LeoVegas Megaways (Blueprint Gaming): Overview

From time to time, LeoVegas puts out an exclusive slot as part of its Original series. Not so long ago we got Wild Mantra, a fairly underwhelming release made by Yggdrasil, and further back there have been exclusives from major studios like Play’n GO and NetEnt. For whatever reason, these games often land in the “average at best” category, either because they feel like clones or because they simply miss the mark. LeoVegas latest original, aptly named LeoVegas Megaways, falls into the first camp.

With Bonanza as the blueprint, Blueprint Gaming has rolled out a long line of spin-offs like Tiki Treasures Megaways, Wolf Legend Megaways, Temple of Treasure Megaways, Primal Megaways – and plenty more besides. In LeoVegas Megaways, it’s very much the same familiar formula and the layout will be instantly recognisable. Running on 6 reels with up to 117,649 ways to win, you’re dropped into the flashy LeoVegas Casino setting with cascading reels, a newly added Megaways wheel, free spins featuring unlimited multipliers, plus a way to purchase direct access to the bonus. It’s available across devices with stakes ranging from 20 cents to 100€ per spin.

LeoVegas Megaways is powered by the Megaways engine created by Big Time Gaming. It hardly needs explaining at this point, but for anyone new to online slots, here’s the quick version. Its appeal comes from the fact that each spin generates a random number of win ways, up to the huge maximum of 117,649 Megaways. That’s possible because each reel can display anywhere from 2 to 7 symbols. When the reels fully expand, base-game wins of well over 1000 times your stake are possible, and once multipliers enter the picture in the bonus, things can escalate fast. The game also uses cascading symbols: any win triggers a chain where the winning symbols disappear and new ones drop in. This repeats until no further wins form. Above the main reels, you’ll also notice an extra reel that can help complete winning combinations.

On the visual side, the slot has been tailored to match the LeoVegas casino look and feel. Using a red-to-orange colour scheme, the iconic LeoVegas lion head logo is prominently featured on both the bonus buy button and the spin button. The reels include the standard low-value 9 to A royals, followed by higher-paying gemstones in green, blue and red. The top-paying symbol is the diamond, awarding 50 times your stake for 6 of a kind. There’s also a wild in the form of a casino token, and it only shows up on the extra reel.

LeoVegas Megaways (Blueprint Gaming): Features

As you’d expect, LeoVegas Megaways includes the familiar Mystery Symbol. Keep an eye out for the lion paw – when it lands, every instance on the reels will change into a randomly selected regular symbol. When they connect, it will usually end up being one of the lower-value symbols.

The other key icon is the LeoVegas logo token – landing 4 or more anywhere on the main reel set activates the Free Spins feature. Before the round begins, though, your initial conditions are decided by the Bonus Wheel. The wheel has an inner and an outer ring: one awards between 5 to 15 free spins, while the other sets a starting win multiplier from 1x to 10x. If you manage to trigger the feature with extra scatters, the available spins and multipliers are boosted.

After your starting setup is locked in, the free spins round begins, and every cascade win increases your win multiplier by 1. So, if you start with 10 free spins and a 10x multiplier, your first win immediately moves it up to 11x and it never drops back down. Scatter symbols can also land on the extra reel above the main reels to grant extra free spins – 3 or 4 award 5 or 10 additional spins respectively.

If you’d rather not wait for a natural trigger, you can purchase entry into the free spins round via the Bonus Buy feature, which also provides a slightly higher 97% RTP. There are two choices: one costs 20 times your stake and gives between 3 and 10 free spins along with a guaranteed minimum ways to win ranging from 324 to 117,649 (no win multiplier available during the round), while the other costs 100 times your stake and sends you to the standard bonus wheel. Notably, Big Time Gaming, who originally popularised bonus buying, have since stopped adding it to their own games entirely.

LeoVegas Megaways (Blueprint Gaming): Final Verdict

If you already know how Megaways games work, there isn’t a lot that will surprise you in LeoVegas Megaways. That said, Blueprint typically tries to add a small twist to keep the experience from feeling too stale, and they’ve often done a decent job of that. Here, the standout addition is the Megaways Wheel. While choosing your starting setup isn’t a new concept, presenting it via a wheel is still a visually impactful touch. In the end, though, it’s mostly cosmetic, since it functions the same way as revealing the setup through a mystery selection like you see in Temple of Treasure Megaways , for instance. Put simply, it’s the same mechanic dressed up differently.

LeoVegas Megaways is essentially a standard Megaways slot, so there’s little to add that hasn’t been covered many times before. With a huge top potential of up to 50,000 times your stake and the well-known Megaways engine under the hood, it’s a solid pick either way.