A central American rainforest, complete with ruined temple, forms the backdrop to the reels in Book of Maya. Symbols on show include stylised playing cards from A to 9 as well as a trio of Mayan themed statues. Our intrepid hero is the top paying symbol - land 5 of him on any of the 10 paylines and you can look forward to a payout of 5,000 times your line bet.
The jewel encrusted ancient book is the game's wild. It substitutes for all other symbols - it's also Book of Maya's scatter. Land 3, 4 or 5 of them anywhere on the reels and you 2, 20, or 200 times your total. In addition, you can also look forward to the Free Games feature and 10 free spins.
Before the free spins play out, 1 symbol will be chosen at random. Every time this symbol lands during the feature, it will expand to fill up the entire reel in which it appears.
If you're playing with the ExtraBet feature activated (which costs double the normal stake), you'll also be in line for bonus re-spins during the feature. If you create a winning combination with the special expanding symbol, that reel (or reels) will be held and the inactive reels will spin again, giving you another chance to add to your stack of special symbols. If you were to get 3 expanding symbols for example, the other 2 reels would re-spin giving you the chance to land a 4 or 5 expanding symbol combination!
Book of Maya is a typical Novomatic slot - it's not the most sophisticated in terms of looks or sound (expect the developer's usual bangs and bleeps rather than anything jungle related) but packs a volatile punch. This is a high variance affair with the biggest potential for wins coming in the feature.
Land a high value symbol as the special expander and some impressive results are possible, especially if you opt to play in ExtraBet mode. It does bear similarities, in terms of the feature, to other Novomatic titles including Golden Ark and the iconic Book of Ra Deluxe.