The Magic And Mystery of Big Time Gaming’s Megaways Mechanic

One of the most exciting aspects of the online gambling industry is the innovations in technology and gameplay. Whether it is the invention of Free Spins by Microgaming, the drive to perfect mobile casino technology or creating new reel features like Big Time Gaming’s (BTG) patented Megaways mechanic the industry is always evolving.

Multiple Paylines With Megaways

Like many other ground-breaking developments, Big Time Gaming’s trademarked Megaways mechanic seems simple and even a little obvious in hindsight, give players more chances to win and do it in an exciting way. However, prior to their variable payline feature, both online and land-based slot machines were capped at 4,096 ways to win.

Their approach was to make the activation of the Megaways feature as much a game of chance as the outcome of the reels.

Megaways slots are played with 6-reels containing dynamic rows. Each new game not only has random symbols land on the reels but also randomises the number of symbols on each reel individually. These randomised expansions of the potential number of rows are what allows the mechanic to offer payers up to 117,649 ways to win on any spin!

Raising The Bar With Extended Reels

Dragon Born was the first official slot release to feature BTG’s patented Megaways mechanic in January 2016. The slot was an immediate success with players and operators drawn to this shiny new feature.

Seeing they had a hit on their hands BTG immediately began to push the limits of the feature and by October 2016 launched two new slots that did just that.

Their Starquest slot release combined the 117,649 payline potential of Megaways and added in the already popular Pays Both Ways mechanic to improve the winning combination of the slot. This feature combination also allowed them to offer Win Multipliers of up to x120 any payline win.

It was, however, their White Rabbit slot machine that saw BTG take the potential of Megaways to new heights. The introduction of the Extended Reels feature allowed them to increase the maximum number of symbols per reel to as many as 12! This extension saw the Megaways mechanic now able to offer players an astounding 248,832 to win! More than double the already impressive base Megaways payline offering.

✓Let The Games Begin

This amazing advancement grabbed the attention of many operators who were keen to add BTG games to their portfolio – until BTG once again offered the market a fresh new idea, they would licence the mechanic to operators allowing them to add Megaways to their own suite of games.

This was a great way for game providers and operators to begin to breathe new life into fan favourite slots and build their own custom game suites to remain relevant in an ever more competitive market.

The first-of-its-kind partnership was struck between BTG and Blueprint Gaming on April 25th, 2018. At the time Matt Cole, Managing Director at Blueprint Gaming, said:

“Big Time Gaming has enjoyed phenomenal success with its latest releases. A huge part of this is down to the out and out innovations Big Time Gaming has developed in recent years. We are thrilled to have gained access to MegaWays™ and can’t wait to begin incorporating it in the next wave of games we release.”

Since then a slew of operators and developers have partnered with BTG to offer this truly unique feature to their users including Red Tiger, Relax Gaming and NextGen.

✓Spin A Megaways Slot For Yourself

Here are 7 entertaining Megaways slot releases to help get you started. Each one is from a different supplier so you can get a rounded feel for how different operators use the Megaways mechanic: