Games, which keeps its own place on the reels.
Buy Bonus and other editions#
Classic starts its Free Games naturally, from the Books that land. Some later editions of the series add a Buy Bonus option, among them Book of Ra deluxe Buy Bonus and Book of Ra deluxe 10: Win Ways Buy Bonus. They are listed with the rest of the family on the Book of Ra versions page.
To see the bonus round in action without a stake, try the free Book of Ra demo, which runs the Deluxe edition with the same Free Games idea. For the long-run maths behind the round, read the Book of Ra max win page, and on mobile, Play Book of Ra on your phone shows the browser route.