One of the best and most popular Megaways™ slot games is Big Time Gaming’s own Bonanza Megaways™. It has a Return to Player of 96% and 117,649 paylines, and uses cascading wins, free spins and multipliers. You will find it at almost every online casino in the UK right now. Megaways™ Slots are now the pinnacle of the online gambling and slot industry, with the cutting edge technology of the Megaways™ mechanic able to produce hundreds or thousands of paylines on any spin. This revolutionary pay system incorporates unique modifiers and bonus rounds, which has led to the creation of some of the most popular online video slots in a generation. Rainbow Riches has always been one of Barcrest’s most popular slots, but when the company was snapped up by SG Digital in 2011, the new guys eventually decided to give Rainbow Riches a fresh lick of paint and add the MegaWays concept.
Megaways™ slot machines have become all the rage these days, prompting game providers to release more new slots with this innovative game mechanic.
15 best megaways slots The following slot games are all ‘fitted’ with the Megaways mechanic from Big Time Gaming. The Megaways engine enables a variable number of symbols on each reel which is able to produce hundreds of thousands of ways to win. A Megaways slot game was originally created by the Big Time Gaming slot studio, first in the Bonanza game, then in the Hot Chilli slot. If you haven’t played on either we would recommend you start there and check out our Big Time Gaming casinos list for where best to play. In essence, a Megaways slot is a slot machine were on every spin the.
The groundbreaking technology behind Megaways slots offers an entirely new way of experiencing online slots with its shape-shifting reels, progressive multipliers, reel modifiers, and a random number of ways to win at every spin.
In this article, we are going to shed some light on the Newest Megaways Releases and list the Top 10 Best Megaways Slots you can play from the UK.
The History of Megaways Slots
The Megaways game engine hit online casinos in 2015 when the Australian game provider Big Time Gaming released Dragon Born, an innovative online slot with no fixed paylines but with 117,649 ways to win.
The game itself was not really a hit, and only with the release of Bonanza did the new mechanic cause a stir in the industry.
It was such a success that Big Time Gaming turned the engine into a franchise, allowing other game providers to obtain a license from them to release slots in the new Megaways genre.
Where to Play Megaways Slots
Megaways slots have become incredibly popular since the release of the first slot in 2015.
The best online casinos tend to offer a selection of the best Megaways slots in the market. To help you locate an operator easily amongst the hundreds available online, we listed below some of our most recommended casinos.
All of the below operators welcome players from the UK and offer a generous welcome bonus or free spins.
New Megaways Slots
Game providers are currently on fire, releasing Megaways slots on a monthly basis.
Although the game engine is the property of Big Time Gaming, several other providers have acquired a license to incorporate the mechanic into their own games.
These include Pragmatic Play, Microgaming, and even NetEnt!
Below, we’ll introduce you to the Megaways Slot Games released in January 2021:
Shamrock Holmes Megaways – Microgaming
This game is Microgaming’s very own first Megaways slot. The provider has come up with an exciting Irish-luck-inspired slot with 117,469 ways to win that’s packed with features!
In Shamrock Holmes Megaways, Microgaming does away with free spins altogether to give us three highly rewarding bonus games!
The most exciting one is the Rainbow Road Bonus, which sees you off on a trail packed with cash prizes, giving you the opportunity to win a whopping 28,000x your bet!
You can spin the reels of Shamrock Holmes Megaways at Playzee Casino!
Fruit Shop Megaways – NetEnt
NetEnt’s classic Fruit Shop Slot has got a Megaways ‘makeover’, and we just can’t wait to try it out!
Fruit Shop Megaways incorporates the original’s simplistic look and feel, but the rewards in store will be bigger! Thanks to a cool free spins feature with a progressive multiplier of up to 10x, you can win up to 20,000x your stake.
Fruit Shop Megaways will be released on the 28th of January 2021 across all NetEnt casinos in the UK.
Try out this revamped version of Fruit Shop at PlayOJO Casino!
