Blueprint Gaming

Why Blueprint is different

Blueprint Gaming is a British studio that still designs with UK arcade and pub machines in mind. Its games often have features you'd find on a fruit machine: choices to make after a win, linked jackpots and bold, simple symbols. It also licenses Megaways from Big Time Gaming, the studio that created it. That pairing of old-style UK features with a licensed modern reel system is the easiest way to understand its catalogue.

Newark roots and German ownership

MERKUR GROUP, the company formerly known as the Gauselmann Group, says Blueprint was established in 2001 and is based in Newark. Gauselmann took a stake in 2008 and bought the company outright in 2012. The group says Blueprint's games are available on more than 100,000 gaming machines in the UK, Germany and Italy, as well as online.

The demo network we use carries 372 titles from Blueprint Gaming.

The Megaways licence

Big Time Gaming created Megaways and first used it in Dragon Born in late 2015. It is a random reel modifier: the number of symbols on each reel changes with every spin, so the number of ways to win changes too, up to 117,649 on a six-reel layout. Big Time Gaming announced a deal to license its patented and trademarked Megaways mechanic to Gauselmann, Merkur and Blueprint. Blueprint's managing director, Matt Cole, said the studio would use it in its next wave of releases.

MERKUR GROUP's page names Megaways versions among Blueprint's award-winning games, including Fishin' Frenzy Megaways and Eye of Horus Megaways. Both are Megaways rebuilds of themes the studio already used, which shows how Blueprint tends to use the licence.

Jackpot King and linked prizes

The second part of Blueprint's identity is its jackpot system. MERKUR GROUP says 40 of its games are linked through one jackpot system. Blueprint's progressive network is called Jackpot King, and it offers tiered jackpots across several titles. In August 2026, Fishin' Frenzy Reely Big Catch Jackpot King joined the network and added expanding reels to the franchise's bonus round for the first time. The link works much like a pub machine: a familiar base game with an extra jackpot layer on top.

The studio also makes licensed branded slots. MERKUR GROUP names The Goonies as one of its best-known games.

Lucky Pharaoh: the collect-or-convert choice

The Blueprint game we list is one of its older titles:

Some catalogues, including ours, spell it "Lucky Pharoah". It has 5 reels, 3 rows and 10 fixed lines, with gems and card symbols. There is no wild symbol and no standard free spins round. Instead, it uses Power Spins. Any win worth 4x the total bet or more pauses the game and asks you to choose: collect the win, or turn it into spins on four reel sets at once, where a Mystery symbol is active.

That choice is a good example of Blueprint's fruit-machine style. Arcade machines often ask players to gamble or collect a win. Lucky Pharaoh uses the same idea, but with spins instead of a straight gamble.

A 94% figure that needs context

Lucky Pharaoh's 94% RTP is below most modern slots. Our review explains why that number doesn't tell the whole story. The 94% applies to the base game. Play inside Power Spins runs at 96.25%. These aren't two versions of the game. They are two parts of the same game. So the long-run return depends partly on how often a player chooses to convert wins into Power Spins.

We haven't found a Blueprint statement on how many RTP builds it supplies across its catalogue, so we don't make general claims about that.

Who Blueprint suits

Blueprint suits players who grew up with UK fruit machines, and players who like a decision point during a game instead of watching features trigger on their own. It also suits Megaways fans who want familiar themes rebuilt on changing reels. Players who want modern grid slots with stacking multipliers will find more of that elsewhere.

Pros and cons

Pros

• A clear UK fruit-machine identity, with collect-or-convert choices.
• Megaways versions of established games under an official licence.
• A linked jackpot network, Jackpot King, that runs across several titles.

Cons

• Some older titles, including Lucky Pharaoh, have a low base-game RTP.
• Its many remakes and Megaways versions of the same theme can blur together.

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