This is the latest slot that’s at the top of my “play” list.

Since joining the world of online casinos, Play’n GO has quickly become one of my favourite online slots providers. I’ve played and talked about many of their games on my blog and two of their slots are among my all-time faves: Moon Princess and Sweet Alchemy.

Though I have played and do like their Rich Wilde slots series, it wasn’t until I played Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity that I truly became a fan. Right now, this is my favourite online slot to play. This week’s post (which I’ll try to keep short and sweet – yeah, right! 😆) is all about why.

Rich Wild and the Tome of Insanity – Mia’s Experience

Note 1: In case you’re new to Mia’s iGaming Journey – full disclosure – I don’t review slots professionally. This isn’t a detailed and in-depth run down of Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity. I’m simply sharing a few facts about it and what I honestly liked, because I enjoy playing and writing about my experiences. 😊

Note 2: I realized while writing this that I completely forgot to take screenshots of the game when I’ve played it for real money.🤦‍♀️ The images I used in this post for context are taken from the game demo (which btw, I also enjoy playing)…cause, uh, I’ve never had a balance of over $20,000.😲😝

What is Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity?

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity is a 5×5 grid, Cluster Pays slot from Play’n GO. Released in May of this year, as of this writing, it’s the latest in the Rich Wilde slots series.

The game features the software provider’s popular character Rich Wilde, a daring treasure hunter who has appeared in several other slots titles. Among these include Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead, Rich Wilde and the Aztec Idols, Rich Wilde and the Pearls of India, and Rich Wilde and the Tome of Madness, to name a few. And I do mean a few. There are 7+ Rich Wilde titles and counting, not to mention additional games based on other members of the treasure-seeking family, like Cat Wilde (Rich’s daughter) and Gerald Wilde (Rich’s uncle).

In the Tome of Insanity, Rich has discovered a powerful Necronomicon (the Book of the Dead – yup, he found another one 🤪) and must do all that he can to outrun the horror this evil tome unleashes. This evil includes dwellers of the Nameless Mist and the spawn of Yog-Sothoth. Rich’s mission: prevent disaster by stopping the Cult of Cthulhu. Our mission: have fun and try to win a sweet payout!

Visually, this slot’s a stunner. The base game is set in an old-fashioned study. Rich stands to the right of the grid holding the Necronomicon, which is also a symbol on the grid. Other symbols include gemstones that possess evil energy, an enchanted skull, a mysterious green position, a pocket watch, and severed tentacles. Essentially, the Tome of Insanity is what you get when you mix Rich Wilde with Lovecraftian horror.

As for the soundtrack and sound effects, they’re also on point with the theme, providing the perfect mix of mystery, magic, intensity, and the macabre. The game even opens with a quote from H.P. Lovecraft. I found it all quite immersive, which impresses me.

Who the heck is H.P. Lovecraft?

If the terms “Lovecraftian horror”, “Necronomicon”, and “Yog-Sothoth” have you scratching your head in wonder, you’ve likely never heard of H.P. Lovecraft.

H.P. (Howard Philips) Lovecraft was an American writer known for writing fantasy, science, weird, and horror fiction in the early 20^th century. He’s most widely known as a horror writer (arguably one of the most influential of all time) and for his Cthulhu Mythos. The name of this mythopoeia and shared fictional universe comes from The Call of Cthulhu, a short story (and one of his most famous) he published in 1926.

The fictional tome in Rich’s possession – the Necronomicon – is mentioned in The Call of Cthulhu and is the heart of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is a book of forbidden knowledge that can threaten a person’s sanity. Hence, the game being called the “tome of insanity”. The Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity online slot is one of many forms of entertainment based on/inspired by Lovecraftian (eldritch/cosmic) horror and the Cthulhu Mythos. There are serval games, books, movies, TV series (for instance, Stranger Things’ Mind Flayer is very Lovecraftian), etc. that fall into this horror genre.

If you’d like to learn more about H.P. Lovecraft and his works or give one of them a read (or listen), you can for free. Most of his works (if not all – but don’t quote me on that) are in the public domain. A source I’ve found to be quite good is Lovecraft Stories.

Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity – General Game Stats

Looking for general facts about the game? Here’s a rundown of the basics:

• Software developer: Play’n GO*
• Release date: May 2024
• Theme: sci-fi, horror
• Reels: 5
• Rows: 5
• Paylines: Cluster Pays
• Notable features: Wilds, Multipliers, Free Spins
• Bet range: $0.10 – $50.00
• Max win: 5,000x
• Jackpots: No
• Volatility: Medium
• RTP: 96.20%
• Free version available: Yes (free demo available on Play’n GO’s official site)
• Where I played it for real money: PlayOJO*

The features I like best

Before I talk about my favourites, I’ll quickly share what the main features are of Rich Wilde and the Tome of Insanity:

• Cluster Pays – Instead of paylines and spinning reels, matching symbols can result in winning combos and lead to a cascade of more wins.
• Wilds – Book Wild (can trigger portal effect), Multiplier Wild (can bring up to 5x multipliers in base game and up to 10x in free spins round), Yog-Sothoth Wild (2×2 walking wild)
• All-Seeing Eye – An Eye Frame can appear at random on the map to the left side of the grid on any spin, which can lead to wilds appearing on the grid.

• Portal of Chaos – A meter to the left of the grid charges up with each win and there are four levels you can reach with each awarding a special feature. Once fully charged, it triggers the free spins bonus round.
• Damnation Spins – A minimum of 3 Portal features are activated during the bonus round. It’s during this round that the Yog-Sothoth Wild can be activated, leading to some big wins.

Now, here’s what I like…

Cluster Pays

I’m a big fan of the Cluster Pays mechanic. If you’ve never heard of it, you may know it by another name like the Cascade feature, Tumble feature, or Avalanche feature. If you’re still at a loss, this slot mechanic is one that gives you a chance to win multiple times in a row with only a single bet. This is possible because, instead of spinning reels when a game round is activated, the symbols on the reel grid fall away from the grid and are replaced by a whole new set of symbols. When enough matching symbols create a win, all symbols in the winning group disappear and the symbols directly above fall into the empty spaces. This cascade effect opens up the chance for another win. The cascades continue until no more wins result.

It’s through the Cluster Pays that you not only boost your winning chances and payout sizes, but can charge the portal meter.

Portal of Chaos

Lots of Play’n Go games have charge meters and those that do (like Sweet Alchemy) tend to be among my personal favourites. In Rich Wild and the Tome of Insanity, the Portal of Chaos is your ticket to the Damnation Spins feature.  However, to get the feature, you need 48 charges.

Wins help you to charge the portal and you need consecutive wins to do it. As soon as your winning luck runs out, so does the meter. With each win, it charges up by one per symbol. There are four levels you can unlock in the Portal of Chaos. The first level is unlocked at 8 charges, the second at 15, the third at 40, and the fourth at 48. Each of the levels unleashes a different portal effect. These include:

Level 8 – Ruin: You get 2 – 4 Book Wilds.
Level 15 – Harvest: Tentacles pop out of the tome and aim to destroy symbols if possible.
Leven 40 – Abomination: Upgrades low paying symbols into higher paying ones.
Level 48 – Damnation: Awards a free spin with the 3 other level effects.

The Ruin level is the one I saw the most (which makes sense since it’s the lowest level). Scoring the Damnation Spins is awesome, but it can take lots of spins to get there. On several occasions I made it to just over 40 charges without hitting Damnation. Even though this game has medium slot volatility, it took me mor than 100 spins to trigger Damnation at one point. This is fine by me but is a reminder that, in order to stay in the game, I need to carefully manage my bankroll!

Damnation Spins

This online slot does have lots of great features that I like, but it’s the Damnation Spins I’m always most eager to score. It’s here where I get the chance to achieve my primary objective – to unleash the horror that is Yog-Sothoth to land a big prize.

So far, I’ve reached Damnation Spins on four occasions. Three times I got 3 Portal features and one time I overcharged the portal to 64 and got additional Portal features out of it. I was awarded a total of 7 features for that bonus round, which is also the max you can get for a bonus round. It was during the bonus round with 7 Portal features that I opened every All-Seeing Eye and got the Yog-Sothoth Wild. It was awesome watching that creepy one-eyed monster scoot around the grid, spawning wins everywhere it went. If memory serves, I think I won over $100 in that round, which is a super payout for me, as I’m a low bettor.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, I like the game a lot, and I think it’s an online slot that can be fun for most players. This is especially likely If you enjoy any one or more of the following:

• Sci-fi horror
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Rich Wilde slots
• Play’n GO slots
• Cluster Pays
• Grid Slots
• Multipliers
• Free spins with upgraded features
• Medium volatility
• Up to 5,000x the bet wins

Tome of Insanity seems to offer something for everyone. Of course, don’t just take my word for it, especially when you can demo it for free yourself. 😁

Have you played Rich Wild and the Tome of Insanity? Do you enjoy it? Or is there another Rich Wild slot that’s your favourite?

Until next time, good luck and have fun.

Mia 👩‍💻

*I am not affiliated with Play’n GO or PlayOJO.

**All links and images in this post are for informational purposes only.