In regular online slots, there are usually 9, 20, 25 or 40 ways to win available (called paylines). Megaways slots, as the name suggests, are very different in that sense. Here you can have up to 15,625/46,656/117,649/248,832 ways to win (sometimes even more).
Sounds good? And actually it is. Such an enormous number of paylines makes life-changing winnings possible. That’s why the Megaways feature has gained a lot of popularity among online casino players.
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The Megaways feature has been introduced by BigTimeGaming software provider. And now, it is a registered trademark so that other slot producers have to pay a license fee to produce Megaways slots of their own.
With that being said, let’s learn:
In classic online slots, to get a winning combination, slot symbols must form some pattern or line (called a payline). In Megaways slots, the only limitation is that paying symbols must land on adjacent reels to get you a winning.
Blueprint has actually done a good job explaining the megaways feature in their info sections.
As you can see, the only rule is that paying symbols must appear on adjacent reels, and it does not matter how far they are vertically.
How does Megaways amount get calculated? Very simple and straightforward. You just need to know the number of rows that a particular Megaways slot has, then you have to establish the number of reels. And finally, raise the number of rows to the power of reels.
For example, a Megaways online slot has got 7 rows and 6 reels. So we have to multiply the number of rows by itself 6 times, or 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x7 = 117,649.
Thus the maximum number of ways to win is limited by the number of rows and reels.
Another example, a Megaways online slot has got 5 rows and 6 reels. Hence, the number of Megaways equals to 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 15,625.
A slot with 6 rows and 6 reels has 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 = 46,656 ways to win .
That’s how such unbelievable numbers become possible.
The last thing to notice here, the number of active Megaways is not constant. Above mentioned numbers are just the maximum possible amount. In reality, it changes every spin you make.
For instance, if a Megaways slot has 6 rows and 6 reels layout, and you have activated the first 3 reels, then the number of Megaways for this round is going to be 6 x 6 x 6 = 216.
4 active reels would result in 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 = 1,296 ways, and so on.
However, don’t worry as you don’t need to perform calculations by yourself. Megaways slots do the legwork for you. Each round the number of activated megaways is going to be displayed on the top of a slot.
To do so, you have to multiply these three variables:
For example, a Megaways slot has 6 rows and 6 reels layout. If you have managed to hit 3 paying symbols (which pays, let’s say, x5 according to the paytable), it means that you have activated the first 3 reels.
The number of active Megaways is going to be 6 x 6 x 6 = 216.
The last variable we need to know is how much you pay per spin, let’s make it 10 EUR. In this particular case you total win per spin is going to be: 216 (the number of activated Megaways) x 5 (how much these particular symbols pay) x 10 (your bet sizing per spin is 10 EUR) = 10,800 EUR (don’t be surprised as x5 paytable value is one of the highest paying symbols in Megaways slots).