Madame Destiny Megaways – Pragmatic Play
Pragmatic Play will surprise us with yet another Megaways game this month, inspired by the fortune-telling theme; Madame Destiny Megaways will have a cool 200,704 ways to win and comes with a free spins round, where every win is combined with a randomly-chosen multiplier.
It’s a high volatility game with a great RTP of 96.56% and a maximum win potential of 5,000x that will certainly appeal to risk-takers and high rollers out there!
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Top 10 Best Megaways Slots
Since Big Time Gaming has licensed out the Megaways engine we’ve seen the release of many online slots with the Megaways mechanism.
Some of these slots have become hits that are played by hundreds of players.
We have compiled a Megaways slots list that features out the top 10 best Megaways slots that UK players can play at any one of the online casinos featured on this page.
1. Bonanza (Big Time Gaming)
Bonanza was not the first Megaways slot, however, it is the slot that made the engine famous.
The second instalment of Big Time Gaming’s Megaways, Bonanza was released in 2016. It comes with an RTP of 96% and 117,649 ways to win.
The game features a mining theme and is beautifully done in both graphics and features. The maximum payout a player can land is of 10,000x your bet, which can lead to quite an impressive prize especially if the maximum bet of £500 is staked.
The bonus round is at the heart of the game, consisting of free spins that are rendered more interesting through the use of cascading reels and disappearing characters.
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2. White Rabbit (Big Time Gaming)
White Rabbitslot is based on the rabbit character in the story of Alice in Wonderland.
At medium volatility, the Big Time Gaming slot comes with an RTP of 97.72%, a high percentage when compared to other online slots.
During the base game, White Rabbit features 16,807 ways to win which increase to a staggering 248,832 ways to win during the bonus round.
And speaking of which, the bonus round is the most interesting part of the game, not only because of the increased ways to win but also because this round is played out on a special set of reels.
There is also the possibility of a massive win that can reach up to 10,000x your bet.
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3. Great Rhino Megaways (Pragmatic Play)
Great Rhino Megaways is Pragmatic Play‘s first Megaways slot and it is a revamp of the popular video slot by the name of Great Rhino.
The graphics of the game are spectacular with a safari theme featuring the African plains.
The game is highly volatile with adjustable variance during the bonus round of the game. With a 96.50% RTP, the game offers the possibility of 200,704 ways to win, which when unlocked can hand out a huge win.
The scatter symbol is the key to the free spins round which is further enhanced in this game by presenting players with 4 options to choose from consisting of different numbers of free spins and multipliers.
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4. The Dog House Megaways (Pragmatic Play)
The Dog House Megaways is another slot by Pragmatic Play based on the original slot The Dog House.
Following the huge success of the first instalment of the game, in The Dog House Megaways, the game gets a revamp which also includes the Megaways engine.
In keeping with the character of both Megaways slots and Pragmatic Play’s games, the slot comes with high volatility and an RTP of 96.55%. In The Dog House Megaways, players have the chance to unlock 117,649 ways to win and a maximum payout of 12,305x the bet.
Apart from the Megaways mechanism, the slot comes with sticky wilds, Raining wilds, and a Bonus Buy feature.
Try the new The Dog House Megaways, here at Novibet Casino!
5. Who Wants to be a Millionaire Megaways (Big Time Gaming)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire Megaways, is Big Time Gaming’s first branded title and it is based on the popular TV show of the same name.
As the last part of the name suggests, the slot runs on the Megaways engine which gives it 117,649 ways to win. Its extreme volatility might scare some players, however, with high volatility come incredibly high payouts.
As a matter of fact, the game has a maximum payout potential of 50,000x your stake. Add an Avalanche feature and you might be in for some impressive rewards.
And if you are wondering if you can land millions should luck be on your side, then the answer is yes! This can be achieved through the free spins round which gives players the opportunity to win extra free spins by either “calling a friend” or else “asking the audience”, two features, taken right out of the show itself!
