The number 117,649 has become almost inseparable from Megaways slots. It appears in game descriptions, promotional material, information screens, and reviews. Yet the number can look rather mysterious unless you understand what the engine is actually counting.
It is not counting paylines in the traditional sense.
Calculations in Megaways Slot Engines are based primarily on the number of active symbol positions across variable reels. Because those reel heights can change between game cycles, the available ways can also change from hundreds to tens of thousands—or reach the familiar six-figure maximum.
Modern versions can become even more complicated. Expanding reels, reactions, wilds, multipliers, and feature-specific configurations can push some implementations beyond the traditional ceiling. Understanding the engine therefore starts with 117,649, but it certainly does not end there.
Why 117,649 Became the Signature Number
The calculation starts with six variable reels.
In the classic configuration, each reel can contain up to seven symbol positions. Evolution describes Big Time Gaming’s Megaways system as dynamically changing reel heights between two and seven symbols and producing up to 117,649 winning ways.
Put seven positions on all six reels and the calculation becomes:
7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7
The result is:
117,649
This is essentially the number of unique positional routes through six seven-position reels.
Pick one position from reel one. Then one from reel two, one from reel three, and continue until reel six.
There are seven choices at each stage, and multiplication tells us how many unique routes exist.
This seemingly small change from fixed paylines creates a very different combinational structure.
The Formula Works With Smaller Reel Configurations Too
Maximum Megaways attracts attention, but ordinary rounds can display fewer symbols.
Imagine a generated reel arrangement of:
2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 × 7
That produces:
5,040 ways
Now imagine:
4 × 4 × 5 × 5 × 6 × 6
The engine has:
14,400 ways
The calculation is simply the product of the active position counts.
This is why the displayed ways counter can change rapidly from round to round. Pragmatic Play describes several of its licensed Megaways titles as using six ever-changing reels capable of reaching the 117,649 maximum.
A game does not need to select from thousands of manually designed paylines.
Instead, the grid itself determines the available routes.
That makes the system both visually dynamic and mathematically flexible.
Positional Ways and Actual Winning Combinations Differ
One common misunderstanding is treating “20,000 ways” as 20,000 opportunities that independently pay.
The figure actually describes available positional routes through the grid.
Whether any of them wins depends on the symbols occupying those positions.
Suppose a fictional symbol must match from the first reel across consecutive reels. The grid contains thousands of possible routes, but perhaps only two copies of that symbol land on reel one, two on reel two, three on reel three, and one on reel four.
The number of four-reel matching routes would then be:
2 × 2 × 3 × 1 = 12
The engine can calculate that result directly rather than inspecting each theoretical path individually in a naive way.
Modern implementations are obviously more sophisticated, especially once wild substitution and special symbols are included, but multiplication remains a useful way to understand the underlying logic.
The big number describes the search space. Symbol matching determines which parts of that space actually produce prizes.
Cascades Add Another Calculation Layer
Megaways often appears alongside cascading or tumbling mechanics.
Pragmatic Play’s Money Stacks Megaways, for example, combines its 117,649-way format with tumbling reels, while multiple other Megaways titles use similar removal-and-replacement sequences.
A cascade normally begins after a winning combination.
The winning symbols disappear, remaining symbols shift, and new symbols enter the grid. The engine then evaluates the updated layout again.
A second win may produce another cascade.
This means a single initial game cycle can involve several consecutive win calculations.
One Grid, Multiple Evaluations
Suppose an initial reel layout provides 50,000 ways.
The first evaluation finds winning combinations. Those symbols are removed and replacements arrive.
The engine now has another arrangement of symbols to examine.
If a multiplier increases during each reaction—as happens in some Megaways designs—the payout calculation also needs to track that changing multiplier state.
The mathmatical workload is therefore broader than simply multiplying six reel heights.
The ways calculation establishes the grid. The pay engine then handles symbols, substitutions, features, multipliers, and reactions.
Maximum Ways Can Change Between Game Modes
A useful modern example shows why 117,649 should not be treated as an absolute technical limit.
Big Time Gaming’s Gold Megaways supports up to 117,649 ways before its expanding-reel mechanic pushes the Free Spins configuration as high as 1,000,000 ways.
Wheel of Fortune Megaways likewise offers up to 117,649 ways in its base game and up to one million during Free Spins. Its expansion symbols can increase reel heights during the feature.
This means one game engine can have several possible maximum configurations depending on the active mode.
The base game might use one set of reel-height limits.
A bonus round may allow taller reels.
Another modifier might force all ordinary reels to maximum height.
The correct maximum-ways calculation must therefore use the dimensions available in the specific game state, not a generic Megaways number copied from another title.
Why More Ways Do Not Automatically Mean Better Odds
A million ways sounds dramatically better than ten thousand ways.
From a probability perspective, however, that conclusion cannot be made from the ways figure alone.
Adding more symbol positions simultaneously creates more possible routes and more symbols on the screen. But the probability and value of winning outcomes still depend on the game’s complete mathematical model.
Symbol distributions matter. Paytable values matter. Wild frequency matters. Bonus probability matters.
So do multipliers, scatter pays, maximum-win rules, and feature behaviour.
Random games achieve their target theoretical RTP through probabilities across their possible outcomes, according to UK Gambling Commission guidance.
The Commission also notes that theoretical RTP and volatility are calculated by the game designer and assessed through testing.
The reel-way number is therefore only one component.
It tells you something important about grid structure, but not enough to calculate the player’s overall expected return.
How Engines Can Evaluate Ways Efficiently
At first glance, checking 117,649 routes—and potentially one million in extended modes—might sound computationally heavy.
Fortunately, a slot engine does not have to treat every route as an entirely seperate payline.
For common ways-to-win mechanics, matching-symbol counts can be grouped reel by reel.
Suppose symbol A occurs:
- three times on reel one,
- four times on reel two,
- twice on reel three,
- twice on reel four.
If four consecutive reels qualify, the engine can derive:
3 × 4 × 2 × 2 = 48 winning combinations
rather than manually drawing 48 graphical paylines.
This makes ways-based systems relatively elegant from a calculation perspective.
The more complicated part comes from processing rules around wild substitution, scatter behaviour, multipliers, reactions, expanding symbols, reel modifiers, and feature states.
Those rule layers are why two games with the same 117,649 maximum can still behave completly differently.
Maximum Ways Should Be Read as a Grid Specification
Perhaps the easiest way to understand the famous maximum number is to stop thinking of it as a marketing promise.
Think of it as a grid specification.
When a six-reel Megaways game says it offers “up to 117,649 ways,” it is telling you something about the maximum combinational structure its standard grid can create.
Big Time Gaming still uses this specification across modern titles such as Max Megaways 3, which officially operates with six reels and up to 117,649 ways.
Other games can modify the formula.
Great Rhino Megaways from Pragmatic Play, for example, is described as providing more than 200,000 ways, demonstrating that licensed Megaways implementations are not restricted to one fixed maximum.
The engine architecture is flexible enough to support different reel structures while maintaining the broader dynamic-ways concept.
That flexibilty is part of what has allowed the mechanic to appear in so many different slot designs.
Understanding Calculations in Megaways Slot Engines starts with one simple idea: multiply the number of active positions across the relevant reels. That produces the familiar 117,649 maximum in a classic six-by-seven configuration.
From there, cascades, wilds, multipliers, expanding reels, and special modes add further calculation layers. Always examine the specific game’s rules before interpreting its headline ways figure.
