Best Payout Megaways™ Slots

Established in 2011, Big Time Gaming embarked on its journey to success with Founder and CEO Nik Robinson at the forefront. With up to 117,649 ways to win on each spin, Dragon Born was BTG’s first-ever Megaways™ creation, released in 2015. However, it was not until 2016 that the studio presented its Bonanza slot, which sent ripples of excitement across the entire gambling industry.

Other famous Megaways™ releases that followed in the Bonanza slot’s footsteps include White Rabbit Megaways™, Extra Chilli Megaways™, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, to mention a few. The groundbreaking Megaways™ formula behind them was such a huge success that the company turned it into a franchise, enabling other game developers to incorporate it into their slots.

In this publication, we will walk you through the nuances of Megaways™ slots along with a list of the top 10 Megaways™ releases. Slot enthusiasts are about to embark on a high-risk, action-packed gaming adventure, with the opportunity to pocket massive prizes.

How do Megaways™ Slots Work?

Megaways™ slots have remained popular to this day, with numerous releases produced by BTG and the industry’s leading game developers who have obtained the necessary licences. Instead of fixed paylines, the Megaways™ engine usually produces up to 117,649 winning ways owing to its variable reels that can contain between 2 and 7 symbols on every single spin. Typically, the leftmost reel contains two symbols, whereas the rest offer a variable number. The number of symbols on each reel changes with every new spin, consequently generating a varying number of paylines.

Usually, Megaways™ slots’ grids are built around six reels, with an additional horizontal reel located on top of the inner vertical ones. For Megaways™ slots to return payouts, players must align a minimum of three identical symbols on successive reels, starting from the leftmost reel. The payout size depends on the type of symbol and the number of copies that have appeared on adjacent reels.

Game studios have experimented with different total payline formulas over the years, with some games producing as many as 576,981 ways to win. Other developers have opted for a smaller number of ways to win, for instance, 15,625. Fewer paylines, such as 243 or 512, are also an option.
Megaways™ slots always display the number of winning ways for each game round. Although high-paying symbols are what Megaways™ enthusiasts should be looking for, low-paying symbols can generate worthwhile returns too.

Megaways™ Slots Features and Mechanics

Besides the groundbreaking Megaways™ mechanic, the slots from this intriguing genre attract many casino enthusiasts thanks to their additional features. Game studios have come up with various innovations to the formula, adding a unique flavour to their games. In the following lines, we will look at several of the most commonly encountered features that boost players’ engagement and winning potential.

The Visual Appeal of Megaways™ Slots and Gameplay Experience

Utilising the random reel-modification system, Megaways™ slots offer unprecedented levels of excitement and player engagement. The fluctuating number of paylines, coupled with the above-mentioned features, invariably enhances the gameplay experience. However, Megaways™ slots also garner players’ favour thanks to their mesmerising artwork and acoustic environment.

With a wide variety of engaging themes to choose from, Megaways™ players will revel in a great diversity of settings and symbols. Whether they prefer themes inspired by ancient Egypt, pirates, fishing, fairytales or movies, gaming studios create original characters and plots to keep players engaged.

Megaways™ slots’ graphics are stunning, rendered with attention to the smallest detail, especially those designed by high-end gaming studios. Their sound effects are equally engaging, setting the tone for an enthralling gaming session. Many slots offer animations that make the gameplay even more immersive.

Megaways™ Slots RTP and Volatility

As mentioned above, we will provide a list of the 10 best-paying Megaways™ slots. Before this, however, we will provide detailed information on Megaways™ slots’ RTP and volatility.

Slots’ RTP, or ‘Return to Player’, denotes the percentage of wagered funds that players can expect to receive back from a particular game in the long term. Therefore, figures closer to 100% signify better payouts that players can expect over time from playing a given slot game. To make a profit, casinos cannot offer an RTP of, let’s say, 100%, but games with higher RTP inevitably attract players’ attention and engagement.

The first Megaways™ slot on our list, White Rabbit Megaways™ by BTG, offers an RTP as high as 97.77%.

Players should bear in mind that the possibility of substantial wins from Megaways™ slots is often accompanied by high risk and high volatility. While some players may be lucky enough to win thousands or even millions from a single game round, most will not achieve such high wins. Megaways™ slots should be approached responsibly, with the idea of entertainment first and potential winnings merely a bonus.

Megaways™ Slots Vs. Classic Slots

Many casino enthusiasts are torn between the high payout potential of Megaways™ slots and the lower risk levels of fixed-payline slots. There are some key differences between the two slot genres that must be considered before opting for one or the other.

