Megaways mechanics are a special type of slot construction. The number of symbols on the reels and the number of possible combinations change with each spin. It has fundamentally changed the concept of modern video slots. Today, they are no longer simple successors to old one-armed bandits, but something fundamentally new.
What the Megaways mechanics are and how they appeared
Megaways is a patented mechanism for slots. It replaced fixed paylines with a variable symbol grid. Now, identical symbols on adjacent reels are also paid out. With each spin, the game randomly determines how many symbols appear on a reel, which is why the number of possible combinations varies each time. This creates the impression of a “living” slot machine where the grid is constantly changing.
The Megaways mechanic was developed by the Australian studio Big Time Gaming. The first slot with this mechanic was Dragon Born Megaways, which was released in 2016. The game offered up to 117,649 possible ways to win per spin. The real breakthrough came after the release of Bonanza Megaways. Bonanza uses 6 reels with a dynamic number of symbols and offers up to 117,649 ways to win at maximum grid. This slot machine is considered to be the origin of the Megaways mechanic.
Today, players have a huge selection of slots with a wide variety of mechanics. To find their way around this offering, many users resort to rankings, test reports, and comparison sites. Platforms like Spielen-Slots.de help to discover new games, providers, and bonus offers more quickly.
These websites collect and compare various online casinos, slot machines, and current bonus offers. There, players can see important information about games, mechanics, payment methods, and available bonuses at a glance. Especially with popular formats such as Megaways slots, many players use such sites to find new titles or compare different providers.
How Megaways slots work
In Megaways slots, the number of possible winning combinations is variable. It is calculated by multiplying the number of symbols on all reels together. For example, if six reels each show seven symbols in a spin, the result is 7×7×7×7×7×7. This means that this spin has 117,649 possible combinations. If fewer symbols appear on individual reels, the product – and thus the number of combinations – becomes smaller accordingly. A typical Megaways slot combines several elements:
- variable number of symbols on the reel in each spin;
- payouts for identical symbols on adjacent reels;
- cascading wins, where winning symbols disappear and new ones slide in from above or from the side;
- bonus free spins, which often use a progressive win multiplier.
For the player, this means that every spin looks slightly different. The grid gets bigger, then smaller again, and during the bonus free spins, the win multiplier can increase after each cascade.
How the Megaways mechanic has changed the approach to slot development
The Megaways mechanic has shown that players don't just want more paylines. They are looking for a different style of play—one where the playing field is constantly changing and there are many ways to win. Instead of the usual 20–40 lines, slots with tens of thousands of possible combinations have emerged, with cascading wins and multipliers that can grow during the game.
Against the backdrop of a growing global online market of approximately $87.69 billion in 2025, the industry is actively looking for ways to stand out from hundreds of standardized slot machines. The slot market alone is estimated to be worth approximately $21.36 billion in 2026.
For studios, Megaways became an example of how a change in game mechanics can generate strong interest in a game. In descriptions of new slots and in promotional materials, the focus is no longer solely on the theme or graphics. A lot of attention is also paid to the numbers – how many possible combinations there can be, what the maximum multiplier is, and how many times the stake can increase with the biggest win.
How providers are developing the Megaways idea
The Megaways idea has long since outgrown Big Time Gaming's own slots. The company licenses this mechanic to other developers. These include NetEnt, Pragmatic Play, Blueprint, Red Tiger, and other major providers. For players, Megaways has therefore become a whole group of slots that is represented in most major online casinos.
Based on the basic mechanics, studios develop their own special features:
- their own themes and visual styles;
- additional reels or upper symbol rows;
- unusual bonus features that change the number of Megaways or the multiplier;
- features where players can directly purchase access to free spins rounds.
This approach makes it possible to retain the recognizable Megaways structure while making each slot significantly different.
At the same time, alternative mechanics with variable symbol grids and thousands of ways to win have also emerged on the market. These do not directly use the name Megaways, but are based on the same idea of a dynamically constructed playing field. Megaways has triggered a trend toward more complex slots—with many possible combinations, high multipliers, and an unusual reel structure.
What the future holds for Megaways and how this may affect the development of slots
Today, Megaways slots are regularly among the most popular games, and Bonanza Megaways remains one of the best-known slot machines in this genre. So what can players expect in the future?
Based on current trends, the further development of the mechanics is likely to go in several directions:
- Hybrid slots, combining Megaways with jackpots or other methods of generating winnings;
- More playful elements around Megaways – such as tournaments, missions, progress bars, or seasonal events;
- The use of Megaways logic in live formats and moderated game shows.
Against the backdrop of forecasts that the global online gambling market could grow to over $153 billion by 2030, demand for eye-catching mechanics such as Megaways is unlikely to decline.
