JILI GAMES Ways to win Meaning: Ways, Megaways & the Numbers

The meaning of Ways to win is precise; the muddle comes from the vague way it is usually described.

Ways to win (including Megaways) — A system that replaces paylines, paying neighbouring matching symbols whatever their position.

What Ways to win actually means

Payment in a ways-to-win game depends on matching symbols on consecutive reels from the left, in whichever row, and not on fixed paths. The 1,024 combinations in a 1024-ways game are nothing more than 4 raised to the power of 5, one factor of four per reel across five reels. The way-count in Megaways moves between spins, not staying fixed, since this extension varies the number of symbols per reel with every spin.

The common misreading

Mistaking a large way-count for a large advantage is a frequent error. As an input to the RTP calculation, the count adds nothing to it. The long-run return is whatever the studio set, so a 46,656-ways game is not forty-five times as good as a 1,024-ways one; it simply hits more often for less per hit.

Ways to win is not a bonus, and it is not a jackpot mechanic either. Not triggered but always present, it is how the base game resolves wins on each spin. In a megaways game the count changes, but not out of random generosity, since the range is set by the engine itself.

A worked example

The clearest view comes from the arithmetic. Four rows on five reels, a 5x4 grid, produce 4^5 = 1,024 ways. The result for a 6x6 grid is 6^6 = 46,656.

Generosity is not described by either number; each one counts the symbol paths the engine evaluates. A game with a way-count in the tens of thousands is describing its grid instead of its payouts.

Using it in practice

Since ways-to-win games hit more often, their per-combination payouts tend to be lower. Rather than the headline way-count, which merely describes the grid, compare RTP and volatility.

Throughout this site’s game pages you will meet terms like Ways to win, and a studio that publishes nothing behind one gets a plain statement to that effect, not a number copied from a comparison site. Several spec tables here have empty cells for exactly this reason.

Spotting Ways to win on a game screen

1. Open any title’s info or help screen and look for where it deals with ways to win.
2. Compare its wording with the definition above, then check a second title the same way.
3. Keep the stake and the stop amount fixed before a session that leans on ways to win.