John Hunter is slots’ own Indiana Jones — Pragmatic Play’s square-jawed adventurer has fronted a new expedition almost every year since 2018, and the series is now the closest thing online slots have to a film franchise. If you’re looking for slots like John Hunter, we’ve mapped every official chapter below: Scarab Queen, Book of Tut, Da Vinci’s Treasure, Mayan Gods, Aztec Treasure and the rest of the map.
Where to Play John Hunter Slots
The Full John Hunter Roster, Chapter by Chapter
All Pragmatic Play, all starring the same hired jaw — and unusually for a series, every chapter plays differently. Published figures checked 3 July 2026:
| Game | Year | RTP | Max win | The expedition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Da Vinci’s Treasure | 2018 | 96.53% | 48,000x | Renaissance Italy; three bonuses, colossal top prize |
| Tomb of the Scarab Queen | 2019 | 96.50% | 10,500x | Egypt; money collect and Super Respins |
| Book of Tut | 2020 | 96.50% | 5,500x | Egypt again; the book-and-expanding-symbol formula |
| Aztec Treasure | 2020 | 96.50% | 10,804x | Mesoamerica; unlimited-retrigger free spins |
| Mayan Gods | 2020 | 96.46% | 500x | The jungle respin oddity — note the tiny cap |
Pragmatic ships 96.5% / 95.5% / 94.5% builds of most titles — the figures above are the top builds, so check your casino’s paytable.
Every John Hunter game, reviewed
1. John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen
The 2019 Egyptian chapter is the series’ signature: money symbols carry cash values, the Scarab Queen collects them, and filling the reels triggers Super Respins where the collecting never stops. It’s the game that made the character a franchise — a 96.50% published RTP, a 10,500x top end, and the collect loop half of Pragmatic’s later catalogue reuses.
2. John Hunter and the Book of Tut
2020’s Book of Tut sends Hunter into Book of Ra territory: ten lines, free spins with a randomly chosen expanding symbol, and the ruthless simplicity that formula lives on. At 96.50% published it undercuts most book-slots on price, and the family tree below shows how hard it worked — Megaways, Respin and Dice editions all grew from this one chapter. For the wider genre pedigree, see our Eye of Horus guide — the other great expanding-symbol dynasty.
3. John Hunter and the Secrets of Da Vinci’s Treasure
The 2018 original remains the maths outlier: 96.53% published and a barely believable 48,000x ceiling — still among the biggest in mainstream slots — spread across three bonuses including a map-trail Treasure Quest. It’s the chapter for players who want the series at its most volatile and most generous at once.
4. John Hunter and the Mayan Gods
The jungle chapter is the series’ strangest: giant stacked wilds and respins at 96.46%, but a maximum win of just 500x — a cap so low it changes what the game is for. As a session slot it’s pleasant; as a treasure hunt it’s a museum gift shop. Know before you dig.
5. John Hunter and the Aztec Treasure
The other Mesoamerican expedition plays it straighter: 7×5 reels, cascading wins and free spins with unlimited retriggers, publishing 96.50% with a 10,804x maximum. It’s the volume pick — the John Hunter for players who liked Scarab Queen’s pace but want more board to work with.
6. The later expeditions
The series kept sailing: Quest for Bermuda Riches (2023) takes the collect loop to sea, Book of Tut Megaways and Book of Tut Respin rework the Egyptian hit, and Excalibur Unleashed hands Hunter a sword. None displaces the classics, but the cadence — a chapter a year, near enough — is the point: this is a serial, and it behaves like one.
Close cousins outside the family
The rival dynasty is Play’n GO’s Rich Wilde family — Book of Dead’s adventurer, whose daughter Cat Wilde now fronts her own expeditions — the franchise John Hunter was built to answer. The two series are the genre’s Marvel and DC: same archetype, rival universes. Within Pragmatic’s own stable, Big Bass Bonanza is the other serial hero — a fisherman instead of an archaeologist, on an even faster publishing schedule.
The complete family tree
| Game | In one line |
|---|---|
| Book of Tut Megaways (2023) | The Egyptian hit on variable ways |
| Book of Tut Respin (2022) | The book game with a respin engine |
| Quest for Bermuda Riches (2023) | The collect loop goes nautical |
| Excalibur Unleashed (2023) | Hunter’s Arthurian detour |
| John Hunter nell’Antica Roma (2023) | The Italy-only Ancient Rome chapter — the series’ rarest entry |
| Scarab Queen 10,000x builds | Operator variants of the flagship |
Checked 3 July 2026. Pragmatic releases at industrial pace — expect the map to grow.
Scarab Queen: quick facts
| Provider | Pragmatic Play |
|---|---|
| First released | 2019 |
| Layout | 5 reels × 3 rows, 25 paylines |
| RTP | 96.50% (top build) |
| Volatility | High |
| Signature feature | Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen gathering every value |
✓ Facts checked 3 July 2026
The maths: read the ceiling, not just the RTP
The family’s published RTPs are impressively level — 96.46% to 96.53% on top builds — which makes the ceilings the real differentiator: 48,000x (Da Vinci) to 500x (Mayan Gods) is a hundredfold spread inside one series. Expected average cost per 100 spins on Scarab Queen (3.50% house edge):
| Stake | 100 spins staked | Expected average cost (3.50%) |
|---|---|---|
| 10p | £10 | £0.35 |
| £1 | £100 | £3.50 |
| £5 | £500 | £17.50 |
✓ Calculated from the published 96.50% RTP — checked 3 July 2026
Two cautions: Pragmatic’s lower 95.5%/94.5% builds are common at UK casinos, and a same-RTP game with a 500x cap pays in a completely different shape to one with 48,000x. Match the chapter to your intent; tools on our Responsible Gambling page.
