There is no doubt that the Ancient Egyptian genre in online casino slots has been hashed and rehashed multiple times by software groups. Thankfully, BGaming has breathed some fresh air into this category through its latest slot title, Book of Cats.
The 6 x 3 reel game, with its 10 pay lines, is similar to other Book of … games on the market (Book of Ra comes to mind), but BGaming has given Book of Cats its own twist and signature graphics. The game centers on a festival which honors the Cat Goddess, Bastet – a theme we haven’t yet seen in an online slot game if memory serves us right. Find out the secrets of Bastet within the pages of her magical book, and be among the chosen players to have her riches bestowed upon you.
The symbols in this game include the Golden Book, along with the Queen of Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra and Bastet in three different forms. The lower values are represented by five royal cards.
BGaming’s Book of Cats slot is a medium to high volatility game with a 94% RTP rate, which is lower than we like seeing, but still satisfactory.
With six reels and a combination of six symbols, you could be winning 7,500 coins on a single line (or more with free spins). At most, you could trigger wins of up to 10,000 x your stake thanks to a number of super bonus features, including free spins, a wild/scatter combo and the coveted sixth reel.
Choose one of seven bet values to use for your next spin, with wagers ranging from $0.10 to $10 per spin.
To play the game, set your bet amount by pressing Total Bet. The + or – buttons will increase or decrease your betting level. Press Play to start the reels turning after you’ve decided on your bet level. If you don’t want the reels to stop spinning on their own, just press Stop and they’ll come to a standstill. BGaming has also equipped Book of Cats with an Auto Play feature, where you can set the number of times that the reels should spin. In that way, you can just sit back and watch the action unfold before you without doing a thing!
Book of Cats is not exploding with bonus features, but there are enough of them to give you hours of fun gameplay if you so choose.
The Sixth Reel
First of all, we can’t overlook the importance of the game’s sixth reel, which can be unlocked by getting a winning combo of 3 or more symbols in the main game. Should the bonus symbol from the sixth reel be the same as the one that the combos form, you will see the sixth reel covered entirely by the symbol. You can imagine the winning potential when this happens.
Wild/Scatter Symbol
The wild and scatter symbols are united in one icon, the Golden Book. When the Book lands as a single symbol on the reels, it will act as a wild and will substitute for all other symbols on the reels to create winning combinations.
Free Spins & Expanding Symbol
If three or more Golden Book symbols appear anywhere on the reels, they take the form of scatter symbols and will trigger the bonus free spin feature. When this happens, you’re awarded 10 free spins and the game chooses an expanding symbol for you as well. This symbol expands to cover the reels when it appears in the game.
During the free spins feature, the sixth reel is unlocked in order to increase your chances of winning. In addition, you can retrigger the whole feature again should you land 3 or more Golden Books while spinning for free.
Risk Game
Each time you form a win in Book of Cats, you will be asked if you want to take part in a Risk game round. If you choose to do so, make your way into the Paw second-screen for a chance to double or even quadruple your last wins.
You need to guess either the color or the suit of the next card that is drawn. A correct card color guess doubles your win and a correct suit guess will see you get paid out 4 x your rewards. If you make the correct choice, you win and your payouts are adjusted accordingly. If you lose, however, you’ll be whisked back to the base game.
Taking part in the Risk Game is optional. Not all players like the gamble feature in a slot game, but it’s good that it’s there if you do. If you don’t want to play, simply collect your wins.
Whenever we see another Ancient Egyptian themed slot launch, our tendency is sometimes to groan. But BGaming’s Book of Cats has taught us, er…, not to judge a book by its cover. We got to meet an ancient personality in the form of Bastet, which made for an innovative new theme within a tried-and-tested genre. BGaming has created a compact and entertaining new slot, with just enough bonus features to bring you hours of entertainment, without overloading the senses. This one gets a thumbs up from us.