Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Slot: Introduction

Fresh releases from Big Time Gaming always generate plenty of buzz. Many players almost queue up to experience the outrageous volatility—some with excitement, others with disbelief—like spectators drawn to something dramatic. The Australia-based studio has mastered high variance gameplay and continues to push boundaries other providers rarely attempt. In many ways, Big Time Gaming CEO Nik Robinson is the Steve Jobs of iGaming, and his slots are the iPhones.

Two aspects especially define this new title: it’s Big Time Gaming’s first branded game, and the extremely volatile nature of the free spins feature. Let’s cover the branding first before diving into the chaos. Unless you’ve been living a secluded, minimalist life somewhere in the Himalayas, you’ve almost certainly heard of the British game show franchise Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It’s now owned by Sony and has become a worldwide phenomenon.

The premise is straightforward. A single contestant faces the host and a sequence of questions. Each correct answer earns a cash prize and advances the player up the ladder to tougher questions and bigger rewards. To assist along the way, the contestant can use lifelines, including calling a friend for help. The prize ladder also includes safety nets: if a contestant answers incorrectly after reaching a “locked” amount, they’re guaranteed to leave with that secured prize. A contestant may also decide to walk away at any time, taking the money rather than risking a drop down the ladder with a wrong answer.

And one more thing before we continue. Remember the Charles Ingram incident? In 2001, former British Army major Charles became infamous for cheating after winning the top prize of 1 million pounds. His accomplice Tecwen Whittock coughed to indicate the correct choice, prompting Charles to switch between answers in a suspicious way. Sadly, that tactic won’t help you in the online slot adaptation.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a Big Time Gaming powered slot with 6-reels and up to 7 symbols per reel. It uses the Megaways game engine, the company’s trademarked random reel modifier that proved hugely successful and first rose to fame with the release of Bonanza a few years back. Available across all devices, it allows bets from €0.20 to €20 per spin, matching the typical range found in most other ultra high variance BTG slots.

With its signature neon-blue look, the well-known studio set creates the stage, while the familiar music lines up perfectly to heighten the tension. Although the reel set mirrors the one used in Extra Chilli, it’s crucial to note that the maths model is specific to this game and becomes far more volatile during the free spins feature, as you’ll soon discover.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Slot: Symbols & Paytable

As a clear nod to BTG’s catalogue—and perhaps to underline the brutal variance—the instantly recognisable gems from Star Quest appear as the premium symbols. As usual, the purple diamond sits at the top of the paytable, delivering 50 times the stake for 6 across a full payline.

The Extra Reel at the very bottom adds 4 symbols to every spin and is the only place where wild symbols can land. Even if you don’t manage to trigger free spins, the 117k+ Megaways still provide enough potential to produce some seriously unforgettable hits.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Slot: Free Spins

Before launch, there was plenty of speculation about whether this might become the studio’s first jackpot slot. While it isn’t a jackpot game in the classic sense, many BTG titles share jackpot-like traits thanks to their extreme volatility. It also seems unlikely to be accidental that the maximum win potential is exactly $1 million on max bet—matching the game show’s top prize.

To activate the free spins feature, you’ll need at least 3 Millionaire scatters, which awards 8 free spins. This is where things truly heat up. Seated in the Hot Seat, players must choose whether to ‘walk away’ with the free spins won in the base game or gamble them for a chance at more spins (up to 50) at the risk of losing everything. Just like the TV format, safety nets are built in. If you reach 10, 20 or 50 free spins, that total becomes guaranteed. The first gamble is the most dangerous because it can wipe out your spins entirely. Survive it and you’ll hit the first safety net at 10 spins, which also unlocks a risk-free gamble.

In keeping with the show, the slot assigns a lifeline for the gamble: ‘Ask the Audience‘, ‘50-50‘ or ‘Phone a Friend‘. One option—A, B, C or D—will be highlighted as the most likely correct answer, and you must decide whether to lock it in as the final answer or to walk away. In our testing, we often saw an ‘Ask the Audience’ result where one choice received more than 80% of the vote, yet still ended up being wrong, causing the gamble to fail. From that experience, we felt that this particular lifeline was far from dependable despite the impressive percentage.

Once the free spins round begins, it behaves much like Extra Chilli and Bonanza, with a multiplier that increases by 1 for each winning cascade on the reels. During the bonus, the free spin scatter can appear only on the extra reel, with 3 or 4 scatters granting an extra 4 or 8 free spins respectively.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Slot: Conclusion

It’s easy to see why many will label this a clone of Extra Chilli, given the obvious overlap. Still, what’s really on offer is Extra Chilli pushed even further, making it Big Time Gaming’s most volatile online slot so far. Truthfully, we were hoping for something a little more distinctive, and the branding matters less to us personally—though it’s clear it will help bring Megaways to a wider audience.

This one definitely isn’t for cautious players, and the Hot Seat decision is what will truly separate the sheep from the goats. We have no doubt it will become a major hit with the casino streaming crowd, as Big Time Gaming has done an impressive job translating the game show’s core idea into a slot format. Now the real question is: who will be first to reach 50 free spins, and what will it pay? Ready, set, go!

Don’t Miss…

Be sure to check out the follow up Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Mystery Box, a 243 ways to win slot with a max win potential of up to 12,000 times your stake. Alternatively, Big Time Gaming has also launched a slot take on the legendary TV show Wheel of Fortune, titled Wheel of Fortune Megaways. And for jackpot hunters, there’s also a Megapays version worth a look.