As far as payout potential is concerned, Megaways™ slots far exceed fixed-payline slots. That said, when it comes to volatility, the former are more volatile and unpredictable compared with the latter, which offer more stability. Megaways™ slots’ high volatility attracts players who seek substantial winnings and the thrill of the unknown.

Ultimately, the choice depends on players’ gaming preferences and their risk tolerance. They should give both genres a try and decide for themselves.

Megaways™ Slots Vs. Jackpot Slots

Megaways and Jackpot slots are two different concepts, which can be combined, although rarely. When comparing Megaways™ slots with jackpot slots, one should be aware of the different methods by which wins are calculated.

Megaways™ slots carry the potential for big wins, with up to hundreds of thousands of paylines and possible wins. To win, players do not need identical symbols to land on specific spots in the playing grid; they only need them to appear on successive reels.

Jackpot slots, on the other hand, offer either progressive or fixed jackpots, dropping on lucky players at random. Progressive jackpots accumulate over time, with players placing bets, while fixed jackpots feature predetermined prizes.

Best Payout Megaways™ Slots

We are now pleased to present our list of the best-paying Megaways™ slots, ranked by RTP. We have included quick facts about each of the games, containing information about developers, RTP, maximum ways to win, top wins, and the most prominent bonus features and special symbols.

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Big Time Gaming’s White Rabbit Megaways™ transports players to a world of wonder and considerable winning potential. The artwork of this release is gorgeous, as is the soundtrack. As the title suggests, the White Rabbit is a much-sought-after symbol, unlocking the slot’s bonus round.

There are ten regular pay symbols, including 9-A royals, three precious stones, and a Queen of Hearts. She pays even when players reveal two matching symbols on adjacent reels, while a six-of-a-kind combination generates a return of 25x the stake.

The base game features a 5-reel arrangement and 2 to 7 symbols per reel, with the maximum ways to win being 16,807. The stake selection starts from 10p/c and reaches $/€20 per spin. As for the RTP, it stands at 97.24% during the base game and rises to 97.77% if players purchase the Feature Drop.

This Megaways™ release enables slot enthusiasts to enjoy an action-packed adventure with the unique Feature Drop system in place. As players launch the game, the designated price for the feature can be reduced by landing a “BTG” coin. It is up to them to decide whether to wait for a value bet or try their luck right away. When BTG’s Extending Reels is triggered, up to 248,832 Megaways come into play.

With the words ‘Jackpots’ and ‘Megaways’ in its title, this Blueprint Gaming release never fails to attract attention. There is the potential to hit the jackpot, which can produce winnings of up to 10,000x the bet. With dynamic gameplay and a wealth of bonus features, together with the Megaways mechanic and a progressive jackpot, it is well worth trying out.

Released in 2018, the slot’s action unfolds across six reels and five rows, producing a total of 15,625 paylines. Bets range between £0.10 and £100. As for the RTP, it stands at 97.13%, and the volatility is medium to high.

Players need three to six Scatter symbols to unlock 10 to 20 Free Spins. Four random modes are possible: Mystery Wishes, Unlimited Multipliers, Genie Streak, and Locking Wilds.

With each spin of the reels, the genie can appear at random and trigger the Power Spin bonus. One of four random modifiers will come into play: Wild Megaways, Genie Wilds, Genie Wild Spin, and Bonus Megaways.

Buffalo Rising All Action Megaways™ is Blueprint Gaming’s remake of the original title Buffalo Rising Megaways, with the ‘All Action’ feature added and the base game removed. All symbols, along with the Megaways™ mechanic, have been kept, so fans of the original will feel right at home.

The available betting options start from €/$10 per spin and reach as much as €/$1,000, making the slot ideal for high rollers. Placing a wager in Buffalo Rising All Action Megaways™ is equivalent to unlocking a round of free spins in the original release. The batch of spins is equipped with unlimited multipliers and is powered by the Megaways™ Cascading Reels feature. As players land winning symbols on the grid, they are removed and replaced by new cascades, potentially triggering several wins with a single spin.

There are six low-paying symbols in play, represented by 9-A royals, and four high-paying symbols depicted as a buffalo, bear, coyote and moose. While the buffalo pays for two matches on adjacent reels, the others produce returns when players land a minimum of three copies. Overall, the slot offers exciting, action-packed gameplay, with the great North American plains in the background.

Blueprint Gaming has once again captured the admiration of fans with its jungle-inspired release Gorilla Gold Megaways™. The slot instantly attracts attention thanks to its Power 4 Play feature, utilising four sets of six-reel grids at once, each producing up to 117,649 ways to win or a total of 470,596 Megaways™. Consequently, the chances of winning free spins or triggering the Super Spins are increased. Players can adjust their bets anywhere between £0.50 and £100.

