"Megaways" appears in hundreds of game titles, and it is easy to assume it names a style of bonus or a series of games. It does neither. Megaways is a reel system created by the Australian studio Big Time Gaming, and its defining feature is simple: the number of symbols on each reel changes on every spin, so the number of ways to win changes too. The headline figure of 117,649 ways is a maximum that most spins never reach. This guide explains the arithmetic, shows how a studio licensing the mechanic builds on it, and uses The Dog House Megaways 1000 as the worked example from our catalogue.
Where the mechanic came from
Big Time Gaming describes Megaways as debuting in 2016 and names Bonanza as the original game that introduced it. The studio calls it a dynamic reel-modifier system offering up to 117,649 ways to win on every spin, and describes it as one of the most widely licensed mechanics in online gaming.
That licensing point matters when you read a game title. When Pragmatic Play, Blueprint Gaming or another studio releases a Megaways game, it is using Big Time Gaming's mechanic under licence. The theme, symbols, features and maths model come from the studio that built the game. The word Megaways tells you only how the reels behave.
The ways count is a multiplication, not a list
A traditional ways game has fixed reel heights. A 5x3 grid gives 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 243 ways, and that number never changes. Megaways keeps the same rule for forming wins, matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the left, but lets each reel choose its own height before the spin is shown.
In the common six-reel format, each reel shows between two and seven symbols. The ways count is the product of the six heights:
- Every reel at its minimum of 2: 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 64 ways.
- Every reel at its maximum of 7: 7 to the power of 6 = 117,649 ways.
Anything in between is possible. Three worked spins show how quickly the number moves:
| Reel heights (1 to 6) | Calculation | Ways in play |
|---|---|---|
| 3, 5, 7, 2, 6, 4 | 3 x 5 x 7 x 2 x 6 x 4 | 5,040 |
| 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 2 | 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 2 | 33,614 |
| 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 | 4 to the power of 6 | 4,096 |
The second row shows why one short reel is so costly: five reels at full height and one at two symbols give less than a third of the maximum. The count on screen in most Megaways games updates to show the figure for that spin.
Not every Megaways game uses the same range. Eye of Horus is a 10-line classic, but its Blueprint Gaming spin-off Eye of Horus Megaways, according to our review's comparison, uses six reels of up to five symbols, which caps it at 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 15,625 ways. Always check a specific game's maximum rather than assuming 117,649.
How a win is counted across changing reels
A Megaways win works like any ways win. Suppose a spin lands with heights 3, 5, 7, 2, 6, 4 and a premium symbol appears once on reel 1, twice on reel 2 and once on reel 3, with none on reel 4. That symbol forms a three-of-a-kind win, and the number of ways it pays is 1 x 2 x 1 = 2. If reel 4 had also shown the symbol, the chain would continue.
The payment for each way is the paytable value for that symbol count, and each way pays separately. More copies of a symbol on the same reel multiply the ways that symbol wins on, which is where large Megaways results in the base game usually come from.
Wilds join in the same way, as substitutes that extend chains. Because a win must start on reel 1, a game that never places wilds on reel 1 still needs a real symbol there. The Dog House Megaways 1000 is built that way, with wilds on reels 2 to 5 only.
Why more ways does not mean a higher return
A spin with 117,649 ways sounds far better than one with 64, and on that individual spin it does offer more ways to connect symbols. But the maths model already accounts for every possible reel height and its probability. The RTP is the same whichever height combination appears, because it is an average across all of them.
Designers balance the large ways counts by setting small values per way. In The Dog House Megaways 1000, according to its review, six of a kind of the card symbols pays between 0.5x and 1x the bet, and the top premium symbol pays 7.5x for six. On a grid with tens of thousands of ways, per-way payments have to be small, or the game could not stay at 96.5%.
The practical result is that a Megaways base game tends to produce many small wins, with larger results coming from wilds, multipliers and bonus rounds. The reported hit frequency for The Dog House Megaways 1000 is 23.75%, or roughly one winning spin in four.
Worked example: Megaways combined with multiplying wilds
Pragmatic Play's page for The Dog House Megaways 1000 states that wilds can carry multipliers of up to 1,000x, and that when more than one wild multiplier lands on the same spin, their values multiply together before being applied. That rule interacts with the Megaways grid in a specific way.
Take a single winning way of six top premium symbols, listed at 7.5x the bet, with one 10x wild on reel 3 as part of that way:
- Base value: 7.5x.
- With a 10x wild: 75x.
- If a 25x wild on reel 4 is also on the same way: the multiplier is 10 x 25 = 250x, so the way pays 1,875x.
Now consider a tall reel. If reel 3 is seven symbols high and holds two wilds, more ways pass through a wild than on a short reel, so the multiplying rule applies to more of the win. This is why the changing heights and the wild multipliers are designed together, and why the game caps any single spin at 25,000x the bet, as stated in Pragmatic Play's launch announcement. These are illustrations of the published rules, not a likely spin.
Megaways features that often travel with the mechanic
Megaways games frequently add mechanics of their own. None of these are part of the Megaways licence itself, so check each game's rules:
- Tumbles or cascades. Many Megaways titles remove winning symbols and drop new ones in, so one spin can pay several times. The Dog House Megaways 1000 does not list a tumble feature in Pragmatic Play's materials.
- Horizontal top reels. Some games place an extra row above the middle reels to add symbols, which increases the ways count. Check the game's help screen for whether it is present.
- Free spins with fixed heights or rising multipliers. Bonus rounds often change how reels behave, for instance by locking wilds, as in The Dog House Megaways 1000's Sticky Wilds mode.
- Feature purchases. Several Megaways games list bonus buy options where permitted. Our bonus buy guide covers how those are priced.
How we tag Megaways on SlotsRanker
A game only carries the Megaways tag in our catalogue if its published record says so. The SR Score's features component records genuine mechanics, and our scoring guide explains that crash, table and card games never receive slot-only labels like Megaways. The information screen of any Megaways game should list its maximum ways and how wins are counted, which is the kind of rule explanation UK standards require to be easy to find before play.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns the Megaways mechanic?
Big Time Gaming created it and licenses it to other studios. It debuted in 2016 with Bonanza.
Does every Megaways spin have 117,649 ways?
No. That is the maximum for six reels of up to seven symbols. The count is recalculated every spin, and the minimum in that format is 64.
Do more ways mean a bigger return on average?
No. The RTP already covers every possible reel height. Large ways counts are balanced by small values per way.
How is the ways count calculated?
Multiply the number of symbols showing on each reel. Heights of 3, 5, 7, 2, 6 and 4 give 5,040 ways.
Is The Dog House Megaways 1000 made by Big Time Gaming?
No. It is a Pragmatic Play game that uses the Megaways mechanic under licence.
Do all Megaways games have the same maximum ways?
No. Some use shorter reels. Eye of Horus Megaways, for example, tops out 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…