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6. Starz Megaways (Pragmatic Play)
Starz Megaways is another slot in the Megaways genre and one of Pragmatic Play’s best slots. This time, instead of revamping a new slot, this clever provider has given us a brand new slot.
Sporting a space theme, Starz Megaways comes with the characteristic high volatility and an RTP of 96.48%.
The slot can go from 64 ways to win to the customary 117,649 ways, while it has a maximum payout potential of 10,000x your bet. The game comes with only one bonus round which is made up of free spins and expanding wilds.
Play Starz Megaways at BGO Casino right here!
7. Primal (Blueprint Gaming)
Primal by Blueprint Gaming brings to the Megaways genre a new twist to the mechanics.
The game has all the usual characteristics: high volatility, 46,656 ways to win and a decent RTP of 96.76%. The game has a Paleolithic Ice Age theme, with excellent graphics and a responsive soundtrack.
At the heart of the game is the bonus round which can be retriggered almost indefinitely. Initiated through the scatter symbol, this round hands out free spins with multipliers.
But that is not all! If when the bonus round ends you would have made less than 10 times your bet, the bonus round will be automatically retriggered until you’ve won 10x your stake!
Give Primal a spin or two at the fantastic Mr. Green Casino!
8. Extra Chilli (Big Time Gaming)
Extra Chilli is one of Big Time Gaming’s most popular slots and features the successful Megaways Mechanic.
Apart from the beautiful graphics, the game comes with the customary high volatility and the 117,649 ways to win.
It features some of the intense actions that made Bonanza so popular but it has enough differences to make it stand out on its own.
The scatter symbol is the key to the bonus round which is where all the real action takes place. The free spins allocated during this round comes with a progressive x1 multiplier, which is, however, only added after a winning spin.
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9. Gonzo’s Quest Megaways (NetEnt)
The famous Gonzo’s Quest by NetEnt is back, this time with a Megaways revamp that promises to make Gonzo’s Quest Megaways a lot more interesting.
And what’s more this slot came about through NetEn’s collaboration with Red Tiger, the provider they’d acquired a few years back. The slot comes with a medium to high volatility and an RTP of 96%.
It comes with the usual 117,649 ways to wins and a maximum payout potential of 20,000x your bet.
In terms of features, it has plenty from Avalanches, an Avalanche Multiplier, Earthquake feature, Unbreakable Wilds, and a free spins bonus round.
Try Gonzo’s Quest Megaways, the revamp of the original title at Playzee Casino!
10.Vikings Unleashed Megaways (Blueprint Gaming)
A Megaways slot by Blueprint Gaming, Vikings Unleashed Megways is an impressive slot that features a great soundtrack and 117,649 ways to win.
This beautiful slot comes with an RTP of 96.5% and a maximum payout of 10,000x your stake. The most interesting part of the game is the free spins round that features a mystery symbol, a progressive multiplier and cascading reels.
To top it off, Vikings Unleashed Megaways comes with a Thor’s Hammer bonus feature, a Battle of the Sea free spins feature, and a gamble feature.
Check out Vikings Unleashed Megaways at one of the best UK online casinos: All British Casino!
What is the Megaways mechanism?
The Megaways system is a very versatile machine that has been incorporated successfully with a number of themes and configurations.
However, the standard version of the game usually has 6 reels with a bonus reel placed horizontally on top of the grid. Whereas other slots have a constant number of symbols and paylines, the Megaways system triggers a different number of active symbols on the reels and a different number of ways to wins.
Any spin can produce between 2 to 7 symbols, and although most Megaways slots have up to 117,649 ways to win, many developers have enjoyed experimenting by producing either millions of ways to win or else more manageable numbers.
Each spin on a Megaways slot is unique due to the variable that changes every single time. It is what makes Megaways slots so interesting and exciting, together with the many other features that have been added to make these games so unique.
In the next part of this article, we are going to share with you how to win on Megaways slots, as well as, take a closer look at what kind of features to expect when spinning the Megaways reels!
How can you win on a Megaways Slot?
Playing an online slot with so many possible winning combinations means that sooner or later you will hit some kind of jackpot.
