Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra

Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra Slot Review

Slot Provider: Play n Go

RTP: 96.25% | Variance: Medium | Maximum Win: 5,500x

Our Score: 8.2

Play at Barz Casino
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WHY YOU CAN TRUST THIS REVIEW: The information and opinions on this page are the result of an comprehensive process of information gathering and live game testing by the gambling experts who work at allslotsites.com. Find out more here.

About Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra

Reviewed by:

Published Date: 31st October 2023

How We Review Slot Games

We test and rate all slot games across 5 criteria, assigning a score out of 10 for each and an overall score that is an average of the 5. To build an accurate assessment of each game we gather information from the supplier and play in real play or demo mode. Find out more.

Charlie Chance and The Curse of Cleopatra is the third in the series of vintage cartoon-style slots from Play n Go featuring the hapless Charlie Chance. This one is a mid-variance game with a 5,500x top win and a Cluster Pays format. Every win triggers a Cascade and the chance to build a progressive multiplier up to 3x in the base game and 10x in the free spins round. There are also Cleo’s Columns that land as identical columns of symbols on adjacent reels, random wilds and Serpent’s Trails of identical symbols to help build clusters.  Play from 20p per spin.

Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra Game Information

  • RTP: 96.25% | 94.27% | 91.26% | 87.24% | 84.23%
  • Variance: Medium
  • Maximum Win: 5,500x
  • Progressive Jackpot: No
  • Reels: 6
  • Rows: 6
  • Paylines: Cluster Pays
  • Minimum Stake: £0.20
  • Theme: Cartoon
  • Features: Wilds, Random Wilds, Serpent's Trail, Free Spins, Mega Symbols, Cleo's Columns

Testing Notes: Here’s What Happened When We Played Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra

IMPORTANT: To give you an accurate assessment of the games we review our writers play 200 spins. Whilst this is a useful tool to help us review games and to give an example of what might happen when you play, keep in mind that 200 spins is only a very small sample and cannot be used to accurately predict what might happen over another 200 spins. The outcome of all slots play is always random.

Boom Or Bust? Our Session By The Numbers

I played 200 spins on Charlie Chance and The Curse of Cleopatra for real money at Duelz Casino to test the game and this is what happened.

  • Stake Size: £0.2
  • Start balance: £14.84
  • End balance: £2.79
  • Biggest Win: 9.5x
  • Free Spins: 0
  • Session Time: 25 minutes 8 seconds

This was a mixed session with plenty of base game modifiers, but surprisingly for a medium variance slot, not a sniff of the free spins round. The most common feature to drop was Cleo’s Column which triggered no less than 25 times over 200 spins 9 (12%) and felt that way too! The random Wild Scarabs dropped 6 times and were pretty useful, and the Serpent’s Trail 5 times with mixed results. The Mega Charlie – a 2×2 Charlie that transforms into a Mega Wild landed just 5 times.

A 9.5x Win From Curse of Cleopatra
A 9.5x win was the biggest payout from 200 spins

In terms of wins, there were lots of small ones but nothing sizeable. The biggest was 9.5x which is quite poor over 200 spins.  However, at 20p per play my balance still lasted longer than you might expect and a 25 minute session from 200 spins is longer than you get with most games. In short, this game behaved exactly like the mid-varaince game it is. It was just disappointing not to get a look at those free spins.

What We Liked

  • Three fun base game features
  • Cleo's Columns drops very frequently
  • Lots of small, but regular wins
  • Fun vintage cartoon style
  • Chance to land Mega Symbols and Wilds

What We Didn't like

  • Not as exciting as the first two games
  • Some low RTP settings

Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra Review Scores

  • Theme and Design 8
  • RTP and Variance 8
  • Maximum Win 8
  • Symbols and Paytable 8
  • Features and Gameplay 9

What Our Reviewer Says ...

"A new adventure with Charlie with a nice selection of base game features but lacking the charisma of Hell To Pay or the massive potential of XReelZ!"

