Book of Atem slot: This high variance game's secret to wins is the Wild Scatter

Atem is one of the more unusual, but important gods in Egyptian mythology. He is believed to be one of the few self-created deities, and was the very first god within that mythology, from whom other gods sprung forth in a variety of creative ways.

Heavily linked with the sun god Ra, Atem can be known either as Atum or simply Tem and he is represented most often in the form of a bearded man carrying a staff and an amulet.

Egyptian mythology has been used widely in a number of slot games in recent times and of course, it is the central theme of a famous Microgaming progressive jackpot slot Treasure Nile. So does this new slot from All41 Studios, which is part of the company's exclusive arrangement to produce exclusive slot games for Microgaming, come up to par?

We decided to take a closer look and see whether this is a slot worthy of the gods, or whether it should be buried in a Pyramid and forgotten about for a few hundred years. Here's what we found out about this high variance, 5x3 reel slot.

Overview

• Game: Book of Atem
• Developer: All41 Studios (for Microgaming)
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 10 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.10
• Maximum Bet: 25,00
• Jackpot: 125,000 (5,000x your total bet)
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: No
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: High

Presentation

The presentation of the Book of Atem slot is somewhat unusual and takes a different tack to most other Egyptian themed slots. There's not a desert, pyramid or sphinx in site but instead what you have is a more verdant setting, with pine trees and other plush foliage in the backdrop along with some rather imposing temples. It all looks rather enticing, especially under that bright blue sky.

The reels are overlaid across this and on the Book of Atem slot it is a 5x3 reel set up. The main controls of the slot are located at the bottom of the screen. Spins start at just 0.10 per spin (as there are 10 non-selectable pay lines in play) and you can increase that up to 25.00 per spin if you prefer. The jackpot is a 5,000x your total bet prize, which amounts to around 125,000 coins.

The music is a rather modern style riff on ancient Egyptian music and I have to be honest and say that it is very well done. Many slots play it cautious with their sound but I think All41 Studios have produced a game with a very cultured soundtrack that really enhances your enjoyment of the game. It fuses ancient Egyptian instruments and music in a more modern soundtrack very nicely indeed.

What is on the reels?

The symbols on the reel start with the five lowest value symbol and in truth I am a bit disappointed to see the five playing card symbols used here (the 10 through to the ace, paying out between 0.5x and 15x your total bet). There are many other Egyptian themed symbols that could have been used in place of these as the lower value symbols in my view and I think it is a little lazy to use these symbols once again.

The higher value symbols are more befitting the theme of the game and they include a lily, a snake, a bird of prey and a someone we can only presume to be Atem himself as the highest of the four higher value symbols. These symbols offer small pay outs of either 0.5x or 1x your bet for landing just two of the symbols on the reels, but they can pay out up to a huge 500x your total bet across a single pay line.

The only other symbol on the reel is the Book of Atem symbol, which is both the Wild and the Scatter in this slot as we will explore below.

Wild features

The Book of Atem plays a dual role in this slot, firstly as a Wild symbol, it can be used across the reels to help create additional wins by substituting for other symbols. In this game Wilds cannot create winning pay lines themselves, but as they are also Scatter symbols, they can produce wins of between 2x your bet and 200x your bet by landing between three and five of the symbols across the reels.

If you can land three or more of the Wild Scatters across the reels, then you will also trigger the Free Spins bonus round, details of which are outlined below.

Free Spins features

Once you have triggered the Free Spins bonus round, the first thing that will happen is that you will be awarded 10 Free Spins and then one of the symbols on the reels in the game will be randomly selected as your Expanding symbol. This means that during Free Spins, any time you land that symbol on a reel, it will expand to cover the reel in full once any initial wins from the spin have been paid out.

This means that multiple pay line wins are possible on this slot, including completely covering all ten symbols in the Expanding Symbol, which is when some of the very big cash prizes can be won in the game.

One nice touch is that if you manage to hit three or more of the Scatter Wild symbols across the reels during Free Spins, you will also receive an additional 10 Free Spins added to your total.

Best feature of the Book of Atem slot

There are a lot of things to like about the Book of Atem slot. I like the sound in particular and I think that adds a great deal of atmosphere to the slot. However, in the game the best feature is that Scatter Wild symbol as it is the key to almost all the important aspects of the slot and of course the better value wins. It can be tough to hit though, as you would expect on a higher variance game, but the good news is that when you do hit a good value win in the Book of Atem slot, it does tend to be a decent value for money win.

Conclusion

As a higher variance slot game, Book of Atem is a rather simplistic slot with just one bonus symbol that serves two purposes in the game. The base game does play tight and if you are a player that likes regular wins, then you may not find Book of Atem to your taste. However, if you prefer a slot with higher volatility, where you can win some sizeable wins if you are patient, then this slot does have a lot to offer. Book of Atem is another fine Microgaming release and another good All41 Studios slot.

You can play the Book of Atem at any of our top casinos.