Megaways™ Slots – Your Ultimate Guide
10 min
Megaways™ slots have taken the online casino world by storm. Created by Big Time Gaming, these highly innovative, top-notch designed video slots place a large number of winning combinations in the palm of your hand.
In this ultimate guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Megaways™ slots to make your playing time as enjoyable as possible. Read on to discover Megaways™ slots!
What are Megaways™ slots?
- How Megaways™ slots work
- Why should you play Megaways™ slots?
- Number of ways to win
- Megaways™ slots game features
- Megaways™ slots with cascading reels
- Megaways™ slots with an unlimited multiplier
- Megaways™ slots with mystery symbols
- Buy Your Bonus feature
- The best Megaways™ slots to play
- Bonanza
- Extra Chilli
- Diamond Mine
- Joker Megaways
- Super Wild Megaways
- White Rabbit
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire
- Piggy Riches Megaways
- 88 Fortunes Megaways
- Genie Jackpots Megaways
- How do I win on Megaways™?
- How to calculate your ways-to-win in Megaways™ slots
- Megaways™ Promotions
- Play Megaways™ slots at Betsson
- More Megaways™ FAQs
What are Megaways™ slots?
Megaways™ slots were invented by Australian casino software provider – Big Time Gaming (BTG). Their first slot Dragon Born reached the market in 2015, but the following year was ground-breaking for the company with the launch of Bonanza, a slot that remains popular among casino players all over the world. This trend was successfully followed by other slot machines such as Extra Chilli, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Genie Jackpots to name a few.
Leaving the traditional approach to video slots behind, BTG focused on creating an ultimate experience with cutting-edge technology and winning combinations that can reach up to 117,649 during one game round. Together with beautiful and well-designed graphics, they took conventional video slots to a whole new level.
How Megaways™ slots work
When you open the game, the first thing that you’ll see are 6 reels (typically), each of which can have from one to up to seven or even eight symbols. Each symbol may have a different size and it’s randomly generated during each spin.
In some slots, you can also see the extra row above or below the standard reels. It usually contains 4 symbols and it spins horizontally not vertically. This row simply adds the extra symbol to every reel it is above or below.
Winning paylines on Megaways™ slots are based on multiplying the number of matching symbols, or matching symbols and any wilds, that you can see on adjacent reels with your stake. In most Megaways™ slots, you’ll see the number of possible winning combinations for the spin above the reels or in the top left corner. The winning combinations are always calculated from left to right.
Other types of this slot include the cascading feature where landing at least three identical symbols on adjacent reels causes them to vanish and make way for another combination. This can increase your ways of winning up to 117,649 in one spin, however, you can also find slots with a much higher winning potential.
Why should you play Megaways™ slots?
Megaways™ are some of the best slots to play for quite a few reasons, namely:
Number of ways to win
One of the benefits that makes the Megaways™ slots stand out from others, is the possibility to reach enormously high winnings with each spin. Unlike standard slots with fixed paylines, this type of game can reach tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ways to win.
Megaways™ slots game features
Big Time Gaming took their innovative approach even further by creating a range of extra features that kick your gaming experience up a notch. Starting from cascading reels through to unlimited multipliers and special symbols, let’s take a closer look at some of these unique features.
Megaways™ slots with cascading reels
Cascading reels made their first appearance in the Bonanza slot, in 2016. From then on, this special feature became a staple in almost all Megaways™ slots.
Whenever you hit the same symbols on adjacent reels, they disappear. At this instant, new symbols drop into the available spaces, to replace the missing ones and give you another chance to win on the same spin. Your payout is then re-calculated and more winnings are added to your balance. This can continue until there are no more winning combinations on the reels.
Megaways™ slots with an unlimited multiplier
Another special feature in Megaways™ slots is the unlimited multiplier which you’ll find in the majority of these slots, however not all of them.
The unlimited multiplier is activated once you trigger the free spins. Usually, you can reach the free spins feature when you hit three or more scatters symbols anywhere on the reel. At that point, your winnings are multiplied by one. The value of the multiplier increases with every subsequent win without a maximum limit. Together with the cascading feature, it can give you a good chance at a serious win amount.
Megaways™ slots with mystery symbols
The next feature that is available for Megaways™ players is mystery symbols. These symbols can transform into any other symbol from the paytable and can appear as single or double or even more on the reels.
With every mystery symbol, you get a chance to multiply your stake even without triggering the bonus round. You can also get a higher payout with lower value symbols. When this feature is paired with bonus rounds and cascading reels, you can enhance your potential reward enormously.
Buy Your Bonus feature
Big Time Gaming also found a solution for the players that don’t like to wait for free bonus rounds. The buy-in bonus feature is available in some of Megaways™ video-slots.
Just simply look at the ‘buy’ or ‘press to buy’ option to activate a pop-up window where you can see the amount for which you can buy free spins. The cost of free rounds is multiplied by X number of times your bet. In White Rabbit, it will be 100x your bet while in others like Extra Chilli it can be lower, around 50x your stake.
