Best Megaways Slots (Highest RTP, Free Play): Guide + Slots List
Top online casinos with Megaways slots
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.
Best Paying (RTP) Online Slots with Megaways feature
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:
How Megaways feature works
Top 5 Megaways slots (plus the best Megaways slot producers)
Megaways’ impact on RTP, Volatility and Winning hit frequency
Other things that make Megaways so special (including pros and cons)
How Megaways feature works
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.
An example how total win per spin gets calculated in Megaways slots
To do so, you have to multiply these three variables:
the number of active Megaways during this particular spin (covered in the previous chapter)
paytable for paying symbols
your total bet per spin
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).
Top 5 Megaways slots of All Time
White Rabbit (BigTimeGaming)
Play White Rabbit for real money
White Rabbit has truly become a best-seller. It has much higher RTP than on average on the market (97.72%), very lucrative maximum possible win size (x13,000), and unbelievable 248,832 ways to win. Moreover, you can buy the bonus game (free spins) for x100 of your stake. Definitely a must-try slot if you would like to test Megaways feature.
Megaways number: 248,832 RTP: 97.72% Volatility: High Free spins: Yes Multiplier: Yes Cascading reels: No
Maximum possible win: x13,000 of your stake
Gorilla Gold (Blueprint)
Play Gorilla Gold for real money
Not too many slots can boast with 97%+ RTP, and Gorilla Gold is one of those. On top of that, the slot has absolutely amazing graphics, thrilling cascading reels feature, and a quite unique layout (4 fields instead of 1).
Megaways number: 470,596 RTP: 97% Volatility: High Free spins: Yes Multiplier: Yes Cascading reels: Yes
Maximum possible win: x20,000 of your stake
Primal (Blueprint)
Primal is another high quality product of Blueprint gaming. Although its RTP is a bit lower than 97%, it is still higher than average. What makes it special is unbelievable x50,000 maximum possible win, though be aware of very high volatility level.
Megaways number: 46,656 RTP: 96.76% Volatility: High Free spins: Yes Multiplier: Yes Cascading reels: No
Maximum possible win: x50,000 of your stake
Curse of the Werewolf (Pragmatic)
Play Curse of the Werewolf for real money
Curse of the Werewolf is a well-made slot of Pragmatic gaming. It stands out among other megaways slots due to its huge maximum possible win, which is x40,976. The slot is decent in terms of RTP, though there are definitely a bit better choices. Anyway, it won’t be a mistake to give it a chance.
Megaways number: 46,656 RTP: 96.5% Volatility: High Free spins: Yes Multiplier: Yes Cascading reels: No
Maximum possible win: x40,976 of your stake
Bonanza (BigTimeGaming)
Bonanza has gained a lot of popularity among online casino players. It comes with 117,649 ways to win, and the cascading reels feature makes the gaming experience more exciting. However, its RTP (96%) is a bit disappointing. Though it deserves its place in the rating mainly because of how popular the slot has become.
Megaways number: 117,649 RTP: 96% Volatility: Medium-high Free spins: Yes Multiplier: Yes Cascading reels: Yes
Maximum possible win: x10,000 of your stake
Top Software providers that produce Megaways slots under license
Here is a list of software providers that produce online slots with the Megaways feature. The list is incomplete since I have only included the most known and reliable slot developers in it. Feel free to click on them to learn more (including top casinos to play at).
BigTimeGaming, Netent, Blueprint Gaming, Relax Gaming, Pragmatic, Merkur, Iron Dog, Fantasma, SG Interactive
How does Megaways affect RTP, Volatility and Winning hit frequency
Let’s take a look at how the Megaways feature interacts with the crucial slot parameters: RTP, Volatility and Winning hit frequency.
Megaways’ impact on RTP
Although there is no causation between the Megaways feature in place and RTP, I have noticed that a decent portion of Megaways slots come with a quite high RTP (96.5+%). However, as I said, it is not because of Megaways itself. The reason is that the majority of Megaways slots are rather new, and the online gambling market is overly competitive nowadays. As a result, if you release a slot with RTP lower than 96.5%, it is basically doomed to fall behind the competition.
