Book of Sam

ELK Studios are helping us to kick off the new year in style as we accompany Sam and his family on their trip to Las Vegas for a weekend of celebrations. Long time fans of ELK will recognise this troll family from two previous releases – Sam on the Beach and Electric Sam, but things take on a classic twist this time around as we focus on the style and energy of Sin City, in Book of Sam. If you aren’t familiar with this family, we have Sam, who loves the all-you-can-eat buffets, Sandra, who never says no to an oversized cocktail, and their energetic daughter Maggie, brought along on this particular trip after the babysitter cancelled. It’s all happening in this one, with a highly volatile maths model, a fixed RTP of 94.0%, and win potential up to 10,000x bet, so let’s take a closer look.

book Of Sam Base Game

If, as I said, you aren’t familiar with this family then Book of Sam can look a bit perplexing at first glance – why do we have three trolls characters in a Vegas styled slot, with some distinctive Egyptian styling? It all becomes a bit clearer upon closer inspection, as we see the family have chosen to stay in an Egyptian themed hotel – presumably the Luxor. Sandra’s Palace replaces what we know as Caesar’s Palace in the background, along with the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign now reading Welcome to SAM Vegas – although these changes seem to have been made by the family themselves after a few drinks, as evidenced by the cute polaroids that appear as the game starts. It’s all a bit mixed up, but it’s quirky and interesting so it works – topped off with vibrant audios to tie the whole thing together into something that really is as fabulous as the city it takes place in.

electric Treats (sandra) Increases the Win Multiplier

Book of Sam Base Features

Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Book of Sam by matching at least 2 or 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel, across 1 of 10 fixed win lines. Symbols available begin with non premiums, with 10s, Js, Qs, Ks, and As, awarding wins of 0.50x bet for 3 of a kind, increasing to values between 5 and 9x bet for 5 of a kind. At the premium end we have an Egyptian cat, along with Maggie, Sandra, and Sam – all of which pay for 2 of a kind. Land 2 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 0.50 and 1x bet, increasing to values between 10 and 500x bet for 5 of a kind. Finally, scarab books are available as the bonus symbol, also acting as Wilds and substituting for all symbols.

electric Treats (sam) Adds A Book to the Reels in A Random Position

There’s really only one main feature driving the Book of Sam base game forwards, but it comes in 3 forms – Electric Treats. This feature is triggered by landing a win involving two or more of the same member of the family, with each family member having their own Electric Treat.

• Sam Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Sam symbols) – places a book bonus symbol in a random position, holds it, and awards +2 respins.
• Sandra Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Sandra symbols) – increases the win multiplier and awards +2 respins.
• Maggie Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Maggie symbols) – all non premium, cat, and Maggie symbols are removed, with new symbols dropping in their place.

electric Treats (maggie) Removes Symbols From the Reels

Book of Sam Bonus

Land 3, 4, or 5 book bonus symbols to trigger the bonus game, in which 8 free spins are awarded, with 1, 2, or 3 expanding symbols, respectively. Expanding symbols will be chosen randomly at the beginning of the bonus game, and can be any of the pay symbols. If enough of the expanding symbol land on the reel (2 for premiums, 3 for non premiums), they will expand and cover their entire reel after all regular wins have been calculated, and will then pay across all win lines, regardless of their position.

Landing 3 or more book bonus symbols during the bonus game will award an additional +4 spins, plus 1 additional expanding symbol – up to a maximum of 5 expanding symbols.

book Of Sam Bonus

Electric Treats remain active in free spins, and are triggered in the same way as they are during the base game, with a few small tweaks to suit the bonus game.

• Sam Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Sam symbols) – places a book bonus symbol in a random position, holds it, and awards +2 respins. During respins in the bonus game, this book symbol acts as an expanding Wild to facilitate all other expanding symbols.
• Sandra Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Sandra symbols) – increases the win multiplier and awards +2 respins. During the bonus game this multiplier is persistent during Electric Treats, which means if this feature is triggered a second time, the multiplier will be increased from its’ previously increased point, rather than resetting to x1 ahead of the next increase. 
• Maggie Electric Treat (triggered by a win involving two or more Maggie symbols) – all non premium, cat, and Maggie symbols are removed, with new symbols dropping in their place. During the bonus game, any expanding symbols will not be removed.

In the super bonus game, which can only be bought through the X-iter option, things continue in the same way, except all symbols are active as expanding symbols. With this in mind, the Maggie Electric Treat feature serves no purpose during the super bonus game, but it is still possible to trigger it.

expanding Symbols Cover All Win Lines

Players in appropriate regions can take advantage of the following X-iter options:

• Bonus Hunt (more than double the chance of triggering Bonus) – 2x bet
• Electric Treat (1 spin with 1 guaranteed Electric Treat) – 10x bet
• Expanding Symbols (1 spin where all symbols are Expanding Symbols) – 50x bet
• Bonus Game – 100x bet
• Super Bonus Game – 500x bet

RTP remains at 94.0% for all X-iter feature modes.

The maximum win available in Book of Sam is 10,000x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 10,000x bet will be awarded.

book Of Sam Super Bonus

First Impression

It’s hard to take on a mechanic as established as a book game and add your own twist, but this isn’t the first time ELK Studios have tried it. Book of Toro brought us a classic game without enough tweaks to make it not only interesting, but allow it to stand out in its’ own right, as a game that offers more than just expanding symbols. Book of Sam has made the same attempt, and in many ways has succeeded just as well. There are less obvious differences between this one and one of the classics – instead the differences are small, in features added on top rather than those that are completely new, but the result is the same – a release perfectly suited to fans of book games that want something a little different.

In Book of Sam this difference is in the Electric Treats, with respins, win multipliers, symbol removal, and sticky books. Each of these go a long way towards keeping things moving forward in the base game, but really kick things up in the bonus game, wherein multipliers can be persistent, and sticky books act as Sticky Wilds. Combine this with the possibility to have up to 5 expanding symbols in the bonus game, and every symbol expanding in the super bonus game, and Book of Sam has more than enough happening to aid in producing big wins – to the tune of 10,000x bet, specifically.

As expected though, RTP is where things slightly fall behind, with a fixed value of 94.0%. Again, our normal complaint remains that it would be nice to see a higher version available, even if less common. Finally, maths is highly volatile in the standard ELK Studios way, so it won’t all be glamour and excitement, particularly for those opting into the X-iter options, where a super bonus costs 500x bet.

All in all, Book of Sam takes what we know, but adds its own spin, in keeping with the classic ELK style.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.