It's probably fair to say that the Cleopatra slot machine from IGT won't need too much of an introduction to most of you. Like some other notable terrestrial slot machines including IGT's own Pharaoh's Fortune, the Cleopatra slot machine has become a bit of an icon down the years, appearing in more B&M casinos than you can shake a stick at and since it came online it's been following a similar path!
The free spin feature in Cleopatra has now become a standard: 15 free spins at 3x but perhaps surprisingly, Cleopatra wasn't the trailblazer. In fact, it was a follower and sprung up sometime after the original version of Aristocrat's Queen Of The Nile slot machine started to make waves in land-based (the version here at GSM is the sequel). So in fact, the Cleopatra machine was itself a copycat that has, in turn, spurned lots of other copycats! Thank God the casino world hasn't gone patent-mad like the world of mobile phones!
IGT followed up the Cleopatra game with the sequel Cleopatra 2 which personally I prefer (the OCV website has both Cleopatra slots to play). It's more volatile than the original but this is to make way for the feature which is free spins once again, but a random number and on each spin, the multiplier increases by +1. Up to a maximum of 50x. On a recent trip to Vegas in fact I noticed that the original Cleopatra slot machine seems to be being phased out by more and more casinos while Cleopatra 2 is holding it's ground. Where I was staying in Encore, there were 4 Cleopatra 2 machines and only one Cleopatra original - and that was a multi-game (4-way) machine! The Wheel Of Fortune games and Aristocrat machines like Where's The Gold by far and away outstripped Cleopatra, which surprised me to be honest.
But nonetheless, the Cleopatra slot machine is constantly in the Top 5 slots at the online casinos that have it because, in Europe expecially, it's still a massively popular slot machine rivalled only by the aforementioned Pharaohs Fortune (also by IGT) and Novomatic's 'Gaminator' slots which include games like Book Of Ra, Dolphin's Pearl and the unusual Sizzling Hot slot which is a port of one of Novomatic's 'Hot' series of games.
As Cleopatra tends to be aging a bit now bless her, it will also be interesting to see if any new 'online only' slots can strip her of her mantle. Even IGT's 3 popular Elvis slots are making a bid to become the next big thing online and licenced games like Playtechs' Marvel slot games, including Fantastic 4, X-Men and the brilliant Iron man 2 slot machine are really gaining in popularity. It wouldn't therefore surprise me if Cleopatra, bless her, started to feel the pinch in the near future but, for now, she remains an icon of the slot machine world.