Overall Score: 8.2

Theme & Design

Our Score 8

The Fun Vintage Cartoon Style Is Consistent With The Original Charlie Chance Slots

The Curse of Cleoptra sees Charlie Chance in a new adventure with an Eastern theme as he seeks out treasures in hidden tombs. But he’s not quite Rich Wilde …

Curse of Cleopatra by Play n Go
The Curse of Cleopatra – Charlie lands in Egypt for a new adventure

In the move from Hellish firepits to an Ancient Egyptian-setting we might have lost some of the charm of the original Charlie Chance games in my opinion. The Betty-Boo style character who tormented Charlie in Hell to Pay and XReelZ is here, this time dressed up as Cleopatra herself, but Charlie rarely appears, except to usher in the Cleo’s Columns feature or as a Mega Wild. So if you enjoyed watching him leaping around in Hell To Pay then you’ll be disappointed. Nonetheless, there is continuity in the illustration style and the detail in the drawings is superb. You’ll notice new things every time you play, like the little scarabs running around in the background, or Charlie peeping out from a trunk to the left of the grid. Throughout, our Cleo-Betty character dances along to the soundtrack to the right and overall the production is of a high quality.

RTP and Variance

Our Score 8

What is RTP?

RTP (Return to Player) refers to the amount a game will pay out in cash prizes expressed as a percentage of all the money wagered on that game. For example, a 96% RTP means a game will pay out £96 for every £100 wagered. This is an average number and will vary from one session to the next.  Read more here.

What is Variance?

Variance refers to how far a game will deviate from its RTP over time. High variance games deviate a lot and produce uneven win distributions and unexpected windfalls. Low variance games provide a more stable and even distribution of wins. Read more here.

In Curse of Cleopatra Play n Go have dialled the variance back down to the same medium level as the original Hell To Pay game, making for a more balanced win distribution and more regular payouts than XReelZ.

The optimum RTP here is 96.25% which is good and gets no complaints. However, there are four lower RTP settings though – 94.27%, 91.26%, 87.24% or 84.23% – and it will be at your casino’s discretion which to run the game at. I recommend that you check the RTP at your chosen site before playing with real money to be sure you are getting good value for money. I checked a few sites that we regularly use for testing games and all – including Casumo and Barz Casino – were using the 94.27% RTP.

Stakes start at 20p.

Maximum Win

Our Score 8

What Is Maximum Win?

Maximum win refers to the maximum amount a player can win from one spin. It is expressed as a multiple of the stake. For example, where the maximum win is 100,000x, from a £1 stake, the maximum win would be £100,000.  

Curse of Cleopatra has the lowest max win of the three Charlie Chance games to date at 5,500x. It is close to its mid-variance counterpart, Hell To Pay (6,666x) but significantly lower than XReelZ where a 20,000x potential matches the high volatility game engine. For a mid-variance slot, 5,500x is good, and with more regular wins it’s a fair trade off in my opinion.

Symbols and Paytable

Our Score 8

Curse of Cleopatra plays out on a 6×6 grid with wins triggered by landing 5 or more identical symbols touching horizontally or vertically, or both. One of the exciting parts about Cluster Pays games is that you can build super-sized clusters. On a 6×6 grid they can be as many as 15 or more symbols in size, which makes for some huge payouts which we see at the top of the paytable at 500x.

Curse of Cleopatra Paytable
The paytable in Curse of Cleopatra with 500x wins for 15 or more premiums

But before we get there, the low payers are four hieroglyph symbols. These are valued at from 0.1x for 5 of the wavy line symbols, up to 10x for 15 or more of the leaves. The premiums come in at 0.5x for 5 of the blue flowers and max out at 500x for 15 or more Pharaohs.

There is also a Wild which is represented by the Scarab Beetle and substitutes for all other symbols to complete clusters.

Features and Gameplay

Our Score 9

Whilst your ultimate goal in Charlie Chance And The Curse of Cleopatra is to unlock that free spins round, there are some nice extras in the base game to keep things interesting even before you do. So, let’s start there.

