Book Of Cleo

Book Of Cleo Slot Review

Black marble columns with gold veining frame the reels, and behind them a queen in a tall blue-and-gold headdress watches every spin from a winged throne. Book Of Cleo, from Tom Horn Gaming, makes an argument you can disagree with: it’s a book slot where the base game, not the free spins, is the main event. Almost every win explodes and re-drops with a rising multiplier, so the reels are rarely standing still between bonuses.

It runs on a 5×3 grid with 9 fixed winlines, pays at 95.05% RTP, and sits at high volatility. Tom Horn have covered adjacent ground in 3 Pots of Aladdin and Giza’s Portals, but the shatter-plus-book combination is this game’s own. The result plays faster and pays harder than nine quiet lines have any right to.

The Base Game and Its Nine Lines

Nine fixed winlines run left to right across the five reels, and winning symbols have to land consecutively from the leftmost reel. Only the highest combination on each line is paid, and all wins are multiples of the total bet. It’s a classic, tidy setup with no surprises in how it pays.

The Book symbol does double duty as wild and scatter, substituting for every symbol in the game, and it only appears on reels 1, 3 and 5. That placement shapes everything: with just three reels carrying it, the scatter count builds slowly, so the free spins round is something you work towards rather than a formality that arrives every few minutes.

The paying symbols step down in five tiers, and the top of the ladder is steep:

• Cleopatra (Queen) – 500x for five, 100x for four, 10x for three, 1x for two
• Ankh – 200x for five, 40x for four, 4x for three, 0.5x for two
• Golden Vase and Eye of Horus – 75x for five, 10x for four, 3x for three, 0.5x for two
• A and K – 15x for five, 4x for four, 0.5x for three
• Q, J and 10 – 10x for five, 2.5x for four, 0.5x for three

Five Queens at the top multiplier in a shatter chain is the sort of hit this game is built around. The royals exist to keep the shatter mechanic fed between those spikes.

High volatility on a nine-line grid means the ladder behaves exactly as it looks: a long flat stretch, then a spike. The two-symbol pays on Queen and Ankh soften the driest stretches slightly, since a pair from the left is enough to register.

SHATTER Mode and the Rising Multiplier

Any win on the screen activates SHATTER mode. The winning symbols explode, new symbols drop into the gaps, and any new win formed that way pays out again. The rules of the chain are simple:

• A maximum of four shatter rounds per win sequence
• The win multiplier climbs by one with each round, up to 4x
• The chain ends when the multiplier reaches x4 or when a round produces no win

That’s the whole mechanic, and on a nine-line game it changes the pace considerably. A single spin can become four paid cascades, with the last one multiplied by four.

The multiplier applies to every round in the chain, not just the final one, so a chain of 1x, 2x, 3x and 4x wins pays each step at its own rate. The climb is what turns a modest line hit into something worth watching.

Free Spins and the Expanding Symbol

Land three Book symbols on the screen at the same time and the round begins. Books gathered while a shatter chain is running count towards that total, so a single cascading spin can deliver the trigger on its own. 10 spins are awarded, every time.

The Special Expanding Symbol

At the start of the round a special expanding symbol is chosen at random. When it forms part of a winning combination it isn’t paid as a normal symbol; instead it expands to cover its entire reel and is evaluated as part of the feature.

Multiple copies don’t need to sit on neighbouring reels to expand, and the Book itself can’t be chosen. If the special symbol isn’t part of a win, it doesn’t expand at all – it only grows when it’s already contributing to a payout.

Retriggers and the Multiplier

Free spins use the same shatter system as the base game, but the multiplier resets to x1 at the start of every spin and rebuilds to 4x through the cascades. If the special symbol expands at the end of a shatter chain, the slot is re-evaluated and only the highest win on each line is paid.

The round’s terms, in short:

• 10 free spins per trigger, and 10 more on every retrigger
• No new special symbol is chosen on a retrigger
• Spins run at the same bet as the triggering base game
• The round can only occur once within the free spins mode itself

Buying the Free Spins

The free spins round can be triggered instantly from the base game for 80x the current total bet, at its own RTP of 95.00% – a hair under the standard game’s 95.05%. The buy comes with tight terms:

• During the buy, no other base game wins are possible except the one that carries you into the round
• No wins are possible in the shatter mode immediately after the free spins end

At high volatility on nine lines, 80x buys the round and nothing around it. You’re paying for the round alone, with the base game switched off on the way in and the follow-up shatter mode switched off on the way out.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.1/10

This is a slot you play for the between-spins part. Cleopatra’s throne room stays quiet and composed while nearly every win detonates and drops again, and that loop – win, shatter, multiply – is the single reason to pick it ahead of any other Egyptian book game on the shelf. The 4x chains turn ordinary line hits into something you actually watch.

Its strength is that the free spins round doesn’t have to carry the game: the expanding symbol that only grows when it’s already winning makes the bonus pay in real bursts. Its weakness is the floor. Nine lines and royals at half a times the bet for three means the stretches between chains are genuinely lean, and there’s no headline ceiling to aim at because the game simply doesn’t publish one.

It’s a good fit for anyone who values a live, reactive base game over a passive one, and a poor one for bonus hunters who only want the round and nothing around it – the buy exists, but at 80x it’s a steep door. For players who like the reels to answer back, this queen’s court is worth sitting in.

Book Of Cleo FAQs

• What is the RTP of Book Of Cleo?

  Book Of Cleo runs at 95.05% RTP in its standard configuration. The bonus buy carries its own RTP of 95.00%.
• Is Book Of Cleo high volatility?

  Yes, Book Of Cleo is a high volatility slot, so wins land less frequently but with more potential for larger payouts when they do.
• How many paylines does Book Of Cleo have?

  The game has 9 fixed winlines, evaluated from left to right, with winning symbols needing to land consecutively from the leftmost reel.
• What is the grid size of Book Of Cleo?

  Book Of Cleo plays on a classic 5×3 grid – five reels and three rows.
• How does SHATTER mode work in Book Of Cleo?

  Any win on the screen triggers SHATTER mode: the winning symbols explode and new symbols drop in. The chain can run for up to four rounds, and the win multiplier increases by one with each round, up to 4x. The mode ends when the multiplier hits x4 or when a round produces no new win.
• How do you trigger free spins in Book Of Cleo?

  You need three Book symbols on the screen at the same time, and the Book only lands on reels 1, 3 and 5. Books collected while a shatter chain is running also count towards the trigger. The round awards 10 spins with a randomly chosen special expanding symbol.
• Can you buy the bonus on Book Of Cleo?

  Yes. The free spins round can be bought instantly from the base game for 80x the current total bet, at an RTP of 95.00%. During the buy, no other base game wins are possible apart from the one that triggers the round.
• Who makes Book Of Cleo?

  Book Of Cleo is made by Tom Horn Gaming. Its release date is 3 November 2023.