88 Fortunes Megaways Slot Review 2023

88 Fortunes Megaways is the product of a partnership between Bally and their rival software publisher Big Time Gaming, who own the Megaways engine. This Asian-themed online slot transports players to the Far East and back in time to the age of great dynasties.

This is certainly a slot game that’s bursting with features, but this 88 Fortunes Megaways slot review needs to answer a single, important question: Why play this game over the many other Megaways slot games out there?

99 Fortunes Megaways, by Bally, has 6 vertical reels and 1 horizontal reel underneath reels 2-5. This being a Megaways slot, there are 117,649 ways to win, and each reel has a variable number of symbols that can show up between one spin and the next. 

Another key feature is the cascading reels, meaning that when wins are recorded, the winning symbols disappear and are replaced as new symbols cascade down from above. This means that players can end up with multiple winning combinations on a single spin, if they’re lucky.

How much players can wager on a single spin depends on how many Gold Symbols they decide to allow into play. The high paying symbols have regular versions and gold versions, and these golden versions which are much higher value symbols and increase the minimum and maximum wager limits, depending on how many Gold Symbols you include:

As far as how big wins can get, the sky is generally the limit with Megaways slot, and 88 Fortunes Megaways has a theoretical top prize of 10,000x your stake. Wins are capped at £250,000, though, but we doubt many punters would be displeased to walk away with that amount.

88 Fortunes Megaways RTP and Variance

88 Fortunes Megaways by Bally has a theoretical RTP of 96.06% – 96.36%, depending on how many golden symbols happen to be in play. This is pretty average for Megaways slots, such as BluePrint’s Vikings Unleashed Megaways and Big Time Gaming’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Megaways, both of which also hover around the 96% mark.

In terms of variance, 88 Fortunes Megaways is a medium/high volatility slot. During out 88 Fortuness Megaways slot review testing we experienced a lot of tiny wins, as well as the occasional big, and even huge win.

Bally set out to make an online slot game that transports players to dynastic China, and that’s exactly what they did. From the general symbolism throughout the game’s visuals to the soundtrack, 88 Fortuness Megaways is undoubtedly Chinese.

The soundtrack is a mix of drums and Asian string instruments, and works well as unobtrusive background music. Truth be told, we did mute the tab about 30 minutes in and turned on our Spotify, though that’s actually what happens with most slot game soundtracks.

As far as visuals go, the very many shades of red, trimmed with gold, along with the Chinese symbology, makes this slot undeniably China-themed. The symbols are all reasonably detailed, and it feels like a lot of time and effort went into this slot.

Symbols

As is the norm in many online slots games, 88 Fortuness Megaways has a mix of both low paying symbols and high paying symbols. Where things get different, though, is that the high paying symbols can be upgraded to Gold Symbols, like we mentioned above.

The game’s low paying symbols are 9 to Ace from a deck of cards, as is common in many other online slots games. The high paying symbols are typically Chinese symbols such as a water fountain, a tortoise, a Chinese Ship, and a Jade Bird. All of these also have Gold Symbol versions, and there’s a Gold Coin that only exists as a Gold Symbol.

The Wild is a Fu Bat symbol which can replace all other symbols except for the Scatter. The Fu Bat Wild can only appear on reels 2 to 5, meaning you won’t be seeing any Wilds on reels 1 and 6. This can also randomly activate the Picker Feature when the Coin Pot is full, but more on that in the following section.

88 Fortunes Megaways’ Scatter symbol is the Gong. This can appear on any of the reels, and players need to line up at least 4 of them in a row in order to activate the Free Spins feature. Unlike some other slots, where you need 3 or 4 scatters to appear at all, 88 Fortuness Megaways requires them to be on consecutive reels, which is something to keep in mind while playing.

There are two bonus features in 88 Fortunes Megaways, and players will be happy to know that they both result in the same thing: Free Spins and Multipliers! Each of these features in unique in their own way, though, and these features are where we saw our biggest and best wins during our 88 Fortunes Megaways slot review testing.

Free Spins Feature

Like we see in a lot of online slots games, this bonus feature is activated by the Scatter symbol (the Gong). However, the stars, or rather, the Gongs, need to be perfectly aligned for this to happen. You need to land at least 4 Gongs in consecutive reels to activate the Free Spins Feature. This means that if you have Gongs on reels 1,2,3, and 5, nothing happens.

When this does happen, though, you enter the Free Spins Feature starting with a 1x multiplier. How many Free Spins you start with depends on whether the feature was activated by 4, 5, or 6 consecutive Gongs, as below:

• 4 Gongs: 8 Free Spins
• 5 Gongs: 10 Free Spins
• 6 Gongs: 12 Free Spins

Your multiplier increases on each winning combination, and this combines with the Cascading Reels feature we mentioned above so that your multiplier can increase multiple times on a single spin. If this happens early on in the round, then you can end up walking away with a pretty generous win.

Players will also be happy to discover that additional free spins can triggered while within the Free Spins Feature. Again, were looking for consecutive Gongs, though we only need 3 in a row to activate additional spins.

• 3 Gongs: 8 additional Free Spins
• 4 Gongs: 10 additional Free Spins
• 5 Gongs: 12 additional Free Spins
• 6 Gongs: 15 additional Free Spins

Picker Feature

The Picker Feature is very similar to the Free Spins Feature, only it’s activated in a different way and includes a nifty and useful stage in between the base game and the actual Free Spins.

The Picker Feature is activated randomly once the Coin Pot is full of Coins. The Coin Pot slowly fills up every time Fu Bat Wild symbols appear on the reels. Once the Coin Pot is full, there’s a random chance that any Fu Bat Wilds that show up could activate this special feature.

When this feature does activate, Players are presented with three rows of face-down coins to click on. Every time you click on a coin, you reveal the hidden image beneath. Depending on which symbols you match 3-of-a-kind of, you’ll start the Free Spins Feature with a different number of Free Spins and at a different multiplier:

Once you move from the Picker to the Free Spins Feature, the Free Spins Feature continues as normal, including all rules about multiplier growth and retriggering additional free spins.

Bally clearly knew what they were doing when they partnered up with Big Time Gaming to make use of their Megaways engine. The bonus features not only perfectly interact with each other, but also with the Megaways features like the Cascading Reels.

88 Fortunes Megaways may not have the most memorable name out there, but this online slot game definitely serves up a memorable experience. This is a game of highs and lows, and we’re going to end this 88 Fortunes Megaways slot review by recommending that you give it a spin for yourself.

88 Fortunes Megaways Slot FAQ