Piggy Riches Megaways is a great pokie machine delivered to online casinos by two outstanding developers, Red Tiger Gaming and NetEnt. It is also based on Megaways mechanics created by Big Time Gaming. This mechanics have many dedicated fans among players due to its ability to produce decent wins from low stakes. Besides, this is a Megaways edition of an older pokie by NetEnt, 5-reel 15-line Piggy Riches released 10 years ago and still quite popular in online casinos worldwide. Having taken the two main characters from the prequel, the new game offers fresh and uplifted design, cutting-edge animation, new bonus features and symbols and, most important, a totally new technology capable of producing up to 117,649 Megaways to win.
The overall look of the pokie as well as all images, music and sounds make it jazzy and really enjoyable to play. Released in 2020, the pokie machine is perfectly fine with modern desktops and mobile devices. Players from New Zealand may play the pokie in many online casinos accepting Kiwi players including those venues which support bitcoin as a payment method.
Megaways to win, symbols and paytable
The pokie is built on the Megaways principle which in essence is a reel transformer engine. The engine makes 6 reels change the number of hosted symbols every single spin so every reel may room from 1 to 7 symbols. This is how the pokie may produce thousands of ways to win every spin the maximum number of which amounts to stunning 117,649 like in Gonzo’s Quest Megaways, also powered by NetEnt and Red Tiger Gaming. To have the maximum number of ways, a player needs to land six icons on each reel (7x7x7x7x7x7=117,649). The number of Megaways created in every spin is shown on a counter attached above the reels.
This is the principal difference of Megaways pokies as compared to games using conventional ways: a constantly and randomly variable number of ways to win versus a fixed number of available ways. In other respects the Megaways technology works like any regular pokie: the slot machine pays an award when 2 or more matching regular symbols hit adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel.
A bet is adjustable within the range from NZ$0.20 to NZ$10 per spin. Piggy Riches Megaways operates with ten regular symbols including five playing cards from 10 to A and five colored valuable items of all sorts such as a purse full of banknotes and a key to a mansion. Cards pay out x0.1 and x0.8 when three or more of them land on adjacent reels. Luxuries pay between x0.3 and x20 the stake. This is a typical paytable for pokies built on Megaways mechanics and it should not deter players from trying to play the game: capable of producing up to 117,649 ways to win in a single spin, it may award a huge prize if played for real money.
The earning power of the pokie is further augmented by Mega Wilds. These are huge feature symbols covering an entire reel each. Mega Wilds substitute for any regular icon and may bring a multiplier between x2 and x7 thus increasing the payout up to x140 the stake or up to NZ$1,400 at the max bet. Mega Wilds appear on any reel during the base game and free spins. They do not though pay any award. There could be up to 3 Mega Wilds in a spin, and each may come with a multiplier.
If this happens, all multipliers do their fantastic job for a player. For instance, if there are 3 wilds with x2, x5 and x7 multipliers, the pokie will pay the win in a spin with a total multiplier of 2x5x7=x70. There is no rule preventing all 3 wilds from coming with maximum multipliers so there is a chance to have a multiplier of 7x7x7=x343.
Scatters are pure triggers. They have no payout to offer; instead they launch a bonus feature designed in an exciting way and capable of boosting the earning capacity of the pokie dramatically. In fact, the bonus feature makes the slot machine pay many times more as compared to the base play mode. It is so because the bonus comes with a multiplier progressing each spin and theoretically capable of boosting the total win the pokie up to x10,475. This means that the maximum payout of the pokie is equal to NZ$104,750 at the max bet and this is probably the best outcome one may expect.
Cascading wins
If there is a winning combination in a base spin or free spin, the pokie counts the payout and makes winning symbols explode and disappear from the reels. Remaining icons slide into the emptied cells while new randomly selected regular and feature icons fall from the above and create a completely new situation on the reels. If there is a win again, the process keeps going and runs until there is a no-win spin. This produces cascades of wins after any paid spin. This further means that by placing a single stake, players may start a long sequence of wins the duration of which depends on one and the most important thing in any online casino, luck.
In fact, there are not so many pokies in online casinos equipped with the Megaways engine and even fewer have the cascading mechanics (or a similar Tumble feature). This makes Piggy Riches Megaways a unique pokie machine capable of enriching the gaming experience of players from New Zealand.
Free spins bonus
Landing 3 scatters in any positions on any reels during the base game triggers the Free Spins feature. A Wheel with numbers appears on the screen; spinning this Wheel, a player gets the amount of free spins and a starting value of a win multiplier. There could be up to 22 free spins with the starting value of the win multiplier up to x10. Each free spin adds 1 to the starting multiplier so the last 23rd free spin runs with a multiplier of x31, thus making the pokie pay up to x620 the stake. Mega Wilds keep coming during the bonus feature and may further increase the payout by adding their multipliers (up to x7) which mutually multiply. Given the wholeness of the bonus feature, the pokie is indeed a very interesting game to play for real money in a reliable online casino accepting players from New Zealand.
Summary
The Piggy Riches Megaways pokie machine by Red Tiger Gaming is a 6-reel game producing up to 117,649 ways to win and capable of awarding over x10,000 a bet. The pokie accepts stakes between NZ$0.20 and NZ$10. Wilds appear with random multipliers of x7 max. The game awards up to 22 free spins with a starting multiplier of up to x10 growing by x1 on every spin.