Book of AfricRa Slot Review: Safari Meets Ancient Egypt

Book of AfricRa is an online slot played on PokerStars that uses the familiar Free Spins and expanding-symbol setup often seen in ‘Book of’ style slots. The difference is how the bonus round is triggered, with Symbol Pots and Coins forming the main route into Free Spins.

The biggest twists come from the Symbol Pot mechanic. Instead of relying on a standard scatter trigger, this online slot builds around Coins being collected in pots linked to specific symbols. When a pot triggers, the symbol becomes active in Free Spins and can expand across the reels if enough land on the reels.

Theme and Design: The Animal Gods of AfricRa

Book of AfricRa takes one of the most familiar slot themes, Ancient Egypt, and gives it a more unusual style. The reels aren’t filled with the usual pharaohs, pyramids, temples and treasure chests. Instead, the game shows an Egyptian world ruled by animal gods, with the main premium symbols being the Lion, Hippo, Crocodile and Giraffe.

Having animal gods in place of Egyptian rulers makes this slot more unique and also helps players differentiate between symbols. The Lion is framed in red, the Hippo in blue, the Crocodile in green, and the Giraffe in purple. The background falls more into the Egyptian aesthetics, with gold details, mounds of desert sand and an ancient temple. The reels also sit inside a golden frame that looks part of a sarcophagus, while the Symbol Pots sit above the grid and add a lot of character to the casino game.

Core Gameplay: 5×3 Slot With 10 Fixed Lines

Book of AfricRa is played on a 5-reel, 3-row grid with 10 fixed paylines. Wins pay from left to right. Wins on different lines are combined and only the highest winning combination on each line is paid out. The base game stays pretty quiet compared with the Free Spins feature. That is common for ‘Book of’ online slots, where the main focus usually sits on the bonus round. Here, the base game mainly builds towards Symbol Pot triggers. Coins can appear on symbols that land, and those Coins are collected into Symbol Pots linked to different symbols or symbol groups. This gives this online slot something extra to look out for beyond the line wins. Coins landing on symbols can feed into the Symbol Pot system, which can then activate Free Spins with one or more active symbols.

Symbol Pots

The Symbol Pots are the main feature route in Book of AfricRa. The game has six pots shown above the reels, with each one linked to a specific high-paying symbol or a shared group of lower-paying symbols.

The pots include the Lion Pot, Hippo Pot, Crocodile Pot, Giraffe Pot, A & K shared Pot, and Q, J & 10 shared Pot. Coins can land on any symbol on the reels and are collected by the connected Symbol Pots. Any Coin collected into a Symbol Pot can trigger that pot, which then gives the player Free Spins. More than one Symbol Pot can trigger on the same spin. This is where the game starts to move away from the standard single symbol bonus. Free Spins can begin with more than one active symbol, and the feature can be triggered with up to six active symbols.

Coins and Free Spins

Coins can show up on any symbol that lands on the reels. When they show up, they are collected into the Symbol Pots. Collecting any Coin into a Symbol Pot can trigger that pot, awarding 10 Free Spins with the connected symbol active. Coins are the main path into the bonus round of this casino game. There’s no standard scatter symbol; instead, the slot uses this pot collection system to bring Free Spins into play.

During Free Spins, Coins can continue to land on reel symbols. They are collected into Symbol Pots in the same way as during the base game. New Symbol Pots can also trigger during Free Spins, and when that happens, the connected symbols become active for the rest of the bonus round. The Free Spins round doesn’t always stay the same from start to finish. It can shift as Coins land and more Symbol Pots activate. A bonus that starts with one active symbol can pick up more active symbols as the round continues. A previously triggered Symbol Pot can also retrigger on any single Free Spin, awarding 6 extra Free Spins.

Expanding Symbols During Free Spins

The expanding symbol feature is where Book of AfricRa feels closest to the classic ‘Book of’ slot format. During Free Spins, active symbols can expand to fill the reels they land on. These active symbols then award scatter pays across all 10 winlines. During Free Spins, active symbols can expand even when they land across different reels instead of next to each other. If enough of the same symbol show up, every reel that has that symbol fills with stacked copies before the win is paid.

Some symbols only need 2 copies on separate reels for the feature to trigger, while others need 3. The higher-paying animal symbols can create paying results with fewer matching symbols than the lower card ranks. If more than one active symbol can expand on the same spin, the slot deals with them one after another. After each expanded symbol has paid, the reels go back to their original layout before the next one expands.

Wild Symbol

The Wild symbol is shown as a golden Egyptian-style obelisk. It substitutes for every paying symbol, except when symbols are paying scattered during Free Spins. The Wild has no payout below 5 of a kind, paying £500.00, based on a £1.00 bet. The Wild is best seen as separate from the expanding symbol system. It can help with regular payline wins, but during Free Spins, it doesn’t substitute when symbols pay out as scatters. The feature is focused on active symbols, Symbol Pots and expansions, instead of the Wild combinations.

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Paytable Symbols and Values

The Lion is the highest-paying regular symbol. It’s shown as a red-framed Egyptian-style lion god symbol. Based on a £1.00 bet, the paytable shows 5 Lion symbols paying £500.00, 4 paying £80.00, 3 paying £10.00, and 2 paying £1.00. The Hippo is shown in a blue frame, paying £120.00, 4 paying £30.00, 3 paying £3.00, and 2 paying £0.50. The Crocodile has a green frame, with 5 of the Crocodile symbols paying £70.00, 4 paying £8.00, 3 paying £2.00, and 2 paying £0.50. The Giraffe is shown in a purple frame, paying £60.00, 4 paying £6.00, 3 paying £2.00, and 2 paying £0.50.

