Reel mechanics
Ways to win and Megaways: reading the '117,649 ways' label
The short answer
A 'ways' game counts every left-to-right path of matching symbols on adjacent reels: with 4 symbols per reel across 5 reels that's 4×4×4×4×4 = 1,024 ways. Megaways changes each reel's height on every spin — six reels of up to seven symbols produce 7⁶ = 117,649 ways on a full spin. The number counts winning paths, not your probability of winning; actual hit odds still come from symbol weighting and the math model.
In this article
The '117,649 ways' on a Megaways cabinet is a count of paths, not odds. Understanding what it counts takes one multiplication — and understanding what it does not tell you is the difference between reading the label and being sold by it.
From paylines to ways
A traditional slot pays on fixed lines: you need matching symbols on specific zigzag patterns, and each line is a separate bet unit. A 'ways' game scraps the lines and pays for matching symbols appearing on consecutive reels starting from the left, in any row position. The number of ways is the product of each reel's visible symbol count: 243 ways on a 5×3 game (3⁵), 1,024 on a 5×4 game (4⁵), 4,096 on a 6×4 game. Matching symbols stacked on the same reel multiply the win across multiple ways at once — which is where the outsized hits on these games come from.
What Megaways adds
Megaways, the licensed Big Time Gaming mechanic now embedded across dozens of studios' titles, makes each reel a variable height — typically 2 to 7 symbols, rerolled every spin. Six reels showing all sevens gives 7⁶ = 117,649 ways; a spin showing fewer symbols per reel gives fewer ways, and the game displays the spin's actual count. The mechanic is usually paired with cascading reels — winning symbols vanish and new ones drop in within the same paid spin — and an unlimited progressive multiplier in the bonus round. The shape is deliberately spiky: lots of dead or small spins punctuated by cascades that compound.
For the parts the label doesn't show — weighting, volatility and the actual return structure — see why counting symbols doesn't reveal odds, what volatility does to your session, and how progressive funding works on linked variants.
