Book of Gems Megaways

Skywind licensed Big Time Gaming's Megaways engine to build Book of Gems Megaways, applying it to the well-worn Egyptian book formula rather than to something new — pyramids, a yellow desert sky and an Indiana-Jones-style adventurer fill out the reels alongside scarabs, rings and card royals. Instead of a flat reel count, the game runs five reels that can each hold between two and five symbols on any given spin, producing up to 3,125 ways to win rather than a fixed set of paylines.

The adventurer symbol tops the regular paytable, though its five-of-a-kind payout of 4x the stake is modest next to the pyramid, scarab and ring symbols beneath it, with card values from ten through ace filling out the lower end of the table. A book symbol does the heavier lifting as both wild and scatter, appearing only on the middle three reels, where three of them award 10 free spins along with a bonus payout of twice the total stake. Ahead of that round, the book opens to choose a single symbol that then expands to cover a full reel whenever it forms part of a winning combination, paying from any position on that reel rather than needing to start from the first column. Players short on patience can buy straight into the feature for 70x the total stake, which guarantees the free spins land on the very next spin.

Skywind rates the game at 95% RTP with high volatility (5 out of 5), a wide 0.40 to 100 betting range, and a maximum win of 12,500x the stake, well above what the fixed-payline Book of Ra variants this design descends from are typically capable of.