Cleopatra Slots from IGT
Cleopatra Slots is one of the most popular gaming machines from International Game Technology. Cleopatra slot machines are found in casinos across North America. In Australia, EGMs with this title are in virtually every casino. Cleopatra gaming machines are located in European casinos, too. The big fixed jackpot of 10,000 times the amount bet is one of the chief reasons for its success.
IGT created a series of slot machines with this theme: Cleopatra and Cleopatra II. The second version is the one most casinos offer, but that's good. The second in the series is the most popular version of the game. In this article, we'll discuss both machines separately. Before we begin, players need to know how to spot the correct version of Cleopatra Slots, though.
Cleopatra II has two versions. The original version of the game has a payout percentage of 95.01%, making it one of the best bargains in the brick-and-mortar casinos for slots players. The same version exists in online casinos, but a second version with a worse expected return is also offered to Internet casino operators. These so-called refreshed versions are inferior. I consider the decision to market the designing of a second version to be a bit devious of IGT. If you hear words like "refresh", "redesigned", or "newer" being touted by a website, stay away.
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Original Cleopatra Slots: Game Details
The original Cleopatra Slots is a 5-reel, 20-payline video slot with several of the most popular features in gaming: a wild symbol, a scatter symbol, and free spins.
The game has a 10000x jackpot, meaning someone who makes the 5-coin bet wins 50,000 coins of whatever denomination they bet. This game has a fixed jackpot, meaning it is not a progressive. Many gamblers avoid the flat-top games, but those players often don't know the progressive jackpot machines have the worst odds. Cleopatra Slots from IGT strikes a happy medium, because it offers what IGT calls a "MegaJackpots" prize. All this means is the prize is fixed, but higher than most of the flat-top prizes. 50,000 coins is really good.
The wild symbol on the game is the Cleopatra icon. This symbol substitutes for any other icon on the game, except the scatter symbol. Wilds increase your chances of completing lines. If a wild symbol completes the win, you receive 2x the normal jackpot prize.
The scatter symbol is the Sphinx icon. These win anytime they appear on the screen and do not need to be in a sequence. The more scatters you receive, the bigger the payout. Two sphinxes equal a 2-coin payout. Three sphinxes equal a 5-coin payout. Four sphinxes equal a 20-coin prize, while five sphinxes pay out 100 coins.
Anytime you receive 3 or more sphinx symbols, this triggers a free spin mode. The number of spins is a base 15, though this can be re-triggered if another sphinx symbol appears during the free spin mode. This triggers +3 free spins. The maximum number of free spins in the bonus mode is 180.
When in the free spin mode, prizes are tripled from their normal amount. This applies with all but the 5-Cleopatra wins (the big jackpot).
Especially with the original version of these slots, the graphics are not cutting edge. I even read one reviewer who called them "quaint", which is a nice way of saying they're outdated. I tell young gamblers they should pay attention to the machines the old-timers play, especially if their graphics are not out-of-this-world. It's a good rule of thumb for finding a gaming machine which pays out nicely. Like the graphics, the sound quality is nothing special.
Those with iPads, iPhones, Android smartphones, or Android tablet computers have the option of playing Cleopatra mobile slots. This is one advantage of the original version of the game, as a Cleopatra II mobile slot machine does not yet exist, to my knowledge. Blackberry, Windows Phone, and Symbian cellphone users have their own casino apps.
Cleopatra II: Game Details
Like its predecessor, Cleopatra II is a 5-reel, 20-payline slot machine. The second version offers wild symbols, scatters, and free spins. If this sounds familiar, it's because the game is remarkably similar in several key aspects. That does not apply to certain features, though.
The free spin mode is much different on Cleopatra II. It has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the original game had a maximum 180 free spins, while the sequel has a maximum of only 50 spins. On the other hand, the original version of the game only had a 3x max multiplier. The free spin version can reach a 50x multiplier, making the game highly volatile. While it's an exciting possibility to hit a 50 times jackpot, this is a rare occurrence.
One big advantage of Cleopatra 2 Slots is the option of instant-play. This means players who use a Mac or Linux operating system are able to play this IGT classic for the first time online. It also means gamblers won't have to download the casino software to their computer, which causes privacy and security concerns for many Internet game enthusiasts. Wherever you go, you can play Cleopatra II slots on a computer.
Slot Machine's Theme
Cleopatra is the most famous of all Egyptian rulers, more famous than Tut, Ramses, Akhenaten, and Nefertiti. The reason she's so famous is she came late in the history of Ancient Egypt. Over a 3,000-year period, the Egyptians had 31 different dynasties. Cleopatra was part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which came after the 31st Dynasty. It's not considered a fully Egyptian family line, because her family was descended from Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals. They were Greek, not Egyptian.
What makes Cleopatra the most famous Ancient Egyptian is she was made both famous and infamous by the Romans. By her time, the Roman Republic dominated most of the lands on the banks of the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt was wealthy and had a much more ancient and glorious history than Rome at that point, but it had been dominated by foreigners for three centuries. Julius Caesar was the leading figure in the Roman Republic at this time, as the general who had conquered Gaul (France) and Britannia (England).
Senators feared that Julius Caesar would seek to make himself the ruler of Rome, while they also feared Cleopatra would try to rule at his side. When he visited her court, she is said to have smuggled herself into the room in a carpet, then had the carpet unrolled so she could appear as if by magic. Caesar was suitably impressed, and they became a couple. When Caesar considered moving Rome's capital to Alexandria, the Roman senators grew alarmed and spread all sorts of rumors about the queen--stories which resound through history.
After Julius Caesar's assassination, Caesar's top general, Marc Antony, joined forces with Caesar's nephew, Octavian, to gain revenge on Caesar's assassins: Brutus, Crassus, and Pompey the Great. Later, Antony and Cleopatra became a couple and plotted to dominate the Roman Republic from their base in Egypt.
Octavian fought them and won, then abolished the Republic. He renamed himself Augustus Caesar, founding the Roman Empire. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they committed suicide to avoid capture. He fell on his sword like a good Roman general is supposed to. If you believe William Shakespeare, Cleopatra died being bitten by an asp. In Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra", the two are portrayed as supreme egotists. Harold Bloom likened Shakespeare's Mark Antony to the "last of the cowboys".
Cleopatra Slots Review
This is a gambler's favorite for a reason. The huge fixed jackpot strikes a nice balance between worthwhile payouts and worthwhile odds. Many players will play a lifetime of progressives and never hit the big jackpot. Cleopatra and Cleopatra II offer a better chance of the excitement of a big jackpot. The sequel offers a max jackpot of 250,000 coins, which makes it an even more exciting proposition for the jackpot-chasers. We, along with several continents full of slots players, give this game high marks.
More Egyptian-Themed Slots
Ancient Egypt is a favorite for slot machine designers. Alongside present-day China, Egypt holds the record as the longest-spanning civilization in human history, at about 3,000 years. With its colorful pantheon of gods and its notable rulers, the pharaohs, Egypt evokes ancient mystery and wealth. It helps that the hieroglyphs have been deciphered and we know so much about the culture. The pyramids are also among the greatest engineering feats in Earth's civilization.
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Beware of impostors. Most other slot machine designers offer their own Cleopatra title. This includes "Treasures of Cleopatra", "Queen of Egypt", "Queen of the Nile", Cleopatra's Coins, Cleopatra's Pyramid, and both Cleopatra's Gold and Jackpot Cleopatra's Gold from RTG. While some of these are popular gaming machines in their own right, they are not the Cleopatra Slots game we described above.