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How Megaways counts its ways
A number like 117,649 on a Megaways screen is the product of reel heights that change every spin. Here is the arithmetic, what the number does not say, and the similar names around it.
Reel heights change every spin
On a standard slot each reel shows a fixed number of positions. Under Megaways, the number of symbols showing on each reel is set separately on every spin, which is why one reel can show two symbols and the next seven.
Wins are counted as ways: matching symbols on adjacent reels from the leftmost reel count as a win, and more copies of that symbol on a reel multiply the combinations. With no fixed lines, the ways figure on screen is the number of possible paths on this spin.
The ways count is a product
The ways count is every reel's visible symbol count multiplied together. What follows is an arithmetic illustration, not a figure for any particular game: with six reels showing 3, 5, 7, 4, 6 and 2 symbols, the count is 3×5×7×4×6×2 = 5,040.
In the same illustration, all six reels at a height of seven gives 7 multiplied six times, or 117,649; all six at two gives 64. Change one reel's height and the whole product moves, which is why the on-screen figure swings so much from spin to spin. Some games add a horizontal reel above the main reels, adding more terms to the product.
What a large ways count does not say
A ways count is a number of paths, not a payout or a probability. However many paths there are, the paytable sets what each pays, and games with more ways are often designed with lower per-way payouts. A reading of 117,649 does not mean that spin pays more.
In this site's catalogue, 83 titles carry Megaways in the name or format line: 61 from Pragmatic Play, 11 from NetEnt, 8 from Microgaming and 3 from Booongo. Volatility grades and win caps vary from one Megaways title to the next, so each game's published spec is a better guide than the format name.
Maxways and similar names
Megaways is the name of a licensed mechanic, so other studios sometimes use their own names for a similar idea. Maxways is one: a name a studio gives its own games. The idea is alike — reel heights change each spin and the ways count is a product — but the detailed rules belong to each game's info screen.
This site's classifier puts 2 titles in the Maxways family, both from Microgaming. Whatever the name, the reading order is the same: the maximum and minimum height per reel, whether there is an extra horizontal reel, and what the paytable pays per way.
Terms used here
- Variable reel height
- A layout where each reel's visible symbol count is set separately on every spin.
- Ways count
- Every reel's visible symbol count multiplied together — the possible paths on this spin.
- Ways pays
- Counting matching symbols on adjacent reels from the leftmost, with no fixed lines.
- Horizontal reel
- An extra reel some games place above the main reels, adding terms to the product.
- Maxways
- A studio's own name for a similar variable-reel idea.