The A and K symbols share a Symbol Pot, with 5 matching A or K symbols paying £13.00, 4 paying £3.00, and 3 paying £0.50. The Q, J and 10 symbols also share a Pot. 5 matching Q, J, or 10 symbols pays £10.00, 4 pays £2.00, and 3 pays £0.50. The animal symbols reflect the theme of the game, which makes sense that they are the premiums. With that said, the lower card symbols still matter. They can also become active during Free Spins through the shared pots.

Behind the Reels: 4ThePlayer

Book of AfricRa comes from 4ThePlayer, a studio that often takes familiar slot ideas and gives them a more playful style. The company focuses on building slots that are innovative, entertaining and have mechanics that are easy to follow without being too plain.

The studio has more than 50 years of combined industry experience across its team. That background comes through in the way Book of AfricRa has been designed and isn’t overloaded with features. The 5-reel layout, Free Spins and expanding symbols are all familiar, but the Symbol Pot system gives the bonus route a unique feel. The studio has grown its reputation over the years within the casino game industry, winning awards like the EGR Innovation in Slot Provision Award and CasinoBeats Outperforming Small Game Studio of the Year.

5 Wild Buffalo

5 Wild Buffalo, which can also be played on PokerStars, brings a wide-open North American plains theme to the reels, with the Grand Canyon sitting in the background during sunset. The art style of this slot has a painted look, with large symbols, lots of red and yellow colours, and a strong Wild West feel.

The game plays on a 5×4 layout with 1,024 Ways to win. That means there are no fixed paylines. Instead, wins form when matching symbols land on reels from left to right, starting from the first reel. As with Book of AfricRa, wins on different ways are added together, and winning symbols are raised over the reels once the spin stops. The Buffalo is the main premium symbol and when 4 of them land stacked on the same reel in a single spin, the Buffalo Thunder feature can trigger. Those 4 symbols combine into one larger Buffalo symbol, which then gets a multiplier of 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x or 10x.

The other high-paying symbols include the Bear, Wolf, Cougar, Eagle and Horse, while the lower-paying symbols are the A, K, Q, J and 10 card royals. The Wild is shown as a western-style landscape badge and can substitute for every symbol except the Scatter. Wilds in this casino game don’t have a payout of their own, like in Book of AfricRa, but can land on any reel. Free Spins are triggered by landing 3 or more Bonus Scatters anywhere on the grid. During Free Spins, Wilds that land on the reels expand to fill the reel as a single Wild symbol, with a multiplier of 6x, 7x, 8x, 10x or 12x. Diamonds can also land on symbols and link into the Boosting Fortunes feature. Each reel has a Fortune prize above it, and Diamonds can increase those prize values before the Fortune Wheel bonus is triggered. That gives 5 Wild Buffalo another mechanic to play with alongside the stacked Buffalo symbols, expanding Wilds and Free Spins.

Pigs N’ Pots

Pigs N’ Pots, also from 4ThePlayer, focuses on a group of rich pigs, shiny prizes and oversized pots of money. The whole game has a playful feel, with the wealthy pigs dressed in suits and gowns, along with symbols like diamond rings, golden watches and stacks of coins. There’s a grand white mansion behind the reels as well as neat green hedges. It feels silly, shiny and over the top, which suits the theme perfectly.

The game is played across 5 reels with 40 paylines, with wins paying from left to right. It has an RTP of 94.00% and is high volatility, while the main features are Piggy Wild Respins, Tokens, Combo Pots, Free Spins and the Piggy Prize Bonus. Winning symbols are raised over the reels once the spin stops, while Wilds can show up stacked on any reel except the first reel.

When a full Wild Stack lands, it triggers respins and moves one reel to the left on each respin. Any wins are paid as the stack moves, while a win multiplier appears next to the reels and can land on 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 6x, 10x, 15x, 25x or 50x. More Wild Stacks can also appear during the feature, keeping the respins going until all Wild Stacks have moved off reel 1.

Combo Pots give the bonus side of the game another route. Tokens can land with paying symbols and move into one of 6 pots set across 3 tiers. These pots can trigger Free Spins and add extras such as more Free Spins, enhanced Piggy Wild Respins multipliers, extra Wild Stacks, Xtra Reels, VIP Reels or Super Fortune Spins. There’s also the Piggy Prize Bonus, triggered by landing 3 Piggy Prize Scatters anywhere on the reels. This opens a pick-a-win bonus where 3 matching prize types award one of the Big, Super, Mega or Ultra prizes.

Final Verdict: A Very Different Kind of Pharaohs

Book of AfricRa keeps the familiar ‘Book of’ style of slot, but the Symbol Pots give it a different route into the bonus round. The 5×3 grid, 10 fixed paylines, Wild symbol and Free Spins are all easy to recognise, but the game doesn’t rely on the usual scatter trigger or one mystery expanding symbol. The animal-god theme also gives the game a very unique appearance and allows it to stand out against other online slots played on PokerStars. The Lion, Hippo, Crocodile and Giraffe symbols stand out on the reels, while the Coins and Pots connect the theme back to the main features.

Free Spins are still where most of the action of the game happens. Active symbols can expand across the reels, pay across all 10 winlines, and more Symbol Pots can trigger during the feature. A previously triggered pot can also retrigger and award 6 extra Free Spins, so the bonus round can still change once it has started. Book of AfricRa works well because it takes a slightly different route through the features, using Coins, Pots and expanding symbols.

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