The online casino industry expands year by year, powered by technological advances and developer innovation. One of the biggest digital innovations in recent times is the creation of the Megaways mechanic, which was introduced to the iGaming industry by Big Time Gaming. The mechanic was introduced with the Bonanza title, launched in 2016, which we will cover.
The Megaways mechanic has played a vital role in the online casino industry, enabling dynamic playgrids. Before the invention, all slot games would feature fixed payline counts, with the same number of symbols landing for each spin. The Megaways mechanic changed this, allowing each spin to feature unique symbol counts and enabling elevated active paylines.
How Megaways Slots Work
Megaways slots are a unique creation and come in many ways in the modern online casino industry. Their invention is truly special and has made a massive impact on the industry, similar to that of live casino games. Megaways slots changed the world of online slots, though for beginning players, they are often complex and hard to understand. Like all slot games, Megaways titles are played on playgrids, which feature paylines. Where these Megaways titles differ is in the individuality of each reel, which commonly features between 2 and 7 symbols. With regular online slots, all reels feature the same number of symbols for every spin, making these Megaways titles truly unique.
With the average Megaways title featuring between 2 and 7 symbols, a fully maxed-out grid can yield a higher number of paylines than the industry average. With each spin having a different number of symbols, the number of available paylines will change, which is part of what makes these titles special.
Whilst the mechanics are slightly different, the paylines still all begin at the leftmost reel, which has been the slot industry standard since the first slot invention, the Liberty Bell. These paylines operate from left to right in adjacent reels, allowing for matching combinations to occur if combinations of identical symbols land adjacent, beginning at the leftmost reel.
Whilst the base gameplay differs from the regular online slots release, the bonus features remain relatively unchanged, although some titles have experimented.
Common Megaways Bonus Features
One of the most common bonus features found in Megaways slots, and what is largely associated with the genre, is the cascading reels mechanic. Although the mechanic was debuted in a regular online slot game, Megaways slots have adopted the cascading reels mechanic in a large percentage of their releases.
Cascading reels, also known as the tumble feature, can be triggered in the event of a matching combination, which is different from other bonuses where specific symbols are required. If the cascading reels feature is randomly triggered, the participating symbols will be removed from the reels after the base game prize is awarded. Once the matched symbols are removed, those located above will fall, leaving empty positions in their place. New symbols will then enter the reels from above, allowing for further matching combinations to be created. Over the years, some slot developers have added further bonuses to this cascading reels feature, for example, growing multipliers for each cascade on the same spin.
The wild symbol has been part of the slot industry for a long time, with even modern Megaways releases featuring it. The wild symbol was first introduced when slot machines were still mechanical, and since then, it has undergone a few changes. The wild symbol is one of the most popular bonuses available, often serving as a substitute symbol for any regular value symbol. These wilds may only step in for a base symbol when a matching symbol combination can be formed, or extended, across a payline.
Similar to the wild symbol, the free spins feature is a slot industry standard, part of thousands of releases, including Megaways titles. Commonly, these free spins features are triggered through landing a combination of a certain symbol, which is often referred to as the scatter. If the bonus is triggered, players are awarded with a predetermined number of free spins, where the gameplay will commence without players placing a stake. It is common for these free spin features to include additional gameplay mechanics, such as multipliers, expanding wilds, and collect mechanics.
The Inventors
As mentioned, Big Time Gaming are the creator of the Megaways mechanic, which first debuted in the Bonanza title launched in 2016. Following the release of this slot title, other development studios across the industry have drawn inspiration from it, adding the mechanic into their releases. Following the release of Bonanza, its mechanics quickly became the industry standard for megaways slots. The Bonanza title was played across 6 reels, with each containing between 2 and 7 symbols, allowing for a maximum of 117,649 paylines.
After this release, Big Time Gaming went on to release numerous other Megaways titles, becoming renowned for their creation and becoming a notable iGaming developer.
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