How rewarding that jackpot is will depend on how many symbols have formed winning combinations and wins can vary from a few pounds to thousands of pounds.
Understanding how wins occur is not that hard and follows more or less the same concept used by most online slots. Megaways slot wins are awarded when matching symbols land on the reels from left to right adjacent to each other.
In most cases, you need to land at least 3 symbols and the first symbol must land on the first reel. The size of the symbol and how many you have in a single winning combination will determine the size of the payout.
Since each spin produces different results, each Megaways slot displays on top the number of Megaways that are in play. After every spin Megaways are calculated by taking into consideration how many symbols you have on the reels and multiplying them.
The same mathematical formula is applied to the winning symbols. With this system, the slots are quite capable of producing some premium symbols, however, with so many active paylines, even low-value symbols can produce some extraordinary wins!
Megaways features
Whilst the Megaways mechanic is quite impressive in itself, the engine comes with some extra features that will make player interaction so much more enjoyable.
Although each developer has their own signature innovations to add to the game, there are some core features that are almost always present in a Megaways slot.
Unlimited Multipliers
Multipliers are not new to online slots, however, on a Megaways slot they are of a whole new dimension. For one thing, they are often progressive and unlimited, giving players the possibility to land really huge wins.
These kinds of multipliers are usually available during the bonus round of the game where the first free spin has a multiplier of x1, the next x2, the next x3 and it continues so, reaching multipliers of x20 or x30.
Should the feature be retriggered the multipliers will continue to increase without any capping whatsoever.
Cascading Reels
Although cascading reels are not available for all Megaways slots, there are many online slots in this genre that feature this particular trait.
First introduced in Bonanza Megaways, cascading reels have caught on amongst developers leading to the creation of many Megaways slots with cascading reels.
But what are cascading reels?
The terminology describes the way the symbols fall on the reels instead of spinning around. It also describes the way winning combinations seem to explode, leaving empty spaces in their place to be filled with the symbols previously located on top of them.
If another winning combination is formed, the same procedure takes place until no further winning combinations are formed.
Mystery Symbols
Mystery symbols were first introduced in the scene by Blueprint Gaming in their Megaways debut slot Diamond Mine Megaways.
The introduction of these mystery symbols meant that now players can win huge prizes in the base game and even bigger ones in the bonus round.
Their main purpose on the reels is to create a bigger sense of anticipation, as players wait for them to reveal a symbol that might lead to a winning combination.
Megaways Slots vs Fixed Payline Slots
Whether to go for a Megaways slot or a fixed paylines one, is up to each individual player. Both slot formats offer something very different and it is down to personal preference.
Fixed paylines slots offer more stability as the active paylines never change. On the other hand, Megaways slots tend to be more volatile and unpredictable with their changing symbols and features.
For a truly diversified experience, it would be ideal to mix up your game selection to experience the best of both genres!
Play Megaways Slots today!
Best Megaways Slots Reddit
Megaways slots are gaining in popularity every day, both with the game developers and players. The unique mechanic that powers these slots offers excitement and more often than not, plenty of rewards.
As players, we expect many more Megaways slots to hit the market in the months and years to come and we cannot wait to see what new additions they would bring.
In this article, we have chosen 10 Megaways slots which we deem to be amongst the best. There are many others available that have not made our Megaways slots list, however, this does not mean that they are not any good.
The choice is varied and exciting and our top 10 are there to get you started. Thus, if you feel ready to try out some of the Megaways slots, the above list can act as a starting point!
So, what are you waiting for? Why don’t you try them out at one of the casinos mentioned on this page!
There was a time years ago (and veteran players probably remember this) when a video slot with 25 pay lines was considered a game with an insane amount of different ways to wins. This then led to slots with 30, 40 pay lines, and so on.
