Online casinos have changed a lot over the last couple of years. In fact, many of those changes could be considered seismic, particularly in the area of live dealer casino which effectively created a new an entirely new arm of the casino industry. However, there is one trend in casino gaming that everyone is talking about right now, and its popularity sees no sign of slowing down – Megaways games.
You’ll find Megaways games at the UK’s best casinos online, but we will do our best to explain the phenomenon and why it has become so popular. Megaways games are online slots with a specific technology developed by Big Time Gaming. That technology sees a series of shifting reels during every spin, which can create anything from a few hundred combinations to over one hundred thousand different winning lines.
Technology licensed to rival developers
Big Time Gaming created the concept of Megaways for some of its signature games, such as Bonanza and Extra Chilli, but so popular did it become that the casino software developer has now licensed the technology to other developers, most notably Blueprint Gaming. The upshot is that we now have dozens of Megaways games, and it has effectively created a new sub-genre of casino gaming.
To give you a flavour of what Megaways is all about, we will take a look at one of the most popular examples: Return of Kong Megaways. This game from Blueprint Gaming is, as you can guess by the title, loosely based on the classic Nintendo game Donkey Kong. It features 3D graphics and a handful of bonus features and special effects, but the game really comes alive during the Kong Feature. In it, you will win free spins with an unlimited multiplier, which can lead to massive wins of 1000s of times your stake.
Another example is Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Megaways, which is based on the popular quiz show. This is officially licensed content, so you can expect all the imagery and sounds of the tv show, as well as WWTBAM-themed bonus games. As with Return of Kong, the game has massive payout potential, especially in the bonus game. Other popular Megaways games include Monopoly Megaways, Montezuma, Deal or No Deal Megaways and Rainbow Riches Megaways. As you can see, many of the games are based on elements of pop culture.
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Games have huge payout potential
While the games are all different, and many differ through their creative and exciting bonus games, they all share that potentially explosive payout potential. When you think about it, even if each winning combination is worth just a few cents, it is amplified tremendously by having (potentially) over 100,000 different winning combinations. That’s the key to the games’ popularity, as it effectively keeps players on the edge of their seats as they know that the next spin could be a life-changing one.
A word of warning, though; while Megaways games have attracted players who aim to win big prizes, the games are classed as volatile. This means that they do not sustain players’ balances with small wins in the same manner as non-volatile slots. In short, the games are designed to offer one ‘big hit’, but be warned that the payout might never arrive. As such, Megaways games should be treated like buying a lottery ticket, and you should only play with money you are happy to lose; there is no guarantee of winning, but there is always a chance that your number comes up.