Pragmatic Play · 2020 · tested 2026-09-11
John Hunter and the Book of Tut
Expanding symbols supplied 85.56% of natural free spins payouts on the John Hunter and the Book of Tut demo, where the chosen symbol can pay across reels that are not adjacent.
- RTP measured / declared 101.1% 96.5%
- Hit frequency 32%
- Max win · no bonus 201x
- Bonus buy · mean result 100x · 1.04x
- Free spins, natural 63 / 10,000
- Bonus frequency 6.3 bHz
In numbers: measured RTP 101.1% against 96.5% declared over 10,000 logged rounds; 31.5% of rounds paid; a natural bonus landed once per 159 rounds (63 in total) and a bonus round paid a median 51x the stake, mean 74.3x, trigger spin included; 50 bonus buys at 100x returned 1.04x of their price on average, 64% of them below the price; the biggest round paid 326.5x; the longest dry run was 19 spins.
Test card
10,000 spins · USD 2.00 bet · every request logged| Spins | 10,000 |
| Bet | USD 2.00 |
| RTP declared | 96.50% |
| RTP measured | 101.13% (approximate 95% CI 84.4–117.9) |
| Hit frequency | 32% · every 3.17 |
| Dead streak max / avg | 19 / 3.18 |
| Median hit | 0.50x |
| Max win (no bonus round) | 200.5x · round 5995 |
| Free spins, natural | 63 · 6.3 bHz · every 158.7 spins · mean bonus round payout 74.4x stake |
| Balance start → end | 100,000 → 100,226 |
each run keeps its own spin log, CSV and raw server journal with checksums; the figures on this card combine all runs
Play John Hunter and the Book of Tut demo
PRAGMATIC PLAY · official demo · same math as real play
United States
John Hunter and the Book of Tut available at Cafe Casino
Same reels, real payouts
Cafe Casino runs the same John Hunter and the Book of Tut with the same math and adds a welcome bonus for players from the United States:
300% up to $2,000 + 150 FS 18+ · T&Cs apply · the demo stays free
Bonus buy lab
50 buys × 100x · USD 200 eachmean 1.04x · median 0.743× price (USD 148.50) · 32 of 50 below price · best 3.78x · worst 0.17x
| Spins per bonus (avg / min–max) | 11.2 / 10–40 |
| Extended | 8.0% |
| Bonuses that paid nothing | 0% |
At least three more books award ten additional spins while retaining the expanding symbol. Four of 50 purchases retriggered; the initial ten-spin award is excluded.
- Spent
- USD 10,00050 × USD 200
- Returned
- USD 10,429104.29% · approximate 95% CI 82–127%
- Net
- +USD 429+2.1 buys
- Break-even or better
- 18 / 5036%
- Paid 2× price or more
- 5 / 5010%
- Price in base spins
- 100natural trigger every ~159 spins
One ticket equals 100 ordinary stakes. Natural bonuses occurred once per 159 ordinary rounds in this sample. Stakes multiplied by this interval measure gross wagering, not the net cost of obtaining a bonus. Purchase returns above include the complete purchased round and are divided by the ticket price.
Risk profile
how much bankroll this run needed| 50 bets | bust at spin 91 |
| 100 bets | bust at spin 226 |
| 200 bets | survived all 10000 spins |
One run, one bet size. A different session can bust earlier or never; treat this as a measured example, not a rule.
How it plays
6 rules screens from the game
Book symbols substitute in line wins and also open the free spins feature. Three, four and five books pay 2x, 20x and 200x the total stake respectively. A minimum of three awards 10 free spins, with one ordinary symbol randomly chosen for expansion before play begins.
When that chosen symbol occupies enough reels to pay, each of those reels fills its three positions. Ordinary line wins settle before expansion; the extra award can connect reels that are separated by other symbols. Another set of at least three books adds 10 free spins and keeps the same selected symbol, with no fixed limit on retriggers.
Outside the feature, the layout has five reels, three rows and 10 paylines. Matching symbols must occupy consecutive reels beginning at the left edge. John Hunter, the mask, cat and scarab pay from two symbols; card ranks need three. Winning symbols stay in place, with no tumbles.
Buying access costs 100x the stake, putting entry at USD 200 for the USD 2 test. The configuration lists 96.50% RTP, medium volatility and stakes of USD 0.10–250; the maximum award is 5,500x.
