John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen

John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen is Pragmatic Play third outing with the swashbuckling explorer John Hunter, this time hunting down the lost tomb of the mysterious Scarab Queen. The graphics lean hard into classic Egyptian style, but here we mostly care about one thing: RTP.

As always, we have dug through every casino to find out exactly where the payout is highest. Before diving in, check out which casinos generally offer the best average RTP across all casino games using the button below:

Casinos with the highest RTP for John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen

We open the game on every casino ourselves and note down the RTP setting straight from the help files, then the list below gets updated automatically from our own database.

• 

  Coolbet Casino

  RTP Review
  Play:
  96.5%
• 

  FortunePlay

  RTP Review
  Play:
  96.5%
• 

  Lucky 7even

  RTP Review
  Play:
  96.5%
• 

  TonyBet Casino

  RTP Review
  Play:
  96.5%
• 

  Casumo Casino

  RTP Review
  Play:
  96.5%
• 

  Just Casino

  RTP Review
  Play:
  95.5%
• 

  Lucky Ones

  RTP Review
  Play:
  95.5%
• 

  LeoVegas

  RTP Review
  Play:
  95.5%
• 

  CasinoDays

  RTP Review
  Play:
  95.5%

Default RTP sits at 96.5%, though a handful of casinos run a lower 95.5% version instead, so picking the right site genuinely matters here.

How the Money and Collect symbols work

The heart of the game is the golden scarab symbols, which only land on reel five. Landing a Collect symbol alongside one or more Money symbols banks their total value straight into your win.

There are five different Collect types: Collect simply banks the values as they are, Extra Credit Collect boosts the Money values before collecting, Multiplier Collect can multiply everything by up to 25x, Expanding Collect stretches across the entire reel, and Respin Collect throws in an extra spin for good measure. This is exactly why the payouts feel a little uneven, but far more rewarding once they land.

The Free Spins round

Land three or more pyramid scatters on reels two, three and four and you trigger eight free spins. Every win during the bonus round gets added to a shared pot, and a final respin decides how much of it actually makes it into your balance, a nice twist compared to a standard free spins feature.

Paylines, symbols and betting range

The game runs on 25 fixed paylines across 5 reels and 3 rows, so there is never any guessing about what you are betting on. Stakes range from roughly $0.25 up to $125 per spin, which covers both cautious spinners and high rollers.

The wild symbol is a Cleopatra-style queen who substitutes for every regular symbol except the scatter, though she never appears on reel one. The maximum win sits at a hefty 10500x your stake, usually reached with a big multiplier during the Collect feature.

How many spins do you actually get?

Curious how many spins your budget gets you at different RTP levels? Take a look at our quick breakdown below.

If you start playing with $200 and bet $1 per spin, we can compare how many spins you get depending on the payout level.

At the highest level of 96.5%, you theoretically lose 3.5% of your bet per spin, which equals $0.04 per spin. That gives you approximately 5 714 spins before your budget runs out.

At a lower payout level of 95.5%, the theoretical loss is 4.5%, which is $0.04 per spin. That means you can spin approximately 4 444 times before the money runs out.

The difference is 1 270 spins between these levels – quite a significant difference when you think about it!

The studio behind the game

Pragmatic Play created John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen back in 2019, and it remains a firm favourite in the wider John Hunter series. The studio pumps out new slots at an incredible pace and usually keeps volatility somewhere between medium and high. You can find more details on the John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen page over on Pragmatic Play own website.

Our take on the game

We really like the Collect mechanic, it brings a different kind of tension than a standard bonus round and keeps things exciting right down to the final symbol on reel five. Medium volatility also makes this one a bit more approachable than plenty of other Egyptian themed slots out there. Our only gripe is that eight free spins feels a touch stingy, though the shared pot more than makes up for it.

Similar slots

If you enjoy digging through pharaohs tombs, we would also recommend checking out these:

• Legacy of Egypt

• Le Pharaoh

• Book of Sam

And do not forget to check which casinos currently offer the best average payout using the button below: