What Are Megaways Slots? How the Mechanic Works and Which Titles Pay Best
The ways counter above a Megaways reel set is the most misread number in a slots lobby. A game advertising 117,649 ways looks like it is offering 117,649 chances to be paid, when what the figure really describes is the shape a win can take rather than how often one lands. Megaways is a volatility mechanic, so this page separates what the ways count actually changes from what players assume it changes.
How Megaways Slots Work: Reels, Ways and 117,649
A standard Megaways game runs six reels. The difference from a conventional slot is that the reels are not a fixed height. Each one shows between two and seven symbols on any given spin, and the number is drawn fresh every time you press the button.
The ways figure is just those six numbers multiplied together. Two symbols on every reel gives 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2, or 64 ways. All six reels landing seven high gives 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7, which is seven to the sixth power and works out at 117,649. That is the ceiling, not the average, and the great majority of spins land well below it.
Wins pay left to right across adjacent reels rather than along fixed paylines, so there is no bet per line to set. Cascading reels are part of the mechanic too: symbols in a winning combination are removed, whatever sat above them drops down, and the spin resolves again. One press of the button can therefore pay several times before it finishes.
Who Makes Megaways Games
Big Time Gaming invented the mechanic in 2015 and licenses it out rather than keeping it in house. Pragmatic Play took a licence in 2019, and NetEnt, Red Tiger and Yggdrasil are among the other studios building on it. So Megaways is an engine, not a studio. Two games carrying the badge may share the ways maths and very little else, including the return they are configured to hold.
Why More Ways Does Not Mean a Higher Payout
Here is the correction the rest of the lobby will not make for you. The ways count describes how a win can be assembled. It says nothing about how much the game gives back over time, and the two are set by separate parts of the maths.
A high ways count tends to produce a stream of small hits, plenty of them worth less than the stake that bought them, with the meaningful money concentrated in rare outcomes. That is a description of high volatility, and Megaways titles are typically high volatility games. The 117,649 ceiling is what makes the tail long. It is not what makes the average higher.
So two Megaways games with an identical maximum can hold different returns, and an ordinary five reel slot can hold a higher one than either of them. Ranking games by ways count is ranking them by variance. If what you want is steadier, more frequent wins, that number is pointing you in the wrong direction.
Megaways RTP: What the Number Does and Does Not Tell You
RTP stands for return to player, and it is a modelled figure: the long run return of a game measured over millions of cycles. It is not a per session expectation and it is never a guarantee. A 96% game does not hand back £96 of every £100 you put through it on a Tuesday evening.
Slots licensed by the UK Gambling Commission commonly sit in the 94% to 96% band, which is narrow enough that the choice between two games is rarely decided there. Volatility decides it. On a high volatility family like Megaways, the gap between the modelled figure and what you see on screen is wider than it would be on a low volatility game, because the model needs far more cycles before it begins to show.
The number is still worth reading. It simply answers a different question from the one most players ask of it. RTP tells you what a game is built to hold across a scale no individual player will ever reach. It does not tell you what tonight will look like, and no honest figure can.
Read the In-Game Info Screen, Not the Lobby
There is a second problem with quoted RTP figures, and it is the single most useful thing this page can tell you. Many studios ship the same title at more than one RTP configuration, and the operator decides which build to run.
So a game you recognise by name and artwork can legitimately be running a lower return on one site than on another. Nothing is hidden and nothing is broken. The lobby thumbnail does not carry the figure, review tables including ours cannot know which build a given site has loaded, and the only place the answer actually lives is inside the game client, on its own info or paytable screen.
Open the game, open that screen, and read the RTP it declares. Do it per site and per title, because the answer can move on both axes.
White Rabbit is the clean example. Published RTP figures for it conflict across sources, so we are not going to print one. The screen in front of you outranks any list, this one included.
Best Megaways Slots to Know
These are the titles worth recognising, either because they define the mechanic or because they do something unusual with it. We have left RTP figures out of the list on purpose, for the reason set out above. Where to play them is a separate question, and our ranked list of best payout casinos not on GamStop is where that one gets answered.
Bonanza
The title most players meet first, and the reference point for everything else here. Standard six reel layout, cascades on every win, and a ways counter that visibly redraws itself between tumbles.
Monopoly Megaways
A branded game on the same engine, which makes it a useful comparison piece. Same ways maths, completely different pacing and feature structure. Good evidence that the badge describes the reel model rather than the experience.
Extra Chilli
Known for what it does with its free spins round rather than for its base game. Worth an info screen check before you load it, because feature heavy builds are exactly where configurations differ between sites.
Fishin' Frenzy Megaways
A Megaways conversion of a title that already had a following in its original form. One brand now exists in two quite different maths models, so the name on the tile tells you almost nothing about how it will play.
White Rabbit
The one that goes past the standard ceiling. It uses extending reels, which raise the reel heights beyond what the regular six reel layout allows and carry the ways count above the usual maximum. We quote no figure for its peak ways or its return, because neither stands up to checking.
Buffalo Rising
A high volatility Megaways title in the classic mould, and a fair yardstick for how the family feels at full tilt. Long quiet stretches, then everything at once. If that pattern does not suit you, the mechanic as a whole probably will not either.
Megaways on Non GamStop Slots Sites: What Changes
The mechanic itself does not change. A Megaways game running on an offshore site is the same licensed engine, with the same reel model, as the one running on a UK licensed lobby. Three things around it do change.
- The UK Gambling Commission's online slots stake limits do not follow you. Those caps, £5 for adults from 9 April 2025 and £2 for players aged 18 to 24 from 21 May 2025, bind UKGC licensees only. They are measured per game cycle, which runs from the start of a spin through to all winnings paid, and they cover online slots rather than roulette, blackjack or live dealer tables.
- The RTP build is the operator's choice, and there is no UK regulator to ask about it. A non GamStop site is not UKGC licensed, so the Commission's complaints route and GamStop itself do not apply there. That is the honest trade off, and it makes the info screen check in the previous section matter more here than anywhere else.
- Getting a win out is an operations question rather than a licensing one. Processing queues, identity checks and the payment rail decide how quickly a withdrawal clears, which is why our guide to casino payment methods is more use on that point than any licence badge.
None of that makes the games play differently. It changes who you can escalate to and what you are allowed to stake, both of which are worth knowing before you load anything.
Common Megaways Myths, Corrected
Four of these come up constantly. None survives contact with how the maths is actually built.
- That 117,649 is what the game offers on every spin. It is the ceiling, reached only when all six reels land seven symbols high, and most spins land nowhere near it.
- That a game is due. Each cycle resolves independently of the one before it, so a long quiet run carries no stored obligation. Volatility feels like a pattern. It is not one.
- That buying the feature is better value than waiting for it. A feature buy is a stake, usually a large one, and what it removes is the wait rather than the house edge. If you use one, check whether the info screen quotes a separate figure for the bought version, and read our bonuses and wagering guide before paying for it with bonus funds.
- That the ways counter says something about the return. It does not. Ways and RTP sit in different parts of the model, which is the point this page has been making since its first paragraph.
Megaways Slots FAQ
What are Megaways slots?
Megaways slots are six reel games where each reel shows a variable number of symbols, between two and seven, on every spin. The number of ways to win changes spin by spin as a result, reaching 117,649 when all six reels land seven symbols high.
How many ways can a Megaways slot pay?
A standard Megaways game tops out at 117,649 ways, which is seven to the sixth power. The floor is far lower, 64 ways when every reel shows two symbols. Some titles use extending reels to push past the standard maximum.
Do Megaways slots have a higher RTP than normal slots?
No. The ways count and the return to player figure are set by separate parts of the model, so a Megaways game can hold a lower return than a conventional slot. What the ways count does signal is volatility, and Megaways titles are typically high volatility.
What is the best Megaways slot?
There is no single answer, because the titles differ mainly in volatility and feature structure rather than in return. Bonanza is the usual starting point, White Rabbit is the one that pushes past the standard ways ceiling, and the rest is preference.
Why does the same Megaways game show a different RTP on different sites?
Because many studios release a title in more than one RTP configuration, and the operator chooses which build to run. The figure quoted in a lobby or a review table may not match the one loaded on your account, so read the game's own info screen.
Do the UK stake limits apply to Megaways slots on non GamStop sites?
No. The £5 per game cycle cap for adults and the £2 cap for players aged 18 to 24 apply to operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. Sites outside GamStop hold offshore licences, so those limits, and the UKGC complaints route, do not apply.
Megaways Terms in Plain English
Seven words that do most of the work on a Megaways paytable, with the meaning the game intends rather than the one the marketing implies.
| Term | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Ways | Every left to right combination of adjacent reel positions the game will pay on. Recalculated on every spin, because the reel heights change. |
| Reel height | How many symbols one reel shows on a given spin. Two to seven on a standard Megaways layout. |
| Cascade (tumble) | Winning symbols are removed and replaced by whatever drops in from above, so a single spin can resolve more than once. |
| Extending reels | A feature that raises reel heights beyond the standard maximum, taking the ways count above 117,649. |
| Volatility | How unevenly a game pays. High volatility means rarer wins and bigger swings in both directions. |
| RTP | Return to player. The modelled long run return across millions of cycles, not a per session figure and not a promise. |
| Game cycle | The unit the UK stake limits are measured against: the start of a spin through to all winnings paid or the loss concluded. |