Book of Gems Megaways
- Game provider
- Skywind
- Name
- Book of Gems Megaways
- Feature Buy
- Yes
- Released
- 2021-01-14
- Game type
- Video Slots
- Mobile version
- Yes
- Grid slot
- No
- Wilds
- Yes
- Reels
- 5
- Sticky wilds
- No
- Rows
- 5
- Scatters
- Yes
- Paylines
- 3125
- Free spins
- Yes
- Payout/RTP
- 95,00
- Bonus game
- No
- Volatility
- Very high
- Progressive jackpot
- No
- Min. bet
- 0,50
- Random Feature
- No
- Max. bet
- 250,00
- Autoplay
- Yes
- Maximum win
- 12500
- Last update
- May 27, 2021
Review
Journey to the Pyramids of Egypt in search of hidden fortunes on the slot from Skywind Group. Book of Gems Megaways is taking you on a highly volatile voyage across five dynamic reels with wild substitutions and a free spins round with a special expanding symbol in true “Book of…” style that can lead to wins of up to 5,000 times your bet (unconfirmed). Also included is a Feature Buy option for unrestricted markets.
Recommended Casinos to play Book of Gems Megaways
Slot Details
Book of Gems Megaways is a video slot with five dynamic reels, 2 to 5 rows and 32 to 3,125 ways to win. Courtesy of the Megaways engine, the game randomly selects at the start of every spin between two and five symbols for each of the five reels. The cascading symbol mechanic with reactive wins is not included. You can journey to ancient Egypt on desktop, tablet and mobile from 0.50 to 250 credits per spin. Pays are awarded for three to five matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from left to right only. The game has maximum volatility (5/5) with an RTP of 95%.
The visuals are all that you can expect from an Egyptian-themed slot. A bright, sun-soaked desert background with ancient pyramids is opening up when you load the game. On the reels, you will find typical items such as scarabs and golden rings together with the intrepid explorer and the fabled book. An oriental soundtrack provides the fitting audio to the gameplay.
The pay symbols start at the low end with card royals from 10 through to A, awarding 0.6x to 0.8x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by gold rings, scarabs, pyramids and the explorer himself. Hit five across the reels to win 1.4x to 5x your stake. The book is the wild and scatter, appearing on the three middle reels only and substituting for all regular symbols.
Book of Gems Megaways Slot Features
Skywind Group has joined the growing list of developers who signed a licence for the immensely popular Megaways game engine from Big Time Gaming. For their debut, they chose an equally popular reel mechanic that was introduced more than a decade ago on Book of RaBook of Ra Deluxe by Novomatic. Today, hundreds of slots featuring the mechanic from dozens of developers can be found in casino lobbies, however, only Blueprint used it in a Megaways game on Legacy of Ra Megaways with Skywind now becoming the second, albeit with a smaller game window that features a maximum of 3,125 ways only.
Hitting wild scatters anywhere on reels two, three and four in one spin will trigger 10 Free Spins, which can be indefinitely retriggered. Before the round starts, one of the regular pay symbols except the wild is randomly selected as the special expanding symbol for the free spins. Any three landing adjacent or scattered on the reels will expand and award scattered pays.
But that is just for starters as this is the moment where the Megaways effect will kick in that could change a big win into an insane win. Whereas on the standard ‘Book of…’ slots the maximum pay lines are limited to 10 and thus a win with the expanded special symbols is awarded 10 times, the limit on Book of Gems Megaways peaks at a staggering 3,125 ways.
Every reel can have up to five symbol positions, meaning three scattered special symbols on three reels with five positions will expand and pay accordingly. For example, landing a special symbol on three reels with five symbols each on that spin will pay 5x5x5 = 125 times a three of a kind of the special symbol.
Skywing opted for the Buy In Feature function as it seems to become more common lately. Maybe because we are increasingly impatient or are experiencing a lack of free time to wait for an organic bonus trigger. For the cost of 70x your stake, you can simply hit the button to purchase a feature and the game will guarantee three scatters on the following spin. It will lead then to the same expanding symbols selector screen as after an organic trigger. Worth noting is that the option is restricted in some jurisdictions.
Final Verdict
Book of Gems Megaways is a decent debut for Skywind Group, harnessing the popularity of the expanding symbol mechanic and combining it with the versatility of the Megaways game engine. Slightly disappointing is the choice of just 3,125 ways as the maximum, although it should still be capable of delivering mega wins.
Having the top symbol selected to expand in the free spins and landing them on all five reels in a spin with full Megaways would pay an impressive 12,500 times your bet, although I see that more like a theoretical value for the max win in a single free spin.