Changes were also made recently when manufacturers of games with a higher line volume were joined not only by NetEnt but also by Microgaming. In particular, 243-line games were one of the first halves of the 2010 season’s trendsetters with their wild wins – who among us wouldn’t remember, for example, just Microgaming‘s Immortal Romance, then Avalon II, Game of Thrones slot, Thunderstruck II or, for example, NetEnt‘s Twin Spin Deluxe and Alien Robots.
These 243-line games were the kind of the first tap toward Megaways that remain as the most popular slots nowadays. The 243-line games were, of course, made up of five reels and three lines, the most familiar layout that had all possible lines in use.
The big change was seen in about five years ago when Big Time Gaming, unknown to the general public, released a video slot bearing the name Dragon Born in early 2016. Dragon Born’s reception was ambivalent, to say the least. Some people thought it was out of control. The way Megaways work was also puzzling, as the larger designs give fewer pay lines and, of course, the fierce volatility raised the noise.
Although there was plenty of criticism and opinion is still divided, Dragon Born started a trend over the next few years that we dare say has changed online casino gaming completely.
What Are Megaways Slots?
The Megaways game is modeled after Big Time Gaming’s game engine with a line size commonly set between 15,625 – 117,649 ways to win. However, the number of lines may be larger or smaller than this, including the 3,136-line Dragon Match Megaways, the 512-line Joker Megaways, and the 200,704-line Great Rhino Megaways, and the 1 Million Megaways BC of Iron Dog Studio, which has a line capacity of 1,058 841. Note that other slots providers don’t just make Megaways slots, but require a Big Time Gaming permission so all other Megaways slots run with BTG’s Megaways license.
The ways to win of Megaways games vary from spin to spin, and the lowest line number can be only a few tens or a few hundreds on one spin, for example. The number of lines is influenced by the size of the symbols on the game screen, so larger is not better this time. The number of lines is usually seen somewhere in the game screen from its own meter and the lower part of the game shows the number of winning lines.
In addition, Megaways slot games include many other things and features typical of them. These include, for example, the so-called extra line, which is usually the size of four symbols and is defined as the upper or lower part of the reel in question, 2-5. This extra line helps to get more pay lines and may have special features such as the only place for wild symbols or scatters during free spins.
As for the rest of Megaways, one of the most typical is the cascading symbols with new ones dropping in their place. This is called a chain reaction and, more precisely, terms such as cascading symbols and reactive wins can also be seen. During free spins, each chain reaction or, better, every step of the chain reaction may increase the winning factor by one and these are not limited.
Almost all of the named features are fully and exclusively Megaways, but one strongly related brand is the bonus feature purchase option (something you can also find in many of Blueprint slot machines known as Bonus Buy option), which also bears the name Feature Drop or Feature Buy. In addition, there may be a purchase of another smaller function related to the base game. Such an option can be found in Extra Chilli slot, for example.
In general, such a purchase usually costs a hundred times the bet, but there are also some more expensive and slightly cheaper options. The price may be high and some people also question such options, but on the other hand, in Megaways it takes several hundred rounds to get scatter characters on average, so these can be pretty useful. The Bonus Buy option also does not mean that the game gives a minimum number of free spins or the worst possible starting point for the bonus round, but it may well give extra scatter characters just as usual when running a base game.
Some games also have the option of gambling on bonus rounds purchased or received through scatters. In this case, you can try to get even more free spins of profit, but the risk is also to lose everything that is followed by a return to the basic game. This option is, for example, available in Who Wants To Be a Millionaire Megaways slot.
The bonus purchase function is also strongly associated with a kind of collection of coins with the Big Time Gaming logo during the basic game, which can drop these purchase prices to the desired amount, or up to zeros, when the function automatically starts. For example, this can be found in Big Time Gaming’s White Rabbit Megaways. A single coin received on the game screen will normally drop from 0.20 to 2 times the price of the bet. The price usually doesn’t go down at any particularly fast pace, but it does come down either way if you don’t want to pay the full price.
What Is Behind Megaways Slots’ Popularity?
The popularity of Megaways is certainly influenced by the fact that they are so different from what has been seen before. Of course, this divides players in half, because not all of us are Megaways fans.
