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Megaways came from Big Time Gaming, introduced in 2016 on Dragon Born and made famous later that year by Bonanza. The mechanic replaces fixed paylines with reels whose symbol count changes every spin — six reels, each showing between two and seven symbols — so the number of ways to win changes as the reels land. The headline figure, 117,649, is what you get when all six reels show seven symbols: seven to the sixth power. Wins are paid for consecutive matching symbols from the leftmost reel, and winning symbols are removed so new ones can drop in.
The part that explains the lobby is commercial. Big Time Gaming chose to license the technology, and in 2018 Blueprint Gaming acquired rights in it — which is why studios with no connection to BTG ship Megaways titles, and why the trademark appears with a ™ next to it everywhere.
The house-mechanic model
Other studios took the opposite decision and kept their named mechanics inside their own catalogue:
- Nolimit City — xWays, xNudge, xBet. Three named mechanics, one studio.
- Yggdrasil — GigaBlox and a set of other proprietary frameworks, used in its own games and its partner-studio programme rather than licensed out as a format.
- ELK Studios — Avalanche, the cascading-symbol system that predates most of the current naming.
- ReelPlay — Infinity Reels, where the reel set grows while wins keep landing rather than the symbol count varying.
None of these is a worse idea than Megaways. They are simply not for sale as a format, so you will not find an xWays game from another studio — and if you see the word used loosely by an affiliate page, it is describing a lookalike, not the mechanic.
Why this matters when you are choosing a game
Three practical consequences, in order of usefulness:
- A licensed mechanic tells you nothing about the maths. Two Megaways games from two studios can differ in volatility, hit frequency, bonus structure and certified RTP. The name is a framework, not a specification — which is exactly the confusion the hold-and-win naming map exists to untangle.
- A house mechanic tells you which catalogue to search. If you liked the way xNudge behaves, the useful move is not to look for "xNudge slots" across the lobby but to open the studio's list — see Studios.
- "Ways to win" is not comparable across frameworks. 117,649 ways in a variable-symbol game and an ever-growing reel set are two different counting systems, both marketed with big numbers. The comparison is set out in ways to win vs reel expansion.
How to read a mechanic name on a game tile
A name on the tile answers exactly one question: which framework produced the reel behaviour. It does not tell you the return-to-player of the build you have been served, the maximum win, or whether features were removed for your market. Those three live in the in-game information screen, and they change between builds — see one slot, several RTP builds and where bonus buy is not available.
One more thing worth knowing about licensed formats: the licence fee is a cost in the game's economics. It does not come out of the RTP by any rule — the certified figure is the certified figure — but it does shape which studios bother with the format and at what price point they aim the game.
The full mechanics index is in Slot Mechanics; games are listed by studio in Studios.
Sources
- Big Time Gaming — Bonanza — six reels, 2–7 symbols per reel, up to 117,649 ways to win
- Big Time Gaming company profile — Dragon Born 2016, decision to license Megaways, Blueprint Gaming acquiring rights in 2018
- Yggdrasil Gaming — GigaBlox as a proprietary mechanic
- Infinity Reels game list — ReelPlay's expanding reel-set mechanic
Mechanic ownership and licensing read against the sources above on 27 September 2026. Trademarks belong to their owners; this page describes them, it does not represent them.