The best Megaways™ slots to play
| Bonanza Game provider: Big Time Gaming RTP: 96.00% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 | Extra Chilli Game provider: Big Time Gaming RTP: 96.15-96.82% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 |
| Diamond Mine Game provider: Blueprint RTP: 96.43% Reels: 5 Ways-to-win: 117,649 | Joker Megaways™ Game provider: Gamesinc RTP: 96.56% Reels: 3 Ways-to-win: 512 |
| Super Wild Megaways™ Game provider: Relax RTP: 96.07% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 | White Rabbit Game provider: Big Time Gaming RTP: 97.39% Reels: 5 Ways-to-win: 248,832 |
| Who Wants to be a Millionaire Game provider: Big Time Gaming RTP: 96.24% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 | Piggy Riches Megaways Game provider: Red Tiger Gaming RTP: 95.71% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 |
| 88 Fortunes Megaways™ Game provider: SG Digital RTP: 96.06% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 117,649 | Genie Jackpots Megaways™ Game provider: Blueprint RTP: 96.52% – 97.13% Reels: 6 Ways-to-win: 15,625 |
How do I win on Megaways™?
On the first box with six reels, you can see the winning combinations. The same symbol was hit on four adjacent reels. On the second box marked with a red cross, there is a losing combination. The green symbol was hit on a first, third and fourth reel but not on the second. This breaks the line of matching symbols.
Keep in mind that the payout is calculated from left to right and that even though the height of the symbols can differ, your final winnings won’t be affected.
How to calculate your ways-to-win in Megaways™ slots
In most Megaways™ slots you can have up to 117,649 possible ways to win but more often than not, the number of winning combinations will be smaller. Let’s run through an example of how to calculate this yourself:
- Reel 1: 5 symbols
- Reel 2: 3 symbols
- Reel 3: 2 symbols
- Reel 4: 2 symbols
- Reel 5: 3 symbols
- Reel 6: 4 symbols
Now, you simply multiply the number of symbols seen on each reel:
5x3x2x2x3x4 = 720 winning combinations
Remember, you’ll see the number of possible winning combinations in the box above the reels or on the left top corner, so you won’t need to calculate this yourself each time.
Megaways™ Promotions
Big Time Gaming and other game providers consistently release new games with cutting-edge themes, exciting features and even more possible ways to win. Here at Betsson, we offer frequent promotions on the latest and old-time favourite Megaways™ slots on our Promotions page so be sure to check them out!
Play Megaways™ slots at Betsson
Now that you have a better understanding of how Megaways™ slots work, how to play and what to look out for, it’s time to put theory into practice. Simply sign up at our casino and start playing!
More Megaways™ FAQs
What does Megaways™ mean?
Megaways™ is a trademark for the innovative mechanism used for a range of video slots created by software provider Big Time Gaming. It’s based on changeable reels where the number of symbols on each reel can differ (from one to eight) as each symbol can have a varying height. This way, each slot can offer hundreds of thousands of winning combinations during one game round.
Are Megaways™ slots the new jackpot slot?
With the potential to offer up to 117,649 or more winning combinations, each Megaways™ slot can award massive winnings. Especially, when you combine it with other functionalities such as multipliers, special symbols, bonus rounds and other modifiers offered in each game.
The main difference between Megaways™ slot and jackpot slot lies in the winning potential. The progressive jackpot can reach eye-watering amounts as the winnings increase over time with every game that is not won. In the case of Megaways™ slots, the payout is limited to a max amount of winning combinations available for each game. Also, their theoretical RTP stays similar to other slots. A large number of possible paylines doesn’t influence the RTP.
Although Megaways™ slots have a jackpot-size potential, their main appeal is their blend of impressive features, excellent quality and outstanding game experience.
Why should you play Megaways™ slots?
What makes Megaways™ slots different from other games available in online casinos is the possibility to get a large number of winning combinations. This together with ace features and reel modifiers as well as amazing animation and sound effects gives outstanding gaming experience.
Also, Big Time Gaming collaborates with their partners to create more and more games that can surprise you with every detail and functionality packed in each slot. They truly master and challenge the online casino games world. So, whether you feel the heat in Extra Chilli or share your wishes with the genie in Genie Jackpots, you’re sure to find a title that suits your style.
What are the most popular Megaways™ slots?
The most popular Megaways™ slots in our casino are Bonanza, Extra Chilli, Diamond Mine and Fishin’ Frenzy.
Are Megaways™ slots worth playing?
Megaways™ slots are highly innovative and well-designed games that offer high potential return on your stake. What distinguishes them from others is their features, exceptional quality and the large amount of ways to win. A combination of these features provides great entertainment, making them well-worth playing in an online casino.
Should I gamble my bonus feature on a Megaways™ slot?
Some Megaways™ slots such as Extra Chilli or Vikings Unleashed give you the possibility to gamble the bonus feature once it has become available to you. You can exchange it for more spins, or you can try to boost the size of your starting multiplier.
Once you start your bonus round with extra spins or a higher multiplier, you can reveal a world of possible big winnings. But there is a catch; if you lose the gamble, your bonus feature can be over before it even starts.
Can I claim a Megaways™ bonus?
You can get a Megaways™ bonus at Betsson. We run frequent promotions you can keep up-to-date with via our Promotions page or by subscribing to our communications to be notified about casino campaigns via email, SMS, or on-site messages.