Win Multiplier and Three Modifiers In The Base Game

If you enjoy progressive features then you’ll like the multiplier that grows with consecutive wins. It starts at 1x and increases by 1x for each 3 consecutive wins. It is capped at 3x which is achieved after 9 wins in a row.

You also get these 3 modifiers which trigger at random.

Flying Scarab Wilds – These occur on ANY spin. Anywhere from 5 to 8 Scarab Beetle Wilds fly around the screen and randomly land on the grid to help complete more clusters.

Flying Scarab Wilds Random Feature
Flying Scarab Wilds add up to 8 wilds to the grid

Serpent’s Trail – Occurs on ANY non-winning spin. A serpent appears on the grid and forms a trail of symbols which either destroy to trigger a new cascade or transform into the same symbol.

The Serpent's Trail Feature
The Serpents Trail leaves a trail of identical symbols or disappearing ones

Cleo’s Columns – Occurs on ANY spin. Two adjacent columns on the grid land with the same symbols on each row. This MAY bring up the Charlie Mega Symbols which is a 2×2 version of Charlie doing an Egyptian dance. He triggers low payers adjacent to him to be destroyed before turning into a Mega Wild for the chance to create even bigger clusters.

Cleo's Column Adds 2 Identical Columns
2 Identical Columns on adjacent reels from Cleo’s Columns

Get 8 Free Spins With 3 Scatters

The free spins round comes with some nice enhancements. Firstly, you’ll need 3 Cleopatra scatters to trigger it. And you’ll get 4 more for each extra scatter that lands.

Any active multiplier from the triggering spin is carried over and you’ll get a 1x increase to that multiplier for each cascade that occurs. Importantly, your multiplier does NOT re-set between spins. Also, Cleo’s Columns is active on every spin, and the other 2 modifiers may also trigger at any time.

The Final Verdict

On paper, Curse of Cleopatra looks like an interesting move from Play n Go, taking the story in a new direction to Ancient Egypt and doing so with a Cluster Pays format. But whilst the maths and the features look good, in reality this slot fell a bit short of expectation in testing. If you don’t get the free spins round to trigger then it can be a bit of a slog, with plenty of those small wins, lots of Cleo’s Columns and the occasional random wild feature, but nothing to really get your teeth into. If the game had bigger potential and a higher variance it might have been more interesting, but without that, it fell flat for me. The cartoon action is also less fun than you find in Hell To Pay, where you see more of Charlie leaping around when the Feature Board triggers. This is not a bad game, just not as good as the previous versions which I would head to before giving this one a spin.

Useful Tips When Playing Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra

Remember, online slots are games of chance, there is NO strategy that can improve your odds of winning. However, reading our review and following these tips will help you get the most out of your time playing this slot game.

1. Be Patient To Unlock Free Spins

It may have been an unlucky run but I didn’t unlock free spins once in 200 spins. That shows you need some patience to hit that bonus round. It may even be worth sticking to the 20p minimum stake to give yourself a chance.

2.  Watch Out For The Random Wilds

The random scarab wilds feature only unlocked 6 times in testing but it was the most fruitful when 6 landed on one spin. You can build some nice clusters this way if you get lucky with where they land.

3.  Find A Play n Go Bonus

You can pick up a nice slots bonus to play this and other Play n Go slots. For example, Barz Casino give you a 100% match up to £300 which can be used on Curse of Cleopatra.

4.  Play Only At Licensed UK Slot Sites

All the sites on this page are licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and regulated under UK law which ensures that they are safe, fair and secure.

Who Made Charlie Chance And The Curse Of Cleopatra?

  • Name: Play n Go
  • Established: 1997
  • UK License: Remote 021725-R-304911-020
  • Total Games: 200 +
  • Known For: Grid slots, high variance slots, huge range of themes, styles and maths models
  • Popular Slots: Book of Dead, Reactoonz 1 and 2, Troll Hunters 2, Rise of Olympus
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