Guide

Megaways mechanics: reels that change height, ways in place of lines

Megaways is a reel engine, licensed from Big Time Gaming to studios that put their own themes on it, and its rule is simple: each reel shows a different number of symbols on every spin, and wins count ways across adjacent reels, with no fixed lines. This guide sets out the counting, the pay rule, and what the engine does to how often and how much a slot pays, using The Dog House Megaways, the one Megaways title covered here, as the worked example.

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Illustration for Megaways mechanics

How the ways are counted

A Megaways slot has six reels, and on each spin every reel lands with between two and seven symbols showing; the heights are set independently, so one spin might show three, seven, five, two, six and four. The number of ways to win on that spin is the product of the heights, one symbol position chosen from each reel. When every reel shows seven the product is seven multiplied by itself six times, which is 117,649, and that is the figure on the box. On most spins the count is lower, and the game displays it above the reels because it changes each time.

The tracker's entry

StudioPragmatic Play
RTP (Slot Catalog)95.53%
VolatilityHigh
Maximum win12305x the bet
Grid6 by 7
Ways to win117,649 lines or ways
Bet range0.2 to 100 per spin
Release2020

How a way pays

A way is a matching symbol on each of several adjacent reels starting from the leftmost, in any row position; three matching symbols on reels one, two and three pay, wherever on those reels they sit, and the win is multiplied by the number of ways formed, so two matching symbols on reel two with one on reels one and three is two ways. The symbols on reels two to five carry the wilds and, in The Dog House Megaways, the 2x and 3x multipliers, which multiply along each way they sit on. Most Megaways titles add a cascade, where winning symbols are removed and the reels drop new ones for a further chance; the Dog House version has no cascade and keeps to the studio's own feature design, a choice between two free spins rounds.

Ways against lines

A 20-line slot pays on 20 fixed paths. A Megaways spin at full height offers 117,649 paths, and even a low spin offers hundreds, which is why small wins come often and why the paytable's per-way values are small.

What it changes in play

Three things. Hit frequency rises, because a win needs three matching symbols on adjacent reels somewhere among many positions. Average win size falls, because the paytable is scaled for the number of ways and most hits are a fraction of the stake. And the variance moves into the feature and into the tall spins: a spin where every reel lands at seven symbols with a multiplier wild on the middle reels is the engine's big base-game moment, and the free spins are where the maximum lives. The result is a game that feels busier than a line slot and pays its RTP in a similar shape, frequent small returns and a rare large round, which is why the volatility label on Megaways titles is usually high despite the busy base game. The volatility guide covers what that shape does to a bonus session.

The counter above the reels

It shows the ways on the current spin. Watching it is the quickest way to feel the engine: a spin at a few thousand ways and a spin at over a hundred thousand pay the same symbols very differently.

The Dog House Megaways as the example

Pragmatic Play's licensed use of the engine keeps the original Dog House's multiplier wilds on reels two to five and replaces the 20 lines with up to 117,649 ways, then offers a choice on three or more scatters: Sticky Wilds, 7 to 20 free spins with up to 7 sticky wilds per reel that change size as the reel heights change around them, or Raining Wilds, 15 to 30 free spins with up to 6 wilds dropping into random positions on every spin and none sticking. The maximum win is 12,305x, the tracker's RTP is 95.53% with the version caveat, and the slot page sets out which round suits which player. The original The Dog House, where the no deposit spins on this site land, is the fixed-line version of the same wilds.

Sticky wilds on a changing reel

The engine's odd corner: a sticky wild is held to a reel whose height changes every spin, so the wild resizes with it, covering more or fewer positions from spin to spin. It is the one Megaways behaviour a line-slot player will not have met.

Where this applies first

The two lowest-wagering codes we verified, with the slot, the multiplier and the cap on each card.

Questions about Megaways

What does 117,649 ways mean

Six reels each showing seven symbols gives seven to the power of six combinations of one symbol per reel, which is 117,649. On a spin where some reels show fewer symbols the count is the product of the heights that spin, so the number changes every spin and 117,649 is the maximum.

Who invented Megaways

Big Time Gaming, which licenses the engine to other studios. The Dog House Megaways is Pragmatic Play's licensed use of it on its own title, keeping the original's multiplier wilds and adding a choice of two bonus rounds.

Is Megaways higher or lower volatility than lines

The base game pays more often, because a win needs only three matching symbols on adjacent reels and the number of ways is large; the wins are small for the same reason. The volatility of the title as a whole depends on the feature, and The Dog House Megaways is labelled high, with its 12,305x maximum sitting in the sticky-wilds round.

Do free spins from the codes land on a Megaways slot

Not at present; the codes that name a Dog House title land on the original with its 20 fixed lines. The Megaways version is a purchase-in-lobby game with a tracked bet range of 0.2 to 100.

Last updated - Checked by: Karssen Avelar