There are many different types and styles of casino slots, but one genre in particular tends to have both big appeal and a degree of confusion in equal measures. That is Megaways slots, which are much sought-after games because they offer an enormous number of ways to win from a single spin of the reel.
You can look at any of the casino sites at Legalbet that only lists reputable gaming platforms, and find plenty of Megaways that offer more than 100,000 ways to win. But what does that mean exactly for the player?
How are Megaways different from the regular type of slot machines that have set pay lines to create a set number of ways to win? There are major variations, and here we explore what is going on behind the scenes that make Megaways slots so mega.
Megaways vs Regular Slots
A Megaways slot doesn’t rely on a set number of pay lines like regular slots do. On a regular slot, you can bet on how many pay lines per spin that you want, maybe one, five or ten. That will determine the number of different ways that you can score a payout from such machines.
But Megaways slots strip away that concept of being locked into pay lines and do everything without them. A Megaways machine will randomly generate a different number of ways to win, by adding a massive boost of randomness into the reels.
What are the Mechanics of Megaways?
A regular slot machine will typically have between three and five reels. The game’s symbols are fixed on those reels as well, having only a certain number of them per reel, perhaps three or five. All that adds up to there only being a limited number of ways to win.
But on a Megaways slot, each of the reels in play can display a different number of symbols per spin, up to a maximum of seven. Because of that increased variety and potentially higher frequency of symbols, it increases the potential ways to win.
Essentially, from each spin on a Megaways machine, each reel will have a different configuration from the previous one. It also means that each spin will have a different number of ways to win because of the randomness.
The Math Behind the Magic
Each reel on a Meagways can display up to seven symbols. So from there, the maximum number of ways can be calculated. Assuming a five-reel Megaways, the maths would simply be 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 = 16,807 ways to win.
A six-reel Megaways would have 117,649 ways to win per spin, and a seven-reel one would have 823,543 ways to win. You can simply look at the screen of a Megaways slot and it will tell you how many ways there are to win.
What About the Paylines?
Pay lines, or the lack thereof, is another big difference between regular and Megaways slots and regular machines at a casino. Megaways don’t use set pay lines and instead rely on the “all ways pay” gaming format.
Symbols just need to appear on adjacent reels and it’s not important exactly where the matching symbols are on those reels. Without the limitations of pay lines, therefore, this setup simply allows for all possible combinations of wins.
Adding Up
So this all adds up to Megaways offering a substantial number of ways to win, and that gives them their big appeal. You can commonly find Megaways boasting more than 100,000 ways to win and because of newer innovations, some even reach above 200,000 ways.
There are further features that are incorporated into Megaways as well, such as cascading reels. That’s when symbols that contribute to a win disappear and get replaced with new ones to potentially boost the win.
You can find other modifiers and bonus games depending on the Megawys slot, just like regular video slots. There will also be a different balance between RTP% and volatility, and on Megaways, the latter is typically towards the higher end.
Where Did Megaways Come From?
The Megaways mechanics were developed by Big Time Gaming. You will see the Megaways format appear in games from other developers too, however, and that is because Big Time Gaming licences the technology out to other slots suppliers such as Red Tiger. Big Time Gaming’s first Megaways was called DragonBorn which was released in 2015.