To win, slot enthusiasts need to land combinations of two to six matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one. All winning symbols disappear and give way to new ones, thus increasing the chances of scoring several wins with just a single spin. The cascades remain active until there are no more winning combinations.
The slot is equipped with mystery symbols, which transform into any symbol from the paytable except the Wild and Scatter.

Whenever players land at least four Scatter symbols on one of the grids, the Gorilla Gold Bonus will be activated. They get a chance to spin a wheel and win a particular number of Free Spins or Super Spins. Four to seven Scatters produce from 15 to 30 Super Spins. The latter enables players to collect Golden Monkey symbols to activate additional windows, where cascades raise the win multiplier by one in each active reel set. Five, 15, or 30 Golden Monkeys unlock one, two, or three extra windows respectively, and award five extra Free Spins.

Slots O’Gold Megaways™ is yet another hit release from Blueprint Gaming powered by the Megaways™ engine. The game draws inspiration from Irish folklore and upgrades the original title, Slots O’Gold, using the same colourful graphics and pleasant audio background but adding a wealth of bonus features.

Most importantly, it raises the number of win lines to up to 15,625. The game uses a 6-reel format and offers an RTP of 96.96% and top wins of 10,000x the bet. Bets start from 0.10p and reach an upper threshold of £50 per spin.

The Rainbow Gold symbols also play a pivotal role. A minimum of two such symbols transform into other matching symbols and create winning lines. Last but not least, five Jackpot King Deluxe symbols are needed to unlock the Jackpot King game, introducing players to a new reel set where they collect crowns. To trigger the Wheel King, where three progressive jackpots await, players need 15 crowns in total.

Big Time Gaming’s Queen of Riches Megaways™ takes slot enthusiasts on an exciting adventure to ancient Egypt. The game’s metrics include six reels, with two to seven symbols on each. The RTP stands at 96.90% and maximum wins reach as much as 77,800x the bet. Players can wager anywhere between 0.20 and 20.00 per spin.

Much like the rest of the studio’s creations, Queen of Riches Megaways™ features captivating graphics set amid a traditional Egyptian backdrop. As for the symbols, they perfectly complement the theme, with playing cards for the lower-value payouts and traditional Egyptian-themed imagery for the higher-value payouts.

Besides its trademarked Megaways™ mechanic, generating up to 117,649 ways to win, the slot is equipped with the Full Reel Wilds feature and the Reel Clone feature. The Full Reel Wilds symbol is, as one may guess, depicted as Cleopatra. Once she shows up on reels two through six, she can fully cover them, substituting for all other symbols. While the feature is on, multipliers can reach 49x. Last but not least, the Reel Clone feature is the central attraction of the game. It triggers at random and can produce two to six identical reels. The Full Reel Wilds can be cloned as well, ultimately boosting players’ winning potential considerably.

8 Golden Skulls of Holly Roger™ Megaways™ is yet another Megaways-powered slot, developed by emerging studio Buck Stakes Entertainment in partnership with Microgaming. It takes slot mavens on a marine adventure, with symbols comprising skulls, treasure chests, diamonds, and pirate women. The game offers an RTP of 96.86%, high volatility, and top wins of 6,000x.

The pirate action unfolds across six reels with two to seven symbols on each, producing from 64 to 117,649 ways to win. With every winning combination, cascades occur, removing winning symbols from the grid and adding new ones, thus potentially triggering several wins from a single spin of the reels.

As far as bonus features are concerned, they include Free Spins, Mystery Symbols, and the Firepot. The Free Spins mode is activated as soon as players land at least four Diamond Scatters anywhere on the reels. Spinning a prize wheel before the Free Spins rounds commence determines the number of Free Spins (a maximum of 30) and the respective win multiplier for the round (up to 3x).

The Mystery Symbols are instrumental in enhancing players’ engagement and winning potential. Represented by treasure chests, they land randomly on the reels and transform into the same symbol to produce payouts. The Firepot is a symbol-collecting feature whereby eight skull symbols yield the top Firepot return of 2,000x the stake.

Lucky Lady Moon Megaways™ is a release by prominent gaming studio BGaming, powered by BTG’s Megaways™ engine. The grid configuration includes six vertical reels and one horizontal reel located above reels two to five. The game offers up to 200,704 ways to win, with the number of Megaways displayed on top of the playing grid after each spin.

The slot offers traditional Wild and Scatter symbols. The Wild substitutes for all symbols except the Scatter and can appear anywhere on reels 2 to 5, plus the extra horizontal reel. The Wild carries extra value to wins, as it is always accompanied by a 2x Multiplier. Scatter symbols trigger the Free Spins mode.

