Cleopatra Plus Slot – Free Demo

A sequel that took things out

You frequently encounter a successor slot with the word 'Plus' or 'Deluxe' in the name. The difference isn't instantly obvious, but normally after a handful of spins, or a scan of the paytable, the fresh features, larger potential, or graphical improvement becomes evident. I played 210 spins at 2.00 a spin to work out which of those applied here. There must be a different definition over at IGT. The paytable is headed by the wild, and under it the six deities are the best of the ordinary symbols at 400 times the line bet for five. Compared to the original Cleopatra version, Cleopatra Plus feels like a stride sideways rather than up, and while there have been a few alterations to the free spins feature, several crucial stats have been buried in the sand. Retriggers have been scrapped altogether.

Visually, the two slots are pretty much level with each other, and the Plus version does have a more inviting setting due to the sunnier, warmer shades used in the background picture. Yet, it is basically the identical thing, as is the soundtrack. Aset, Bastet and Hathor are on the reels from the start, and Amun, Ra and Anubis only join them at level 4, stacked on every reel. The 5-reel, 40-payline grid isn't quite so genuine as the first one though: it's tidier, less detailed, and appears like it might genuinely endure in a sandstorm. A Followers counter sits with the reels and ticks towards the next level; in the two frames I grabbed it read 2 and then 5. Altogether, there's very little dividing the two games in the looks or sounds department.

92.89% until the meter moves

The paylines are fixed as well. Only the line bet moves, and each line win is multiplied by the line bet on the line it landed on. The RTP is a sliding one, running from 92.89% up to 96.50% with the Level Up Plus level. Level 1 is the floor of that range and level 8 the top of it.

Stacks of two, three, six or ten

Since so much else stayed the same, it stands to reason ordinary pay symbols are untouched as well, and appearing on all reels is the Cleopatra Plus logo as the wild symbol. It turns up on every reel in the free spins round too. It lands in stacks of 2, 3, 6, or 10. The stack size is drawn fresh on each spin, so a reel can arrive two deep or ten deep. It doubles any win it substitutes into, substitutes for any symbol except the Bonus symbols, and five of them on a line is worth 1,500 times the line bet. A two-high stack on reel 2 was worth 5.00 at my 2.00 bet in one of the spins I captured.

Three maps and the followers placed on them

I probably ruined this bit by noting retriggers are gone, and in its place is, well nothing really, though the free spins round has been modified. Triggering it takes 3 or more Bonus symbols to land anywhere on the reels, and those Bonus symbols also carry followers, which feed the Level Up Plus meter. Each Bonus symbol is worth one follower to start with; from level 3 a Bonus symbol on reel 5 can show 2, and from level 5 it can show 3. However it triggers, the Cleopatra Free Spins Bonus begins with 5 free spins and a 1x multiplier. Those spins run at the same 40 lines and line bet as the spin that triggered them. During the round, 3 to 7 followers are positioned on a Bonus Map – Alexandria, the Nile River Valley, or the Pyramids of Giza. Which of the three you can pick depends on the level: Alexandria from the start, the Nile River Valley next, and the Pyramids of Giza only near the top of the ladder. Each location they are placed on grants one of these:

• Extra free spins, up to 30 of them.
• A free spin multiplier, up to 5x.
• Credits, worth up to 30 times the total bet.
• A last spin multiplier, up to 50x.
• Super Spins, up to 10.

Rounds finish when the free spins run to zero. If the 600,000 cap is reached inside the round, it stops there as well, even with free spins left to play. There's no way to retrigger them. Super Spins, where the level unlocks them, are played after the regular free spins at the same multiplier, lines and line bet. In the base game, Bonus symbols still pay on their own, worth 1, 3, 10, or 50 times the total bet for 2, 3, 4, or 5 of them. Those wins are added to whatever the paylines produced on the same spin.

The ladder wants 1,250 followers

Something brand shiny new is the Level Up Plus system, and eight levels are propelled by the followers collected. Level 8, the top of the ladder, wants 1,250 followers. Ascending them permanently lifts the RTP. The boosts arrive at levels 3, 5, 6 and 8. It also unlocks maps, symbols, deities, the Last Spin Multiplier and Super Spins. The Last Spin Multiplier needs level 6 and Super Spins level 8, so the two headline map awards belong to the far end of the climb.

Final Minty Score: My 210 spins returned 143.80 credits from 420.00 wagered, a 34.2% return. The balance never once rose above the 1,000.00 it started with. The 92.89% floor is the figure that applies until those 50 followers have been gathered.

210 spins at level 1

Cleopatra Plus is peculiar. My meter never got past 5 of the 50 followers that level 2 asks for, so everything above the first level stayed theoretical. It feels like the very reverse of a plus version, and if less is more, then perhaps it qualifies, though that reasoning really runs against the grain when it comes to slot remakes. Maybe this was a trial run of a levelling system for possible future Cleopatra games, if it is favourably received here, because it's tough to think of many justifications for Cleopatra Plus's existence.

Perhaps there was powerful demand for a progression system from Cleopatra devotees? The Bonus symbol carrying a single follower is a base game symbol only, so the meter only moves outside the round. The bonus itself is scarce – across 210 spins at 2.00 a go, I never saw it once. 51 of those spins paid something, and 35 of the 51 paid back less than the 2.00 stake.

This leads to the next Cleopatra Plus puzzle. The cap covers the bonus and the spin that launched it as one transaction. Get the bonus round going mental, and IGT notes the win cap sits at 600,000 credits per transaction – an impressive amount to be sure. Yet no stake multiple is printed anywhere, so I am left guessing what that actually means at any stake. The largest single win I got was 20.00 on spin 109, ten times the stake. The low point was 723.80, which is also where the balance finished. Twenty spins in a row went by without a win before spin 134 broke the run. Either way, why the drop, and why the axing of retriggers? There are so many ponderables in Cleopatra Plus your mind starts blanking if you think too hard about them.

Cleopatra Plus is a decent enough game. The Bonus Map you pick makes no difference to the expected payback until level 7, when the Pyramids of Giza becomes the better choice on a big trigger. But it just didn't seem worth the effort to devise; then again, it's improbable a whole lot of effort was needed to make the minimal tweaks.