What are Megaways in Slots?
If you’ve browsed our selection of slots, chances are that you’ve come across slots with the word Megaways in the title and asked yourself, “What are Megaways?”.
Game provider Big Time Gaming invented Megaways, and the first-ever Megaways game, Dragon Born slot, came out in 2016.
Online slots would enter a whole new era of appearance and features after that, and understanding how Megaways works will give you a much better understanding of many new slot games.
Most importantly, the concept is easy to grasp, so you’ll be playing Megaways slots with ease in no time!
The Ways To Win Mechanic
The Megaways mechanic is part of a group of slot mechanics called “ways-to-win”. With ways-to-win slots, symbols no longer need to land on specific paylines for a win to occur.
Instead, wins will happen as long as the same symbol lands on a qualifying number of adjacent reels, usually counted from left to right.
For example, if a game has five reels, each with five rows, simply landing the same symbol on reels one, two, and three will count as a win, no matter what rows the symbols land on!
The Megaways Mechanic
Megaways differ from standard ways-to-win slots in the way the reels stop on a spin. While regular ways-to-win slot machines will have static reels (same number of rows appearing at all times), Megaways will not.
Instead, each reel spins individually, allowing them to land with different amounts of rows.
The majority of these game titles will allow reels to land with between 2 and 7 rows. For example, A game with five reels can land with 2, 7, 7, 6, 3 rows (from left to right).
This mechanic is crucial, as the more rows on each reel, the more Megaways!
How to Calculate Megaways in a Slot
Although the standard maximum number of Megaways that can appear in a slot is 117,649, this number can be higher, lower, and in anything in between!
So how on Earth would we know that? Obviously, the casino slot will tell you how many Megaways are active–no need for you to pull out your calculator.
The number of Megaways is calculated by multiplying each reel’s rows.
Example time!
A slot with six reels showing 6, 7, 2, 4, 7, 7 rows from left-to-right. 6x7x2x4x7x7 equals 16,464 Megaways. Landing seven rows on each reel, and you’ve got 117,649.
Megaways vs Paylines
Why would you want slot Megaways rather than slot Paylines? We believe it comes down to preference.
While Megaways allow for a much higher number of potential winning “ways” on the reels, paylines will stay true to their word. If you have 35 paylines on one spin, you’ll have 35 paylines the next one as well. No surprises.
A ways-to-win casino slot may also balance the increased number of winning possibilities with a higher number of symbols. Where a payline slot might have, say, nine, a Megaways one might have twelve or more.
Are Megaways Better than other Mechanics?
When looking at Megaways, we’d say it’s more about being different than being better (or worse).
Plenty of players love the thrill of a classic payline slot like Book of Dead, while others much rather land clusters of symbols like the ones in Reactoonz 2.
At the end of the day, it’s all about having fun and hitting that lucky spin!
If you do that on a Megaways slot or any other game here at Pure Win, it is entirely up to you.
Megaways Games at Pure Win
There are close to 100 Megaways slot titles waiting for you here at Pure Win casino! Here are some of the most popular titles:
Gonzo’s Quest Megaways (117,649 ways) - Follow the conquistador from the NetEnt-classic in this Red Tiger slot. Avalanche feature, multipliers, random Earthquake, Unbreakable Wilds, and a Free Spins feature!
Buffalo King Megaways (200,704 ways) - Enjoy the North American wilderness, all set with a tumble feature, Bonus Buy, and unlimited Free Spins bonus feature!
Flower Fortunes Megaways (531,441 ways) - Pot your plants and perceive perfection in this Fantasma Games slot with a huge ways-potential! Collecting orbs activates one of five levels, able to increase the number of ways to win to a staggering 531,441!