Wild symbol
Free spins
Expanding symbol
Bonus buy
Bet range USD 0.10 – 250 per spin · payouts read from the game's paytable at bet USD 2.00
Gallery
6 frames from the demo session
Verdict
Expansion behind the returnThe USD 148.50 median purchase fell short of the USD 200 entry price, and 32 of the 50 buys failed to cover their cost. Larger returns still took the series to a USD 429 surplus. The best purchase paid USD 756, while the smallest returned USD 33.
Natural entry delivered 63 bonuses across 10,000 paid spins. Consecutive triggers at rounds 535 and 536 sat alongside a gap of 912 spins without a feature between rounds 4713 and 5626. The average interval hides both extremes.
Purchase 2 shows where the extra payout comes from: John Hunter occupied reels 2, 4 and 5, expanded and paid USD 200 despite the missing first reel. An ordinary line on the same screen contributed USD 1. Across the purchased features, expansion supplied USD 8,760 of the USD 9,532 earned during free spins.
- 325 expansion wins connected reels that were not adjacent.
- Additional free spins appeared in 10 of the 63 natural features.
- Purchase 39 paid USD 756 from 20 free spins, the largest ticket among the 50 buys.
- Most purchases lost money: 32 payouts were below USD 200.
- The longest internal bonus gap left 912 paid spins without a trigger.
- John Hunter was selected in round 976, yet no expansion paid during that feature.
Test record
10,000 rounds · 50 buys · open data · closed rigOne test run so far: a single session of the base game plus a separate series of bonus purchases on the official demo server, every request and response logged. When the game is tested again, the new run is added here and the figures on this page combine all runs into one sample.
- 10,000rounds logged
- 32%rounds that paid
- 327xbiggest round
- 1 / 159natural bonus rate
- 1.04xmean of 50 buys
- 19longest dry streak
01run Run 012026-09-11 measured return101.13%+4.6 pts vs declared
- 95% band
- 84.4–117.9%
- rounds that paid
- 32%
- biggest round
- 327x · round 1,097
- longest dry streak
- 19
- natural bonuses
- 63 · one per 159 rounds
- bonus buys
- mean 1.04x · median 0.743x · 64% below price
- balance start → end
- 100,000 → 100,226
- deepest drawdown
- 668x
10000 base-game spins at a fixed USD 2.0 bet; 50 bonus buys at 200.0 each (100.0x) on the official Pragmatic Play demo server (jurisdiction 99, RTP profile 96.5%); every request and response logged; test run 2026-09-11.
The test rig plays the official demo build over the network and records every server round: bet, win, intermediate steps (cascades, respins), free spins, collect. Screenshots and video were captured in a separate browser session and are not part of the statistical samples. The text was read against the log by an editor before publication. How we test →
FAQ
5 questions · answered from the logWhy did Book of Tut return 101.13% instead of 96.5%?
The 101.13% figure describes this Book of Tut sample: USD 20,000 staked and USD 20,226 returned over 10,000 paid spins, including their natural bonuses. The configured 96.5% is a long-run theoretical rate. It sits inside the sample's approximate 95% interval, 84.37–117.89%, so the difference alone does not demonstrate manipulation.
Should I pay USD 200 for Book of Tut free spins?
No. Book of Tut purchases cost USD 200 each on a USD 2 base bet; the 50 tested ones had a median payout of USD 148.50, and 32 returned less than the price. The aggregate return reached 104.29%, yet the more common outcome in this series was a loss on the purchase.
Book of Tut free spins: how often did they land?
The Book of Tut log contains 63 natural triggers in 10,000 paid spins, equivalent to one per 158.73 spins overall. The longest gap inside the series had 912 spins without a trigger between rounds 4713 and 5626. Bonuses also arrived on consecutive rounds 535 and 536, so that average was not a countdown.
Why can John Hunter pay when the first reel misses?
During Book of Tut free spins, the randomly selected symbol can expand and pay across nonadjacent reels. Purchase 2 recorded John Hunter on reels 2, 4 and 5 and paid USD 200 for that expansion. Its ordinary line win was a separate USD 1.
Can expansion miss even when John Hunter is chosen?
Yes. Round 976 selected John Hunter and still produced no expansion: its 10 free spins paid USD 7, USD 16 with the trigger spin. The chosen symbol does not guarantee an expanding payout on every spin of that feature.
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Field notes
0 notes