Megaways’ impact on Volatility
It is quite a challenge to find a Megaways slot with maximum possible win lower than x10,000. What does it mean in terms of volatility? The volatility is going to be rather high since the slot has to make up for such opportunities to win somewhere else. So to say, the volatility level of Megaways slots is high as a rule of thumb. Though don’t get me wrong, there are definitely medium and low volatility megaways slots on the market, but those are rather exceptions.
Megaways’ impact on Winning hit frequency
As we have learnt, the volatility level of megaways slots is high in general. Therefore, the winning hit frequency of Megaways slots is lower than on average. To be more precise, more than 20% of hit frequency is an uncommon thing in Megaways slots.
On top of that, many Megaways slots do introduce the cascading reels feature (winning symbols get blown away, and then get replaced with new “cascading” symbols). Due to its nature, the winning hit frequency of such games becomes even lower.
Why maximum win per line (per way) is too low in Megaways slots
Megaways slots present an enormous number of ways (which are basically paylines) to win. On the other hand, there must be some limit to how much an online slot allows us to win, right? Hence, don’t be surprised that the highest paying symbol in Megaways slots does not often exceed x50, whereas in traditional slots (with much less paylines available) it may equal to x2,500 (or even more).
Thus this is a quite predictable thing to have. The more paylines an online slot has, the smaller wins per lines is to be expected, and vice versa.
Anyway, what matters is total win per spin, and here Megaways slots do truly shine. x20,000-x50,000 are quite common numbers.
What else is special about Megaways slots
Number of reels
The absolute majority of online slots comes with 5 reels. The same is not true for Megaways slots. Here we usually have 6 or 7 reels layout. The reason behind is that it would be impossible, from the mathematical standpoint, to make a slot game with, let’s say, 117,649 ways to win otherwise.
Number of rows
Megaways slots usually have 6 or 7 rows, which is also twice more than on average on the market (the most popular is 3 rows layout in online slots). This is the case for the same reason why Megaways slots have a bit more reels.
Different number of symbols per reel
As you can see from the screenshot below, some reels consist of 7 rows (so that 7 symbols take up the reel), but some reels consist of just 2 rows. This is actually a quite common thing in Megaways slots.
The more different symbols in the reel land, the higher probability to win we can expect.
Maximum bet per spin in Megaways slots is often limited to 20 EUR
This is the case, because Megaways slots provide an opportunity to win really big. As we have learnt, at least x10,000 as a rule of thumb. 20-50 EUR as a maximum bet are very common numbers in high volatility slots.
In some slots even 2 symbols are enough to form a winning combination
This is another feature, which is very uncommon in classic online slots. In the majority of online slots you would have to hit at least 3 symbols to form a winning combination in general.
Cascading reels is a fairly common feature of Megaways slots
Being rather modern products, Megaways slots are happy to jump on the bandwagon. Cascading reels (which may come by many other names) makes the gaming experience much more exciting.
The buy bonus game is also quite common
As the cascading reels, the buy bonus game is a novel in the online gambling industry. With it in place, you simply pay x times of your bet (usually x50-x100) and get the bonus game (including free spins) right away.
Final thoughts
Pros of Megaways slots:
enormous winnings are common (sometimes even life changing)
usually newer games so that they are often well-made
interesting new features are often included (cascading reels, buy bonus, etc.)
volatility is often high, which is actually a good thing for online casino players
quite a few offers with very high RTP are currently on the market (97%+)
Cons of Megaways slots:
much deeper bankroll is required due to high volatility level
winning hit frequency is low
might be a bit confusing for beginner players
Reliable online casinos with Megaways slots
As for me personally, I can definitely recommend Megaways slots. RTP of some of them is very generous, and, what is more important, they are often produced by reliable slot developers so that you can be sure that the declared RTP is there. Life changing possible winnings is another strong reason to at least give them a try.
Check out other Slots articles:
