There have been some amazing innovations to the slot machine since Charles Fey first unveiled the 3-reel Liberty Bell back in the misty depths of the long ago. Innovations in computing ad tech saw some big leaps in what slot machines could offer, bringing in more reels, more paylines and more features like bonus games and scatters and cascading symbols.
Technology also allowed the slot machine to leave the confines of the brick-and-mortar casino and expand its presence on desktops and mobile devices thanks to the Internet and Wi-Fi.
But one of the biggest innovations to the slots world, and one that is gaining immense popularity with South African online gamblers now that we are seeing more licensed online and mobile casinos and more games providers opening their doors to our local players, is Megaways™.
Megaways™ have been around for a few years but they have suddenly started picking up huge attention. Is it because the market has suddenly expanded? Is it because they are offering some really unique games? Or is it because of their licensing deals with big-name providers to bring this thrilling gameplay to popular titles?
Or is it all of the above?
The CasinoPlay crew absolutely adore Megaways™ and having our favourite online casinos offering more and more of these unique and exhilarating slots fills us with joy. We hope you give these innovative slots games a try the next time you visit your chosen casino.
Megaways™ are a version of slots games that can be found in online, mobile, and land-based casinos. They take your normal slots play mechanics and add some proprietary tweaks that take your play to the next level.
Megaways™ slots use a random reel modifier to change the number of symbols that appear on each reel. So, instead of having a fixed number of symbols per reel shown on screen (3 or 5, for example) you now get anywhere from 2 to 7 that change with each spin.
With every spin revealing a different number of symbols, the player gets tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of way to win (hence the name Megaways – many ways to win).
Add in features like cascading reels and bonus games and you can see why Megaways™ have become one of the fastest growing and most popular slots games out there.
It’s just the same as your other slots games. You choose your coin value and bet amount. You hit spin.
The difference is in how your wins are calculated and how many ways to win you have.
Depending on how many symbols appear on each reel – up to 117,649 ways to win! And that’s on the standard Megaways™ games. There are specialised games like White Rabbit where that number goes up to 248,832 ways to win, and Holy Diver that offers 586,971 ways to win!
In the standard Megaways™ game you have 6 reels with up to 7 symbols that can be shown when the reels stop. 7x7x7x7x7x7 = 117,649 ways to win.
Obviously, there will not always be 7 symbols on each reel (because random reel modifier, remember?) but let’s say you have 2 symbols on the first reel, 4 on the second, 4 on the third, 2 on the fourth, 5 on the fifth and 7 on the sixth:
2x4x4x2x5x7 = 2,240 ways to win.
But how do you work out the paylines, we hear you cry! Well, that’s another innovation from the Megaways™ side: there are no paylines!
Wins are decided based on landing identical symbols from left to right on adjacent reels. If you get the same symbols on reels 1,2, and 3, you have a win. If you get the same symbols on reels 2, 3, and 5, you have no win.
You must match at least 1 symbol on each of the first 3 reels to get a win, Any adjacent matching symbols on the following reels add to that win.
Megaways™ was the brainchild of Australian games developer Big Time Gaming. BTG started out in 2011 but it was the development of Dragon Born and the Megaways™ system in 2015 that really got their name noticed. And it wasn’t until they released Bonanza in 2016 that Megaways™ really began to make waves.
Megaways™ actually became so popular, and the potential of the system became so obvious, that most of the big-name developers – and a fair whack of the indies – have licensed the system for their own games. A great example is the perennial favourite Gonzo’s Quest by NetEnt. Gonzo’s Quest is one of the world’s mots popular slots games, and in no small part due to its cascading symbols mechanic. NetEnt licensed the Megaways™ system from BTG and added this mechanic to the original Gonzo’s Quest to create a game that has to played to be believed. It really is something superb.
From the humble beginnings of Dragon Born and Bonanza, Megaways™ now offers hundreds of choices from both BTG and every other respected developer across the globe.
There are so many! But our favourites, which you can play at trusted South African online casinos like Jackpot, PlayLive, Slots Heaven, and Casino.com, are:
An absolute monster of a game that will take you down the rabbit hole and into another world – our #1 pick!
Awesome graphics, awesome sound, awesome gameplay – unleash your inner berserker
A classic that has just gotten better! There’s a reason why this game has conquered the slots world.
Hot, hot, hot. Fun, thrilling, and superbly designed.
The game that started the revolution.
Just locate any online casino in South Africa that offers a Megaways™ slots experience.
Play responsibly. Walk away and try another day. And, above all, have fun.