History and legacy
Pragmatic Play introduced John Hunter in 2018’s Da Vinci’s Treasure, at a moment when the studio was still fighting for UK shelf space — and the character became its battering ram. Scarab Queen (2019) supplied the collect mechanic the studio would reuse everywhere; Book of Tut (2020) gave it a book-slot franchise; three more expeditions shipped within eighteen months. The series’ real innovation was cadence: annual, branded, serialised releases that trained players to expect the next chapter — the same behaviour its stablemate fisherman later industrialised.
Why this family still matters
Because nowhere else can you watch a slot studio build a character rather than a game — and using him to colonise every proven genre at once: book slots, collect slots, cascade slots, all wearing the same hat. The genre rivalry with Rich Wilde gave players the adventurer arms race they didn’t know they wanted, and Pragmatic’s modern UK dominance was mapped, chapter by chapter, on this man’s expeditions.
Beyond the reels
John Hunter’s significance is really Pragmatic’s story — the character fronted the studio’s push from challenger to the UK’s most prolific supplier, and the mechanics his chapters introduced (Scarab Queen’s collect loop above all) became house formats reused across hundreds of later Pragmatic titles. The adventurer genre’s arms race with Rich Wilde also gave slots one of its few genuine character rivalries.
What players say
Scarab Queen enjoys real standing among players — the collect-and-respin loop is widely treated as the definitive version of a mechanic everyone has since copied, and Da Vinci’s 48,000x ceiling gives the series bragging rights in any max-win argument. The community’s standing joke is the hero himself: eight expeditions in, nobody can name a single thing about him.
The biggest John Hunter wins
The family’s recorded highlights cluster around Scarab Queen’s Super Respins — full boards of collected money symbols — with Da Vinci’s three-bonus chains supplying the outliers. Here’s a Scarab Queen session with the loop in full flow:
Community footage for illustration — most expeditions come home with pottery, not gold.
Which John Hunter Expedition Is Best for You
| If you want… | Play | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The signature chapter | Scarab Queen | The collect loop at its original best |
| The monster maximum | Da Vinci’s Treasure | 48,000x and three bonuses |
| Classic book-slot tension | Book of Tut | One expanding symbol, no mercy |
| Volume and cascades | Aztec Treasure | 7×5, unlimited retriggers |
| Low-stakes sessions | Mayan Gods | Gentle respins — mind the 500x cap |
Where John Hunter Sits Among Similar Slot Series
Not every player wants exactly what John Hunter offers, so here's how it measures up against Moon Princess, Gonzo's Quest and Cleopatra, three contrasting series elsewhere on the site — a handy check before settling on Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen for the session.
| Series | Choose them if… | Choose John Hunter if… |
|---|---|---|
| Moon Princess (Play’n GO) | A maximum-volatility session built around Princess Trinity appeals more | You're after Pragmatic Play's take instead — Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen |
| Gonzo's Quest (NetEnt (now Evolution)) | You want medium volatility and NetEnt's take on The Avalanche | You want high volatility and Pragmatic Play's Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen |
| Cleopatra (IGT (International Game Technology)) | IGT's 15 free spins with a 3x multiplier sounds more like your kind of session | You're after Pragmatic Play's take instead — Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen |
What you'll notice across all of these is that no single series does everything — John Hunter earns its spot here through Money-collect symbols and Super Respins with the Scarab Queen alone.
Our verdict on Scarab Queen
Sister Slots score: 8/10 — the chapter that built the franchise, and still its best single game.
| Features | 8/10 — the collect-and-respin loop the industry went on to copy |
|---|---|
| Win potential | 8/10 — 10,500x through respins that visibly build |
| Design | 7/10 — handsome pulp Egypt, hero included |
| Playability | 8/10 — 25 lines and a loop you understand in one trigger |
Pick this one if you want the definitive Pragmatic collect game with a story on top. Steer clear if you’ve had your fill of the collect formula — its thousand descendants have diluted the magic, though rarely bettered it.
John Hunter FAQs
How many John Hunter games are there?
Ten-plus expeditions — the six reviewed above plus Book of Tut Megaways, Book of Tut Respin, Excalibur Unleashed and an Italy-only Ancient Rome outing, with new chapters arriving regularly.
Who makes the John Hunter slots?
Pragmatic Play — John Hunter is the studio’s original adventurer character, running since 2018.
What is the best John Hunter game?
Scarab Queen for the definitive experience; Da Vinci’s Treasure for the 48,000x ceiling; Book of Tut for classic book-slot play.
What is the RTP of the John Hunter slots?
96.46–96.53% on top builds across the series — but Pragmatic ships 95.5% and 94.5% versions too, so a glance at the paytable is worth the tap.
Which John Hunter slot has the biggest max win?
Da Vinci’s Treasure at 48,000x — and the smallest is Mayan Gods at just 500x, so read the label.
Is John Hunter related to Rich Wilde?
Only as rivals — Rich Wilde is Play’n GO’s adventurer (Book of Dead’s family). The two franchises are the genre’s great duelling universes.
Is there a jackpot John Hunter slot?
The core series uses fixed ceilings rather than progressives — the drama lives in the collect features and, in Da Vinci’s case, the ceiling itself.
Are John Hunter slots fair?
Yes — Pragmatic Play is UK Gambling Commission-licensed with independently certified RNGs.
Sources & Verification
Primary sources checked 9 July 2026: Pragmatic Play’s own corporate site; and the UK Gambling Commission’s public register (Pragmatic Play (Gibraltar) Limited, account 56015).
Paul edits Sister Slots’ UK slot-family guides. He researches provider histories, mechanics and published game data, checking material claims against provider sources and relevant public records. Unless a page states a dated hands-on method, it reflects documented editorial research rather than real-money play. More about Paul →