Genuine innovations in the world of online slots are generally few and far between but occasionally one comes along which deserves special mention and that is Megaways; Megaways is a clever payline structure developed by Big Time Gaming which can offer players up to 117649 ways to win.

Tinkering with paylines is nothing new of course but historically its rare to find a slot with more than 243 ways to win because that’s the maximum available with five reels and three rows so how have Big Time Gaming managed this feat? Well to start with Megaways slots tend to have six reels so there’s already greater payline potential there but the really revolutionary idea is to have symbols of varying sizes on the reels – up to eight in fact. Once you’ve got six reels with eight symbols on each there are 117649 ways to win – simple when you think about it but a concept not tried before Big Time Gaming made it their own.

The Megaways concept has become so popular that other software developers have started licensing it to be integrated into their own slots; among others Blueprint Gaming, Relax Gaming, Red Tiger have all used it and some have even retrofitted older games with Megaways as a way to refresh an already popular slot.

Another feature which adds to the interest around Megaways is that they often come with cascading reels in which winning symbols are removed and make way for more falling from above – as the new symbols drop down the number of paylines changes on the fly and will be shown somewhere on the screen; it’s all very clever and it’s an innovation which has added some welcome excitement online slots and casinos. Have a look at the gameplay video below to see it in action.