Understanding Max Megaways Base-Game Bonus Features

Four bonuses, four different changes

Max Megaways base-game bonuses can alter the reel layout, introduce wild symbols or replace symbols after a win. The original Max Megaways has six reels and can display up to 117,649 ways, but that maximum describes the available ways rather than the probability of winning. Its four possible base-game bonuses are Maximum Megaways, Vertical Wild, Horizontal Wild and Wild Bomb.

These bonuses may occur on an initial base spin or during a reaction. No occurrence frequency is established, so their appearance should not be treated as predictable. It is also important to separate a changed screen from a paid result: a bonus can modify the layout without that modification alone proving that a win has formed.

Maximum Megaways and Vertical Wild

Maximum Megaways

Maximum Megaways places seven symbols on every reel. This produces the game’s maximum reel height across all six reels and therefore its maximum number of available ways. It changes how many symbol positions can participate in the result, but the expanded arrangement is not itself a paid win and does not state the chance of one.

Vertical Wild

Vertical Wild turns one complete reel wild. Its effect is concentrated vertically, covering that reel rather than changing every reel’s height. Whether the resulting display contains a win still depends on the completed symbol arrangement; the presence of the full-reel wild does not provide a payout guarantee.

Horizontal Wild and Wild Bomb

Horizontal Wild

Horizontal Wild turns symbols on the extra reel wild. This distinguishes it from Vertical Wild, which affects one full standard reel. The horizontal feature changes the role of the extra-reel positions, but its appearance alone does not establish a winning result.

Wild Bomb

Wild Bomb operates after wins. It replaces symbols other than Scatters and the bomb, so those two exceptions remain rather than being replaced by the bomb’s effect. This timing matters: Wild Bomb follows a win and changes the symbols available for what happens next. It should not be read as evidence that every subsequent arrangement will pay.

Hypothetical observation sequence

The following sequence is an illustration of how to read the four effects. It does not represent fixed ordering, frequency, odds or payout values.

1. Observe the initial layout. Imagine Maximum Megaways appears and all six reels show seven symbols. Record that as an expanded reel layout, not automatically as a win.
2. Check the symbol result. Only after examining the completed arrangement should the expanded layout be considered separately from whether a paid combination is present.
3. Follow a reaction. Imagine a subsequent reaction displays Vertical Wild. One complete reel is now wild; the other reels have not automatically become wild.
4. Contrast the direction. If Horizontal Wild appears instead, symbols on the extra reel become wild. This is a different area of effect from the full-reel Vertical Wild.
5. Read the bomb timing. If a win is followed by Wild Bomb, symbols are replaced except for Scatters and the bomb. Those exceptions remain after the replacement step.
6. Assess the new arrangement. Treat the post-bomb screen as a fresh layout to inspect, without assuming that the replacement must create another paid win.

This walkthrough applies only to the original game’s four stated base-game bonuses. It does not add feature modifiers from later titles bearing similar names.

Keep base bonuses separate from free spins

The base-game effects are distinct from the free-spins trigger. Any three Scatters trigger ten free spins, with each additional Scatter adding two. Enhanced Free Spins apply when at least one of the triggering Scatters is a Diamond Megascatter; a Diamond symbol by itself does not establish the complete trigger.

The normal free-spins feature reveals two bonus doors, while the enhanced version reveals three. The five possible bonuses are Double Multiplier, Duplicating Wilds, Two-Scatter Retrigger, Increased Ways and No Lower Symbols. These free-spins choices should not be imported into an explanation of the four base-game bonuses.