Start with the spec line that every Megaways game quotes: up to 117,649 ways. The two words that matter are "up to". That figure is a ceiling, and the typical spin sits far below it. Megaways itself is neither a bonus style nor a game series, despite appearing in hundreds of titles. Big Time Gaming, an Australian studio, built it as a reel system whose defining trait is that each reel shows a different number of symbols on every spin, so the ways count shifts every time as well. James Cooper works through the arithmetic below, explains how licensee studios build on the system and uses The Dog House Megaways 1000 from the SlotSpecs database as the running example.
Multiply the reel heights
In a conventional ways game the reels never change size. A 5×3 grid always gives 243 ways, three rows multiplied across five reels. Megaways keeps the same win rule, identical symbols on neighbouring reels counted from the left, but lets every reel pick its own height before the result is displayed.
In the standard six-reel layout, a reel can show anywhere from two to seven symbols, and the ways count is all six heights multiplied together:
- All six reels at the minimum of 2 gives 64 ways, that is 2 to the power of 6.
- All six at the maximum of 7 gives 117,649 ways, that is 7 to the power of 6.
Every value in between can occur. Three sample spins show how sharply the figure swings:
| Ways in play | Heights, reel 1 to reel 6 | Working |
|---|---|---|
| 4,096 | Every reel at 4 | 4 multiplied by itself six times |
| 5,040 | 3, 5, 7, 2, 6, 4 | 15×14×24 |
| 33,614 | 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 2 | 7 to the fifth power, times 2 |
The last row shows how expensive a single short reel is. Five reels at full height plus one reel of two symbols produce under a third of the maximum. Most Megaways games display a counter that updates to that spin’s figure.
The range is not identical across every Megaways title. The original Eye of Horus uses 10 lines, yet our review’s comparison notes that the Megaways spin-off from Blueprint Gaming runs six reels holding at most five symbols each, which limits it to 15,625 ways (5 to the power of 6). Check each game’s own maximum rather than taking 117,649 for granted.
Origins and licensing
According to Big Time Gaming, Megaways first appeared in 2016, and Bonanza was the game that introduced it. The studio describes the system as a dynamic reel modifier giving up to 117,649 ways on every spin and counts it among the mechanics most widely licensed across online gaming.
Licensing changes how a title should be read. A Megaways title from Pragmatic Play, Blueprint Gaming or anyone else is using the Big Time Gaming system under licence. Theme, symbols, features and maths model all belong to the studio that made the game. The word Megaways only tells you how the reels behave.
Following one win through the reels
A Megaways win is counted exactly as any ways win is. Take the 5,040-way spin from the table, and suppose a premium symbol lands on reel 1 once, on reel 2 twice, on reel 3 once, and not at all on reel 4. That is a three-symbol win, paid on 1 x 2 x 1 = 2 ways. Had reel 4 also shown the symbol, the chain would have carried on.
Every way pays separately, at the paytable rate for that number of symbols. Extra copies of a symbol on one reel multiply the number of ways it wins on, and that is usually where large base-game Megaways results originate.
Wilds take part as substitutes that lengthen a chain. Since every win must begin on reel 1, a game that never puts wilds on reel 1 still needs a genuine symbol there. The Dog House Megaways 1000 follows that design, with wilds limited to reels 2 to 5.
More ways, same RTP
A 117,649-way spin sounds much better than a 64-way spin, and on that one spin there are indeed more ways for symbols to connect. The maths model, however, already includes every possible height combination and how likely each is. The RTP does not change with the heights on screen, because it is an average taken over all of them.
Designers offset big ways counts with small per-way values. The review of The Dog House Megaways 1000 lists six card symbols paying between 0.5x and 1x the bet, and six of the top premium symbol paying 7.5x. Across a grid carrying tens of thousands of ways, each way has to pay little, or the game could never hold its 96.5%.
In practice, a Megaways base game tends to deliver lots of small wins, with bigger results arriving through wilds, multipliers and bonus rounds. The Dog House Megaways 1000 has a reported hit frequency of 23.75%, roughly one paying spin in four.
Tall reels and multiplying wilds
According to Pragmatic Play’s own page for the game, wilds can carry multipliers as high as 1,000x, and that when two or more wild multipliers land in one spin their values are multiplied by each other first. Combined with the changing grid, that rule has a particular effect.
Consider one winning way of six top premium symbols, valued at 7.5x the bet, running through a single 10x wild on reel 3:
- Without the wild’s multiplier: 7.5x.
- Including the 10x wild: 75x.
- Adding a 25x wild on reel 4 in the same way: the combined multiplier is 10 x 25 = 250x, and the way pays 1,875x.
Now picture a tall reel. When reel 3 stands seven symbols high and carries two wilds, more ways run through a wild than they would on a short reel, so the multiplication touches a larger part of the win. That is why the shifting heights and the wild multipliers are designed as a pair, and why the game limits any one spin to 25,000x the bet, according to Pragmatic Play’s launch announcement. These sums illustrate the published rules; they do not describe a probable spin.
Extras that often come alongside
Many Megaways games bolt on further mechanics. None of them belong to the Megaways licence, so each game’s rules need checking:
- Cascades or tumbles. Lots of Megaways games clear paid symbols and drop in new ones, letting a spin pay repeatedly. Pragmatic Play’s materials for The Dog House Megaways 1000 do not list a tumble feature.
- A horizontal reel on top. Some games run an extra row over the middle reels to add symbols and raise the ways count. The help screen confirms whether a given game has one.
- Bonus rounds that change reel behaviour. Free spins frequently alter how the reels work, for example by holding wilds in place, as the Sticky Wilds mode in The Dog House Megaways 1000 does.
- Feature buys. Several Megaways games offer purchase options where they are allowed. The feature purchase guide explains how they are priced.
The Megaways tag in the database
SlotSpecs applies the Megaways tag only when a game’s published record confirms it. The features part of the Spec Score counts genuine mechanics, and the Spec Score method notes that crash, table and card games are never given slot-only tags such as Megaways. Any Megaways game’s info screen should set out the maximum ways and the method for counting wins, the sort of rule explanation UK standards expect to be easy to find before play.
Megaways questions
Which studio is behind Megaways?
Big Time Gaming invented it and licenses it to other studios. Its first game was Bonanza, in 2016.
Is every Megaways spin played on 117,649 ways?
No. That figure is the top end of the six-reel, seven-symbol layout. The count changes each spin, and the lowest possible in that layout is 64.
Will a spin with more ways pay back more on average?
No. Every possible reel height is already built into the RTP, and big ways counts are offset by low per-way values.
How do I work out the number of ways on a spin?
Multiply together the symbol counts on all six reels. For example, 3, 5, 7, 2, 6 and 4 symbols give 5,040 ways.
Did Big Time Gaming make The Dog House Megaways 1000?
No. Pragmatic Play made it, using the Megaways system under licence.
Is the maximum ways count the same in every Megaways game?
No. Some games have shorter reels; Eye of Horus Megaways, for instance, peaks at 15,625 ways.
Sources
- bigtimegaming.com/news/megaways-casino
- bigtimegaming.com/games/gold-megaways
- pragmaticplay.com/en/games/the-dog-house-megaways-1000
- pragmaticplay.com/en/news/pragmatic-play-fetches-massive-multipliers-in-the-dog-hous…
- gamblingcommission.gov.uk/standards/remote-gambling-and-software-technical-standards/rts-3-r…