PHMAPALAD Ways to win Explained — What 1024 Ways Actually Counts

On most pages, Ways to win is used as if the reader had met it before. This one does not.

Ways to win (including Megaways) — Instead of paylines, adjacent matching symbols pay irrespective of where they are positioned.

What Ways to win actually means

No fixed paths exist in a ways-to-win game; it pays for matching symbols landing in any row on consecutive reels from the left. Four rows across each of five reels gives 4 to the power of 5, so a 1024-ways game offers 1,024 possible combinations. Because Megaways varies how many symbols each reel shows from spin to spin, its way-count changes instead of staying fixed.

The common misreading

A big way-count tends to be taken for a big advantage. The RTP calculation uses the count as an input, so it is not something extra added to that RTP. Compared with a 1,024-ways game, a 46,656-ways game is not forty-five times better: hits come more often and each pays less, with the long-run return set by the studio.

Do not mistake ways to win for a bonus or a jackpot mechanic. Every spin uses it, as it is the structure that settles wins in the base game and does not need triggering. Nor is the variable way-count of a megaways game down to random generosity; the engine sets its range.

Using it in practice

Lower per-combination payouts are usual in ways-to-win games, offsetting their more frequent hits. Look at RTP and volatility, not the headline way-count, since the latter says nothing beyond the grid.

Ways to win is among the terms found on game pages across this site; if the studio has not published the figure behind one, the page states that rather than quoting a comparison site’s number. This accounts for the blanks in several of the spec tables here.

A worked example

Seeing it is easiest through the arithmetic. Counting ways on a 5x4 grid yields 4^5 = 1,024. 6^6 = 46,656 is the count for a 6x6 grid.

The count of symbol paths the engine evaluates is what both numbers capture; neither one is a measure of generosity. Advertising a way-count in the tens of thousands tells you about its grid, not its payouts.

Checking Ways to win at PHMAPALAD

1. Launch a game at PHMAPALAD and look for the info or help screen.
2. Ways to win is the entry to find there; interpret it with the definition above.
3. Check the same entry on another title first, and only then pick a game at PHMAPALAD.
4. Ahead of your first round at PHMAPALAD, record your stake and where you will stop.