As the company that originally designed the Megaways mechanic, you would expect Big Time Gaming to boast a huge selection of Megaways titles. Surprisingly, this is not the case, and Pirate Pays Megaways is its first effort in some time. The slot takes us out onto the high seas in a quest for riches. Does it manage to deliver, though? Or are players left shipwrecked? Let’s take a more detailed look into this Pirate Pays Megaways slot review.

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Pirate-theme online slot games are fairly common, so it’s nice to see that Big Time Gaming has tried to do something different with the theme. The action takes place on the back of a ship as it sails across the sea. The animations are nice and smooth, and the overall design of the slot is stylish. The soundtrack is upbeat and definitely helps to get you in the mood for spinning the reels.

The first thing you will notice about the Pirate Pays Megaways slot is the reel set-up. The action takes place on a 6x6 grid, with an additional row at the bottom of the grid. This row only covers reels 2-5, and the symbols will slide in from left to right instead of coming down. This is particularly useful for launching several of the bonus features, but more on that later.

As a Megaways title, there is an exceptionally high number of ways to win, with the game offering up to 117,649. This is helped by the Cascading Wins mechanic, which sees winning symbols replaced with new ones to form more winning combinations.

In terms of controls, players will need to select their stake using the arrow buttons on the right-hand side. The minimum that can be wagered is $0.20, while the maximum is $20, giving this a fairly low wagering range.

Big Time Gaming wants you to be able to take your Pirate Pays Megaways slot experience with you wherever you go. The mobile casino slot has been fully optimized to work on mobile devices, including Android and iOS systems. The mobile version looks identical to the main game, with the smaller screen not losing any of the gameplay features or effects.

As well as the enhanced gameplay mechanics from the Megaways features, there is also a handful of useful bonus features available in the game as well. The Free Spins Round is the main selling point here, and it comes with an added bonus before the spins start.

To launch the Bonus Round, you will need to land three or more Scatters. This will trigger what is called the Kraken round. This is basically a Deal or No Deal-style mini-game, where a number of Free Spins and Multipliers are on offer. The minimum you can win is 6 Free Spins with a 1x Multiplier, and the maximum is 25 with a 10x. A canon will remove five options at random, and then players will be made an offer. If they accept, the round will start; if they don’t, then the canon continues removing.

There is a special type of Scatter in the game that is purple. If this is one of the Scatters that symbolizes the round, then the lower Free Spins and Multiplier counts are removed from the Kraken Bonus Game.

Every time you land a win in the Free Spins Round, the Multiplier will increase by one. It is also possible to add more Free Spins by landing Scatters on the extra row.

The other bonus feature here is the Compass Wild. This is a Compass symbol that lands on the extra row and spins. It will then fill the direction it highlights with Wilds. While this isn’t a bad feature, it only really benefits the game if it points north, making it a little redundant most of the time.

Big Time Gaming set the maximum win for the Pirate Pays Megaways slot to 32,400x the stake. The slot is highly volatile and has an RTP of 96.23%.

There is a lot to like about the Pirate Pays Megaways slot, even if it does have a few issues. The gameplay mechanics, as you would expect from a Megaways title, are great, and the design of the slot is simple but effective. The bonus features are good, but it definitely could have added a little bit more variety, and the Compass Wild is fairly ineffectual most of the time. The Deal or No Deal Bonus does add some fun, though, even if it does feel a bit derivative. On the whole, this is a fun slot from Big Time Gaming that should please players. Try it at our recommended slot sites!