Egyptian theming over a serious bonus: complete a win on the last ball and you earn 12 free games, every one of them paying double.
Cleopatra Keno is the most recognisable video keno game in North America. The Egyptian theming, the gold and lapis colour scheme, and the Cleopatra artwork are lifted straight from IGT's slot line, and the game is often the first one players find on a keno bank.
Behind the theme sits the most substantial bonus in mainstream video keno. Complete a winning combination with the last ball drawn and you trigger 12 free games, each paying a 2x multiplier. Unlike the single-game multipliers in Power and Super Keno, this bonus keeps paying long after the trigger.
The trigger condition is specific and it is the part players most often get wrong. It is not enough for the last ball to be one of your picks. That last ball has to be the one that completes a winning combination.
So a 6-spot ticket that catches 4, where the fourth catch arrived on the last ball, triggers the bonus because 4 of 6 is a paying row. A ticket that catches the last ball but only reaches 2 of 6 does not trigger, because 2 of 6 pays nothing. The last ball must be the ball that gets you over the line.
Twelve free games at 2x is a much longer tail than a single 4x on one game. A Power Keno 4x resolves instantly and is gone. A Cleopatra trigger hands you a dozen games with no further money in the machine, each doubled, and each with its own chance to retrigger. That said, the trigger is a compound condition, needing a winning catch and needing the last ball to be the one completing it, so it fires considerably less often than a Power Keno multiplier. The two roughly balance out. Neither variant is a licence to expect a different long-run return.
Some cabinets present the bonus slightly differently, and a few older configurations use a redraw-and-double presentation rather than a free games count. The help screen on the machine is the authority on which version you are sitting at.
The trigger condition shapes the only strategic decision Cleopatra Keno really offers, which is spot count.
Because the bonus requires the last ball to complete a paying combination, spot counts that cash reasonably often trigger it more. Very high spot counts rarely reach a paying row at all, so the bonus stays theoretical.
This band cashes often enough that the last ball has real opportunities to be the completing catch, while still paying enough for 12 doubled games to be meaningful.
Your 12 free games are played at whatever bet triggered them. Dropping your denomination right before a trigger is not something you can plan for, but it is worth knowing the bonus is sized by the bet that earned it.
Cleopatra Keno is the most heavily marketed keno game on most floors, and a well-known name is not a good paytable. Read the help screen and compare it against a plain machine before assuming the bonus makes up the difference.
Cleopatra Keno is genuinely enjoyable and the free games round is the best sustained bonus in the category. Play it for that. Run your spot count through the odds calculator to see how often you can realistically expect to reach a paying catch, since that is the gate the bonus sits behind.
Cleopatra Keno pays on the standard IGT Game King schedule. Free games are paid on the same schedule with a 2x multiplier applied, so the table below is your base win before any bonus round.
| Pick | Catch 3 | Catch 4 | Catch 5 | Catch 6 | Catch 7 | Catch 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 spots | 5x | 40x | – | – | – | – |
| 5 spots | 3x | 10x | 400x | – | – | – |
| 6 spots | 2x | 5x | 49x | 1,000x | – | – |
| 7 spots | 1x | 2x | 22x | 275x | 2,500x | – |
| 8 spots | 1x | 2x | 10x | 40x | 500x | 5,000x |
Payouts are shown as a multiple of your per-card bet on the standard IGT Game King schedule. The free games bonus and its 2x multiplier are not included in these figures.
Operators configure their own paytables, so two Cleopatra Keno machines on the same floor can pay differently for the same catch. The schedule above is the common baseline, not a guarantee. Pull up the machine's help screen and compare it against the keno odds calculator before you commit a session budget.
Cleopatra Keno is an IGT title and is the single most widely installed keno game in the United States. If a venue has video keno at all, it very likely has this.
Cleopatra Keno is usually banked on the same cabinet as Caveman Keno and Power Keno, so you can compare all three from one seat. Check each game's help screen, since the base paytable can vary between games on the same machine. To learn the base game at no cost, our free keno game runs in the browser.
Video keno resolves in seconds, which makes it easy to play hundreds of games an hour without noticing. Set a per-session budget before you sit down and leave when you reach it. For problem gambling resources, call 1-800-522-4700 or visit our resources page.
Cleopatra Keno is an Egyptian-themed IGT video keno game built around a free games bonus. If the last ball drawn completes a winning combination on your ticket, you trigger 12 free games, each of which pays a 2x multiplier on any win. The base game is standard video keno: pick your spots, 20 numbers are drawn from 80, and you are paid on your catch.
The 20th and final ball drawn must be one of your selected numbers, and it must be the ball that completes a paying combination on the paytable. It is not enough for the last ball simply to be one of your picks. If your catch does not reach a paying row, there is no trigger, because there is no winning combination for that final ball to complete.
A trigger awards 12 free games, each played at the bet that triggered the bonus and each paying a 2x multiplier on any win. On most configurations the bonus can retrigger during the free games, adding further free games on top. Check the machine help screen, since some older cabinets present the bonus as a redraw and double instead.
They trade off against each other. Cleopatra pays 12 doubled free games but has a compound trigger, needing both a winning catch and the last ball to complete it, so it fires less often. Power Keno pays an instant 4x on a simpler condition that comes up more frequently. Neither reliably returns more over time. The base paytable the operator sets matters far more than the choice between them.
The 4 to 8 spot range works best. Because the bonus requires the last ball to complete a paying combination, you need a spot count that actually reaches paying rows with reasonable frequency. Very high spot counts rarely cash at all, which leaves the bonus almost entirely out of reach.
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