Apparently, Disney doesn’t like gambling all that much, and they own 50 % of the network that airs Who Wants to be a Millionaire in the US. For this reason, Big Time Gaming’sWho Wants to be a Millionaire Megawayshasn’t been available to US players. Vegas Megaways is basically an unbranded reskin job, to make the popular and in-demand game available also in the US, albeit with a different theme.
The defining pre-bonus gamble round is not quite the same without the game show framing though, although it’s literally the same feature. The dynamic grid is set in the middle of a typical Vegas slot hall, but the backdrop is blurred out. You can gamble to get up to 50 free spins, and the progressive multiplier bonus round can lead to payouts up to a very solid72,310x your stake.
The premium symbols pay between 2 and 50 x your stake for 6 of a kind wins, and therainbow-colored Wild symbolsteps in for pay symbols to help complete wins. TheReaction mechanicremoves winning symbols from the grid, and these are then replaced by new and/or existing symbols that drop down to fill the gaps. This repeats as long as you keep winning.
You need3+ scattersin view to trigger the Bonus Round, and it comes with an optional upfrontVIP Free Spins Gamble. You start at rung 2 on the free spins ladder with 3 triggering scatters, or higher if you landed more than the minimum of 3. Rung 2 gives you 8 free spins, while the top and bottom rungs award 50 free spins and zero free spins, respectively. As the gamble feature starts, you get1 of 3 VIP Tips, and these work as follows:
The gamble feature is a card suit guessing game as you probably understand, and the free spins ladder comes with2 safety levels. Reach 10 FS or 20 FS, and you’re guaranteed to get at least that number no matter what. Losing the gamble at the 8 FS rung takes you back to the base game, so be careful.
The free spins round comes with aprogressive win multiplierthat starts at x1, and it increases by+1 per Reaction win. Landing3 or 4 scatterson the bottom horizontal tracker reel awards+4 or +8 free spins, respectively. Non-UK players, and anyone eligible, canbuy the bonus round, and75x your stakegets you 10 free spins, while150x your stakegets you 20 free spins. You can gamble for more spins also, and you’re guaranteed to get 10 or 20 as a minimum.
You get to see a few smaller wins in the base game, before we purchase the top-tier 20 FS bonus round at 0:47 into the 4:13-minute highlights video. We got the ‘remove two tip’ in the gamble round, but we lost on the very first guess. We thus ended up with our initial 20 FS, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
Unless you’re a huge fan of Las Vegas, or a US player, we see no reason to prefer Vegas Megaways over the original Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Megaways. Big Time Gaming has confirmed that this reskin release is aimed at US players mostly, since WWTBAM is not available in that jurisdiction. The blurred Vegas slot machine hall visuals are nicely done though, but we prefer the original to this.
It’s about time that Big Time Gaming gives players a turbo spin option, as the pace wasn’t all that impressive in this release. Double clicking the spin button helps, admittedly, but you get tired of that after a while. As for the bonus round, the gamble system is kind of fun, not least if you’ve already reached a safety level, but it’s risky otherwise. The72,310x potentialis very solid indeed, and anything can happen with up to 117,649 win ways and a progressive win multiplier.
Pros
Cons
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Megaways- was the first ever branded release from Big Time Gaming, and it’s based on the popular game show by the same title. The pre-bonus gamble feature makes more sense in this context, as it’s based on how things work in the game show. Other than that, it’s the same game as the one at hand for all intents and purposes.
Hot Spin Megaways- is an iSoftBet release with a fruity machine inspired theme, and you can get 9 different modifiers from the Hot Spin Wheel during cascading sequences. The bonus round comes with 3 starting multiplier options, and the max win is a solid 50,000x your stake.
Slot Vegas Megaquads- is another Vegas-themed installment from Big Time Gaming, and it’s also their Megaquads debut release. This gives you 4 reel sets, and rainbow wilds connect two reel sets for up to 65,536 win ways in the base game and 16,777,216 ways in the bonus round. The max win is 25,200x your stake.