What Is Megaways? The Engine Explained

Written by Marcus Hale Editor, ReelTeller

Megaways is a reel mechanic rather than a single slot. Big Time Gaming, an Australian studio, introduced it in 2016 and has since licensed it to a long list of other developers. Bonanza became its breakout title. If you have spent time in a UK slot lobby, you have almost certainly played a Megaways title, whether or not the badge caught your eye.

Reels that change height on every spin

A traditional slot uses a fixed window, typically five reels showing three symbols each, with paylines drawn across it. Megaways throws out the fixed window. Each of six reels shows somewhere between two and seven symbols, and the height of every reel is redrawn each time you spin.

Paylines disappear too. A win counts whenever matching symbols appear on neighbouring reels from the leftmost reel onwards, in any row. To get the number of ways on a given spin, multiply the six reel heights together.

That headline figure, often called max megaways, is seven multiplied by itself six times. It is a genuine possibility but an uncommon one; most spins produce a few thousand ways, sometimes into the low tens of thousands. Treat 117,649 as the top of the range, not what an average spin looks like.

Why a bigger ways count does not mean better odds

More ways means more small matches, so designers scale down what each match pays. The total return still has to fit inside the game's RTP. The ways number describes the shape of the grid on that spin and tells you nothing about value.

Cascades and the multiplier that keeps climbing

Most Megaways games add cascading reels. When a win lands, the winning symbols vanish, the ones above slide down, new symbols fall in from the top, and any fresh match pays again. One paid spin can chain into several wins in a row.

The free spins round is where the format earns its reputation. In most titles each cascade lifts a win multiplier by one, and during the feature that multiplier stays where it is from one free spin to the next instead of resetting. Twelve free spins averaging three cascades each finishes somewhere around 36×, which is how the rare very large wins happen. It also explains why two players on the same game describe completely different experiences: one finishes the feature at 4×, another at 40×.

Why the base game feels empty

Players often call Megaways base games dead, and they are not imagining it. With so many ways in play, generous ordinary wins would blow through the RTP budget. So base wins are kept tiny, commonly a fraction of the stake up to about double it, and most of the return is moved into the feature.

On a typical title, somewhere between 60% and 75% of everything the game pays back comes from free spins that trigger perhaps once in every 150 to 250 spins. By design, the base game works as the queue for the feature.

One engine, many licensees

Big Time Gaming licenses the mechanic instead of building every title itself. Blueprint, Red Tiger, iSoftBet, Pragmatic Play and many others pay to use it, which is why the Megaways badge appears on such a wide spread of games.

This is worth knowing when choosing a game. Every licensee gets the same reel behaviour, but each writes its own paytable, feature and multiplier rules on top. Some put real care into the balance; others attach the mechanic to a thin game and lean on the name. The badge promises how the reels move and nothing more.

Titles that shaped the format

• Bonanza from Big Time Gaming: the 2016 original, still the benchmark many players measure others against.
• Extra Chilli: added a gamble on the free spins, letting you risk the spins you won for more of them.
• Buffalo Rising Megaways: one of Blueprint's early licences and still very widely stocked.
• Fishin' Frenzy Megaways: Blueprint's fishing favourite moved onto the variable grid. The classic version has its own page.
• Eye of Horus Megaways: the expanding wild idea from the original applied to six changing reels.
• Twin Spin Megaways and Piggy Riches Megaways: older NetEnt games rebuilt for the engine.

UK build versus offshore build

The engine works the same everywhere. What a casino is allowed to switch on depends on its licence.

The feature buy matters more on Megaways than on most slots. Because so much of the return sits inside free spins, buying in skips the part of the game designed to pay least. That is the reason UK rules removed it, and the reason Megaways plays so differently on sites outside GamStop.

Sites carrying full offshore builds with the buy switched on are listed on our Megaways slots not on GamStop page. If you joined GamStop because gambling had become a problem, leave the exclusion in place. GamCare offers free, confidential support on 0808 8020 133.

What to look at in a Megaways paytable

• Reel range. Six reels of two to seven symbols is the norm. Some games add a horizontal reel across the top, which raises the ways count further.
• Ways ceiling. 117,649 belongs to the six by seven grid. A game quoting 200,704 or another figure is built on a different layout, so check what it is.
• Trigger rule. Four scatters is usual. Games needing five trigger noticeably less often.
• Retriggers. Whether more scatters during the feature add extra spins. Games without retriggers are much tougher.
• Multiplier behaviour. The key line. If the multiplier resets every free spin rather than carrying over, the top end of the game is far lower.

Variance and the size of your stake

Nearly every Megaways game sits at the high or extreme end of volatility. That follows from the format: the same grid swings between 64 ways and 117,649, so outcomes spread very widely.

In practice that means stake size matters. £100 at £1 a spin often runs out before the first feature on a game where free spins land around once in 150 spins or less often. The volatility guide shows how to size stakes for a game like this.

Megaways with a bonus balance

If you are playing through a wagering requirement, Megaways is about the hardest place to do it. Large swings tend to empty the balance before the playthrough is done, and the cap on stake size stops you from moving quickly.

A feature buy during a bonus is riskier still. The buy price nearly always exceeds the largest stake the bonus terms allow, and casinos commonly void the bonus and its winnings when that happens. See how wagering terms work.

RTP versions are common

Megaways games are among the slots most often shipped in several RTP versions, with the operator picking which one to run. Two sites can host the same title at different returns. Open the help screen before your first spin and read the figure; the RTP guide shows where it usually sits.

Questions people ask

Do Megaways slots have a higher RTP?

Generally not. They fall in the same band as other modern slots, roughly 94% to 96.5%, and they come in multiple versions like everything else. The ways mechanic changes how wins arrive, not how much comes back.

Does a higher ways count on a spin help me?

Only in the sense that you see more small wins on that spin. Payouts per match are scaled to compensate, so the total value is unchanged.

Which Megaways slot pays the most?

Nobody can honestly name one. What you can compare are the published figures: the RTP version the site runs, the maximum win and how often the feature triggers. All three are in the paytable.