What then makes Megaways games so different? Well, all the features mentioned in the previous text, but also their very high volatility. Every time you start playing, you know that there is little chance of those ”once-in-a-lifetime hits”, but at the same time, for example, a hundred times the size of a bet, you might feel like a king in one blink of an eye.
Megaways slots definitely have potential jackpot winnings. A win of a thousand or a few thousand times the size of a bet is perhaps more likely to come from these games than from somewhere else, but they are very rare, too. Let alone talk about the actual jackpot winnings, their odds may already be compared to winning the jackpot.
Of course, more or less big wins for us players are sought by everyone. It’s entertainment for most of us, and that’s how it should be. Every game must be fun and losses are a part of gambling, but if you have a tendency to hit a new deposit to keep losing, then wherever you go, Megaways games can be the beginning and root of all evil.
The popularity of Megaways games is also influenced by the fact that many of them have been created as sequels to the previously published and popular games. In addition, when there are largely more than ten Megaways game manufacturers, many of them find a good Megaways slot among their favorite slots providers, and several of these providers have also blended their Megaways with their previously familiar features from their older games whether it’s the Blueprint Gaming’s Buffalo Rising Megaways, WMS’s Raging Rhino Megaways, or BTG’s Monopoly Megaways slot machine.
Most Popular and Best Megaways Slots
The most popular and best Megaways games include, in particular, the early releases of Big Time Gaming.
If you haven’t played Megaways slots yet, you’ll find your own favorites, but to form your opinion on Megaways, we recommend you test the following or some of the following from the most popular megaways:
• Bonanza
• Dragon Born
• Extra Chilli Megaways
• Gonzo’s Quest Megaways
• Raging Rhino Megaways
• Flower Fortune Megaways
• Vikings Unleashed Megaways
• White Rabbit Megaways
• Who Wants To Be a Millionaire
• Survivor Megaways
• Monopoly Megaways
• Primal Megaways
• Fishin’ Frenzy Megaways
Of the above slots, Bonanza is perhaps the first popular name of the Megaways, which may also hold its position for a long time to come. Dragon Born was the first work of Megaways games previously mentioned. Extra Chilli Megaways actually contain everything that Megaways normally involve. Raging Rhino Megaways is a Megaways version of the previously released Williams Interactive Raging Rhino. Vikings Unleashed is one of the personal favourites, where you can find the Bonus Buy option with different price tags. White Rabbit has even gained popularity as a Bonanza-like Megaways slot game with free spins of its own, Feature Drop, and the Caterpillar special feature of the basic game.
Let us add, however, that almost all of the Megaways named above are already published several years ago, so we recommend exploring the new Megaways of the early 2020s as well. In this time we have seen some changes in Megaways games, although, of course, the traditional 117,649 ways to win video slots with the unlimited increasing multipliers of Free Spins have been published repeatedly.
Megaways Slot Machines In the Days to Come
As we have seen, more or less Megaways slots have come to stay. You can’t completely collapse this kind of popularity in any way. For Megaways, at least a similar trend can be expected as for NetEnt’s most legendary games, jackpot games or 243-line games. Along with these, the popularity may decline slightly, but those most popular and well-known games will never disappear from the players’ favorites.
In fact, even more of the game types just mentioned are expected from Megaways. Perhaps something different is still coming out of this, as seen by Blueprint Gaming in early 2020 when it released its first Megaways All Action game, but we believe that even in the years to come, the base of the favourite games will be very similar to Megaways.
Even now we can see further development in the slot machines. And again, Big Time Gaming is the one who is developing something more complex than Megaways or at least, something in a similar manner. Yes, we speak of the Big Time Gaming’s Megaclusters slots that can be another revolutionary step in the iGaming. Their first slot in this category is Star Clusters Megaclusters slot machine.
Hypernova Megaways Slots
For some reason, it seems that the layout and other things that enhance the gaming experience are not so important to us players, but an interesting game with good features and great chances of winning will be the thing now and always.