The low-value payouts in this luck-inspired slot are provided by 9-A royals. The high-value returns come from a four-leaf clover, horseshoe, coin, wolf and ladybird.

Besides the Cascading Reels feature, the slot offers a Free Spins mode, which is activated whenever players land at least three Scatters. To determine the number of Free Spins, players spin a Wheel of Fortune. They can win from 5 to 15 Free Spins with multipliers from 2x to 25x. Best of all, the feature can be retriggered by landing three Scatters.

Following the introduction of Megaways™ and Megaclusters™ formats, Big Time Gaming presented yet another one, the Megaquads™ genre, through its 2020 release Slot Vegas Megaquads™.

Gaming enthusiasts can play four slots simultaneously for a fixed minimum stake of 0.20. The upper threshold stands at $/€20. With this newly introduced mechanic, slot enthusiasts can merge the lines horizontally during the base game and both vertically and horizontally during the Free Spins mode. There will never be a quiet moment, with 256 ways to win during regular play, rising to potentially 16,777,216 ways to win during the bonus modes.

The four grids have a 4×4 configuration during the base game, whereas during the features they merge. The game is highly volatile, with an RTP of 96.59%. The paytable includes six low-paying symbols and four high-paying symbols represented by green, blue and red Lucky Seven symbols. Two Wild symbols come into play, one regular and one Rainbow Wild.

The slot’s bonus features include the Symbol Multiplier, the Rainbow Wild Bonus, and the Free Spins mode. Overall, Slot Vegas Megaquads™ is a lustrous game, drawing inspiration from Sin City, with expertly implemented bonus features and enthralling gameplay.

Starz Megaways™ is a space-themed slot by Pragmatic Play, offering the Megaways™ mechanic under licence from BTG. The cosmic plot unfolds across six reels, with up to seven symbols on each, producing a maximum of 117,649 ways to win. The number of ways to win for each spin is displayed on top of the grid.

Slot fans can adjust their wagers anywhere between 0.20 and 100.00. The game offers an RTP of 96.48% and high volatility.

Identical symbols pay in both directions, starting from the leftmost or the rightmost reel, provided they land on adjacent reels. Six-of-a-kind combinations are paid twice, once for each direction. The slot’s Wild symbol appears on reels 2 to 5 and substitutes for all other symbols except the bonus symbol. The Wilds expand vertically, covering the entire reel.

Three to six Bonus symbols activate 6 to 15 Free Spins. During the Free Spins rounds, the expanded Wild symbols remain sticky. Maximum wins in both the base game and Free Spins rounds are capped at 10,000x the bet.

Megaways™ Slots Pros and Cons

Megaways™ Slots FAQ

Now that we have thoroughly examined all aspects of Megaways™ slots, along with some of the industry’s most attractive titles, it is time to turn our attention to some frequently asked questions about this intriguing slot genre.

Are Megaways™ slots safe and legal?

Similar to standard slots, the outcomes of Megaways™ slots are determined by a Random Number Generator, guaranteeing the fairness of each game round. Accredited testing and certification companies such as iTech Labs and eCOGRA serve the important purpose of ensuring the outcomes are truly random. Additionally, UK players are advised to look for a remote gambling software licence from the UK Gambling Commission, further enhancing their security.

Are Megaways™ slots accessible for mobile play?

Yes, the majority of Megaways™ slots are accessible across mobile devices, giving iGaming enthusiasts the flexibility to play while out and about. Easy access contributes greatly to the widespread popularity of the genre.

How do I calculate the number of winning combinations in a single spin?

Let’s say we play a six-reel Megaways™ slot with a varying number of ways to win on every spin. As the reels stop spinning, we spot the following number of symbols contained in each reel: 5, 3, 2, 2, 3 and 4. To calculate the maximum attainable winning combinations for this particular spin, we should multiply the number of symbols on each reel, producing a result of 720 ways to win. This calculation, however, is for information only, as the ways to win for each spin are usually visualised above the reels.

Can Megaways™ slots’ features affect the RTP?

Megaways™ slots usually offer a diverse range of features, including cascading wins, Bonus Buy, and Gamble options, which can affect a game’s RTP. There can be fluctuations in the RTP based on the game modes and the size of wagers. The Bonus Buy option provides a shortcut into slots’ free spins and bonus games, against a predetermined premium.

Which iGaming studios offer Megaways™ slots?

The formula for Megaways™ slots was created and later franchised by Big Time Gaming, enabling other studios to incorporate it into their portfolios. Some of the other developers who create Megaways™ slots are Playtech, NetEnt, Thunderkick, Yggdrasil, Bally, iSoftBet, Pragmatic Play, Red Tiger and Stakelogic, among others.