Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness: review, 96.59% RTP and up to 2000× max win

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness is the 2019 Play’n GO game that takes the studio’s explorer out of the pyramids and into H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Mechanically it is nothing like Book of Dead: a 5×5 grid, cluster pays with tumbles, and meters that fill as you play.

Two corrections first, because both numbers are repeated wrongly across the web.

• The ceiling is 2000×, not 12,000×. The higher figure is everywhere and we could not confirm it anywhere reliable. Bigwinboard and slotsjuice both publish 2000×.
• 96.59% is one of five builds. Play’n GO also ships 94.52%, 91.59%, 87.52% and 84.50% versions of this game to operators.

Is Tome of Madness worth playing?

For the mechanic, yes. For the ceiling, no — and it is worth being blunt about that combination.

Bigwinboard rates the variance 10 out of 10, the highest on their scale, against a maximum win of 2000×. That is an unusual trade: you take the swings of a top-end volatile game for a top prize that most 2019 slots beat. Ankh of Anubis, from the same studio and the same year, reaches 15,000× at a comparable RTP.

What you get in exchange is the Portal Meters, and they are genuinely good design: progress persists, so the game accumulates rather than resetting. A session has a shape — you can see the features approaching.

	Tome of Madness	Ankh of Anubis	Book of Dead
Default RTP	96.59%	96.2%	96.21%
Ceiling	2000×	15,000×	5000×
Variance	10/10	8/10	high
Engine	5×5 clusters with tumbles	5 reels, 576 lines	10 adjustable lines

Verdict: play it because the grid and the meters are a pleasure, at a stake small enough that the 2000× is not the point. Do not play it expecting a modern ceiling.

How the game works

• Clusters, not paylines. Four or more matching symbols connected horizontally or vertically pay. Winning symbols vanish, new ones fall, and the chain can continue several times in one spin.
• Portal Meters. Winning clusters fill the meters beside the grid; each one that fills injects special wilds. The progress carries over between spins, which is the single thing that makes this game different from every other cluster slot.
• Other World. Filling the meters leads to the free-spins round, where the game finally lets go.
• Stakes from €0.10 to €100, per bigwinboard’s spec box — the range is operator-dependent, and Play’n GO does not publish it.

Where these numbers come from

⚠️ Play’n GO does not publish RTP, volatility, maximum win or bet range on any of its game pages — that is standard across the studio’s whole site, not an oversight on this game. Its own page for Tome of Madness confirms the release date (27 June 2019), the type (Grid Slot) and the theme, and nothing else.

So: the 96.59% default and the 2000× ceiling come from bigwinboard, corroborated by askgamblers and casinogamespro for the RTP variants. We mark the page’s source tier accordingly. The authority on the build you are playing is the game’s own info panel — with five configurations in circulation, this is not a formality.

Bankroll tips

• Check the RTP setting first. Twelve points separate the best build from the worst, and nothing on screen distinguishes them.
• Stake for the meters. The features arrive through accumulated progress, so a bankroll that lasts is worth more here than a big bet.
• Use the demo on this page to watch a full meter cycle before you pay for one.