John Hunter and the Book of Tut Slot Review
The sun is going down over the Nile, lotus-capped columns sit half-buried in orange dune sand, and a pyramid waits in the apricot haze behind the reels. Of all the slots Pragmatic Play have built on this Book engine, this one still has the best-shaped payouts of the family. Strip away the desert dressing and there’s one bonus round here, but it’s the round every later Book game copied.
John Hunter and the Book of Tut runs on a 5×4 grid with 10 paylines, at 96.5% RTP and medium volatility, with a 6,600x ceiling on wins. Stakes run from 0.10 to 250 per spin, and the shelf-mates include John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen and John Hunter and the Mayan Gods.
Base Game & Features
The base game is a 10-line affair with no side mechanics. All symbols pay left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost reel, and wins on multiple lines are added together. Only the highest combination counts on each line. What varies is what the symbols are worth, and the gaps between tiers are wide.
Values are multiples of the total bet:
- John Hunter: 1x for two, 10x for three, 100x for four, 500x for five
- Pharaoh: 0.5x for two, 4x for three, 40x for four, 200x for five
- Cat: 0.5x for two, 3x for three, 10x for four, 75x for five
- Scarab: 0.5x for two, 3x for three, 10x for four, 75x for five
- A: 0.5x for three, 4x for four, 15x for five
- K: 0.5x for three, 4x for four, 15x for five
- Q: 0.5x for three, 2.5x for four, 10x for five
- J: 0.5x for three, 2.5x for four, 10x for five
- 10: 0.5x for three, 2.5x for four, 10x for five
Two symbols pay from just two of a kind, and both of them are premiums. John Hunter and the Pharaoh carry the only two-symbol pays in the game. Every card royal waits for three.
The step from premium to royal is steep, and the royals land far more often than the characters above them. That’s how the medium-volatility pacing holds together between feature hits: plenty of small line wins, with the big money reserved for the character symbols.
The Book of Tut symbol does two jobs at once: it’s the wild and the scatter. As a wild it substitutes for every symbol in the game. As a scatter, three or more anywhere on the reels opens the free spins round.
The Book pays on its own, too, as multiples of the total bet:
- 3 Books: 2x
- 4 Books: 20x
- 5 Books: 200x
A full line of Books is worth more than a full line of Pharaohs. The Book is the only symbol in the game that pays both ways: as itself, and inside every other win it touches.
Everything around the reels is standard Pragmatic kit. The bet menu opens from the plus and minus buttons, with coin value and coins per line doing the work. Autoplay runs to a chosen number of automatic spins.
A skip-screens option jumps past feature introductions and end screens after a short pause. Spin speed has three settings: normal, quick and turbo. Space and enter on the keyboard start and stop a spin.
John Hunter and the Book of Tut Free Spins
Three or more Books trigger 10 free spins. Before the round begins, one symbol is chosen at random to be the special expanding symbol for the whole round. This is where the game’s real money lives.
After regular wins pay out, any special symbols on the reels expand vertically to cover all three positions on their reel. An expanded symbol doesn’t need to sit on adjacent reels to pay, which is the one place this game breaks its own left-to-right rule. Expansion only happens when enough symbols are present to form a win.
That single exception carries the entire round. Fill the screen with an expanded John Hunter and the pays stack across every reel at once. Land the 10 as the special symbol and the round pays like a royalty grind. Which symbol you draw before the first spin is the biggest single swing in the game.
- Trigger: three or more Book of Tut symbols anywhere on the reels
- Award: 10 free spins
- Special symbol: one random symbol chosen before the round starts
- Expansion: after regular wins, covering all three positions on the reel
- Retrigger: three or more Books award 10 more spins, with no limit
Three or more Books during the round award 10 more free spins, keeping the currently selected expanding symbol. A retriggered round doesn’t redraw, so the symbol you start with is the symbol you keep. A round that retriggers early can run a long way on the same drawn symbol.
Buy Free Spins
Where the feature is available, the free spins round with 10 starting spins can be bought from the base game for 100x the current total bet. That’s the only buy option in the game. It buys the same round three Books would trigger, expanding symbol selection and all.
The price is the same whatever the stake, since it scales with the total bet. The random symbol draw applies to bought rounds exactly as it does to triggered ones, so a purchase buys the round but not the quality of its symbol.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Most of a session here is small line wins under a desert sunset, with one thing worth waiting for. The pull is that free spins round: it’s still the best-built thing in this whole family, because a full screen of a premium symbol pays like a jackpot and the retriggers keep feeding the same round.
The weakness is everything around it. There’s nothing to do between bonus hits except wait on the Books, and 6,600x is a modest ceiling next to what the format grew into. That’s the whole game, honestly stated.
Players who like the Book format straight, with no ladder eating the return and no sprawl of extra features, will be at home here. Anyone after layered mechanics or a bigger ceiling will find the Megaways follow-up more generous. This temple doesn’t pretend to be anything grander than it is, and the tomb still pays the patient.
John Hunter and the Book of Tut FAQs
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What is the RTP of John Hunter and the Book of Tut?
96.5%. That’s the total return across the game, and it’s a solid figure for a 10-line slot. -
Is John Hunter and the Book of Tut high volatility?
No, it’s a medium volatility game. Wins pay out steadily, with the range of prizes running from low to very high. -
How do you trigger the free spins in John Hunter and the Book of Tut?
Land three or more Book of Tut symbols anywhere on the reels. The Book is both the wild and the scatter, so it’s the only symbol you need to watch for. -
How does the expanding symbol work in the free spins?
Before the round starts, one symbol is chosen at random. During free spins, after regular wins pay, that symbol expands to cover all three positions on its reel and pays on all reels, even non-adjacent ones, as long as enough symbols are present for a win. -
Can free spins be retriggered in John Hunter and the Book of Tut?
Yes. Three or more Books during the round award 10 more free spins with the same expanding symbol, and there’s no limit to the number of retriggers. -
Can you buy the bonus on John Hunter and the Book of Tut?
Yes, at a cost of 100x the total bet for a round of 10 starting spins. UK players can’t use bonus buys. -
What is the maximum win on John Hunter and the Book of Tut?
6,600x the bet. The expanded premium symbols during free spins are the realistic route to it. -
When is John Hunter and the Book of Tut released?
John Hunter and the Book of Tut’s release date is 14 May 2020.
