What is a Megaways™ slot?

Megaways™ slot: what is it?
Jul 25, 2024
Written by Philippe

A Megaways™ slot is a slot that use an innovative mechanism to create a never before seen gaming experience. If you’ve never tried one before, you owe it to yourself to try one in the very near future.

Slots featuring the Megaways™ mechanism are quickly becoming by far the most popular slots in the casinos that are smart enough to be early adopters and offer them up to their playing public.

So what is the difference between a Megaways™ slot and a regular video slot?

Differences between a Megaways slot and a classic slot

The magic of these special slots has a lot to do with their unique and special format. These particular slots have a structure that is based on six reels. Also, they usually have another horizontal reel included, this reel having four symbols.

Egyptian Heroes video slot
Normal video slot
Bonanza Megaways™ slot
Megaways™ slot

What this means is that each time you hit “spin”, you have the possibility to get from two to seven symbols each time per reel. This makes for a much more dynamic game than the kind of game you’d get with a classic slot.

Megaways™ mechanism

Because of what we have just mentioned, Megaways™ slots are also much more complicated than your average run of the mill garden variety slot. The nature of these slots means that each turn is completely different from the previous one.

This vastly increases the number of winning possibilities, but perhaps more importantly, it vastly increases the adrenaline of playing and player enjoyment.

It is estimated that most of these types of slots give over 100,000 ways to win – in some cases, over 200,000!

Big Time Gaming, creator of the Megaways™ slots

The Big Time Gaming company has been around in some form or other since 1996, back when it was known as New Tech Media. Even then, it was at the absolute forefront of the industry.

Big Time Gaming

New Tech Media was then sold to New Corp and merged with another New Corp asset, eventually being renamed as Openbet.

Star Clusters Megaclusters™ is Big Time Gaming’s latest offer in a long line of successes in online gaming.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Megaways™ is another hit and part of their branded line of slots, which are also popular.

Mystery Box™ and Monopoly Megaways™ are other similar offerings, and the new Survivor Megaways™ has been live on LeoVegas casino since April 14th.

Megaways has recently had another exciting and positive development within the industry. They have created a special license which can allow other game developers to create slots with the same characteristics as Megaways™ games.

This will allow for further proliferation of the Megaways™ line while still being able to retain an element of control essential to preserving the essence of the brand.

Nik Robinson, Big Time Gaming CEO

Nik Robinson, Big Time Gaming's CEO

Nik Robinson is the standing CEO of Big Time Gaming. He is very proud of the behemoth he has built in the industry. This is especially true because he has been with the company since the inception of New Tech Media.

It’s truly been a long and enjoyable ride for him, and he has great hopes for the future of Big Time Gambling.

Megaways™ license resold to other providers

So far, the following game providers have taken up the licensing offer from Big Time Gaming: Blueprint Gaming (part of Germany’s Gauselmann Group and a prominent gaming studio now based in the UK), Play’n GO (a Swedish gaming company that dates back to 2005), Stakelogic (an up and coming innovative young game provider, creator of the Slots 360° gaming technology and the MOBi mobile gaming platform), and Microgaming (possibly the world’s first online casino company, having started back in 1994).

Bonanza, the first Megaways™ slot machine and a must play

The whole Megaways story started with a game called Bonanza. This game revolutionized the online gaming environment by offering 117,649 ways to win. There are up to seven icons for every reel.

Bonanza Megaways™ slot by Big Time Gaming

The mining carts come in adding symbols. You get payouts for consecutive icons from left to right on touching symbol positions, no matter what the height is.

What is Bonanza?

At first, it didn’t make that big of a splash when Bonanza came out. But as time went on, the online gaming community slowly started noticing what a great product it was, and started to spread the word.

It was a kind of quiet storm that almost imperceptibly rolled across the whole industry! It was a new phenomenon, something nobody had seen before.

Megaways slots that you absolutely must try

All Megaways slots are worth trying out, but some of them truly stand out among the others.

Aztec Gold Megaways™

Aztec Gold by iSoftBet has very interesting possibilities for cascading wins by getting five or more scatters.

mobile screenshot aztec gold megaways

Piggy Riches Megaways™

Piggy Riches by Red Tiger distinguishes itself by the sheer amount of bonus features available.

Piggy Riches Megaways™ screenshot

White Rabbit Megaways™

White Rabbit by Big Time Gaming is famous for having a whopping 248,832 ways to win, the most at the time of its release.

White Rabbit slot screenshot

Holy Diver Megaways™

Holy Diver all but doubled down on that, with an incredible 586,971 possibilities to win!

Holy Diver Megaways™ screenshot

Because of their unique characteristics, online casinos tend to offer free demos of their Megaways™ slot offerings. This helps the new player get acclimated to the particulars of Megaways™ gameplay.

Honestly, the learning curve for these innovative games isn’t that daunting. And when you take the plunge, you will find that it’s very much worth it!


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Common questions about What is a Megaways™ slot?
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What exactly are Megaways slots?
Megaways slots are a unique type of slot machine that uses a random reel modifier to change the number of symbols on each reel with every spin. This can create a vastly different playing experience compared to traditional slots with a fixed number of paylines.
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How many winning combinations are there in Megaways slots?
The number of winning combinations in Megaways slots can vary greatly depending on the spin. With the changing symbols on each reel, the potential number of winning combinations can reach the tens of thousands, or even millions in some games.
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How do I win at Megaways slots?
Just like traditional slots, you win in Megaways slots by landing matching symbols across adjacent reels, typically starting from the leftmost reel. The more matching symbols you land, and the rarer the symbol, the bigger the payout. With the ever-changing number of symbols, Megaways slots often involve landing matching symbols consecutively, not necessarily on a specific payline.
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Are Megaways slots more volatile than traditional slots?
The answer can be yes. Because of the vast potential number of winning combinations and the chance for big wins, Megaways slots can be more volatile than traditional slots with fixed paylines. This means you might experience longer stretches of non-winning spins, but also the potential for larger payouts when you do win. However, volatility can vary between Megaways games, so be sure to check the game information before playing.
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