Merry Megaways

Merry Megaways: Slot Overview

It's time for another Christmas slot, this time from software developer 1x2 Gaming going by the name of Merry Megaways. Built to provide a traditional Christmas experience, Merry Megaways is chock full of all of the sort of imagery one might associate with this time of the year, or at least the way it is presented in cards or movies. If that sounds appealing, then on the gaming side, it comes with a slightly larger than usual Megaways grid hosting tumbles, sticky wild Christmas Crackers, free spins with Santa's Sack and a progressive win multiplier, plus Lucky Last Spins.

Bring your warm clothes for this one as Merry Megaways take place somewhere cold, dimly lit, and full of snow. At a guess, we're at the North Pole, where Santa and his elves spend the year making toys for the good kids of the world before delivering them on Christmas Eve. Maybe not, but you can make out a quaint house sitting behind the game grid; most probably, we're guessing that's Santa's home. Other parts of the scene include snow-covered trees (do trees grow at the North Pole?), looming mountains, and the bearded man himself looking jolly next to the reels. It's a very Christmassy scene, though one so steeped in standard Xmas images it lacks a little in the way of a uniquely individual personality.

Merry Megaways is played on a game grid that has been constructed using 6 main reels holding 2-7 symbols each along with the usual 4-symbol horizontal bonus reel on the top. This system creates anywhere from 324 to 200,704 ways to win, depending on the number of symbols in view on the vertical reels. It's a highly volatile game with three return to player configurations - 95.9% being the highest (the value can be verified at the game info screen). When ready to rumble, players click the coins icon to choose a stake of 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin on their tablet, mobile, or desktop device.

On the paytable, we find eleven paying symbols appearing in all phases of play. These are 10-A card tiles as the low pays, worth 0.4 to 0.6 times the stake for six-of-a-kind, then milk and cookies, a Christmas pudding, candy canes, an elf, a reindeer, and Santa as the high pays. A six-of-a-kind premium win gets you 1.3-5x the bet. Regular wilds appear on all but the leftmost reel during the base game and are able to substitute all non-special symbols. Regular wilds used in a win are removed by the tumble mechanic.

Merry Megaways: Slot Features

Joining tumbles, the other features in Merry Megaways are sticky wild Christmas Crackers, free spins with a win multiplier, Santa's Sack, and Lucky Last Spins.

Tumbles

The symbols used in a winning way are exploded off the game board, and the gaps they create are filled by symbols falling in from above. If a new win is created after the tumble, the feature triggers again, ending when no new win forms.

Christmas Crackers

Christmas Crackers appear on the top bonus reel, one at a time at the most. Christmas Crackers are wilds, substituting for any pay symbol, and are not removed when part of a winning way. When tumbles end or no win occurs, then the Cracker explodes itself plus one random pay symbol from each vertical reel and 2 extra positions.

Free Spins

Scatter symbols are present on the main reels, and landing at least 4 leads to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 free spins after a Bauble is randomly picked. In free spins, a win multiplier is used, which increases by +1 following each winning tumble. Moreover, Santa's Sack also appears in free spins on the horizontal reel and acts as a wild for all non-special symbols. If 1 Santa's Sack hits, it adds 2-4 wilds on reels 2-4, as well as awarding +2 free spins. If 2 Santa's Sacks hit, they add 4-8 wilds on reels 2-5, as well as awarding +4 free spins. Two can appear at the most. Finally, if there is a win on the last free spin, players are awarded another Lucky Last Spin. Lucky Last Free Spins continue to be awarded as long as they produce a win.

Merry Megaways: Slot Verdict

Merry Megaways was one of those slots where what you see is what you get. There are no hidden surprises, just a very in-theme Christmas game with a few handy features to go with it. It's a bit like opening a cracker after dinner, where your expectations about the toy and the joke contained within are largely met. Merry Megaways by no means does anything wrong; it's just one of those safe slots that looks Christmassy and has a few complimentary features to go with it.

The game could occasionally be quite entertaining. Every so often, it rolled out a fairly lengthy sequence of consecutive Tumble wins, accompanied by those violent (for an Xmas slot) explosion noises, and kept alive at times by Santa throwing his magic pixie dust onto the reels via the Christmas Cracker, clearing symbols, thereby triggering another tumble. The Christmas Cracker was actually quite useful, its sticky wild role possessing the ability to help draw out a game round. Merry Megaways didn't end up going anywhere particularly amazing during testing, but with a progressive win multiplier and a max win of 20,000x the bet, on paper at least, Merry Megaways has the technical goods to make some lucky player's day.

And so, 1x2 Gaming adds another Christmas slot to the list, and not a bad one at that. There's not much particularly unique here, but what it does - combine features and functions to create relatively longish tumble sequences - it does quite heartily. Mix in the wholesome Xmas artwork, and Merry Megaways is another one of these reliable, if not revolutionary, slots to help get players in the Christmas spirit.